Imagine reinventing the Internet? Someone’s at it. Currently, the Internet relies on 2 fundamental components to operate, namely Webservers & dataservers. Websites & other Internet services are served to clients via a network of computers that form an amalgamated entity.
But here’s the thing. These IT systems are relatively easy to hack because they rely on separate, often less than secure, servers to create platforms for consumers. Also, many startups are forced to rely on proprietorial APIs to generate data for their software, such as Facebook’s user data(for instance to validate the authenticity of a potential users identity for dating or accommodation services, like AirBnB or Tinder). The problem here, is that these Big Tech companies that provide these APIs, can revoke their permission at any time, putting startups in a precarious position when it comes to investing in their perceived future services.
Dfinity, a disruptive NPO (non-profit organization), has devised a new type of Internet called the Internet Computer, which not only combines the concepts of separate servers into one capsule, but expects to offer non-proprietorial data APIs as part of its very fabric.
Additionally, Dfinity has created its own language for coders to use to create Websites & other SaaS functionalities known as Motoko, which is highly optimized to perform on the Internet Computer, & is said to be far easier & cheaper to maintain & secure. Developers interested in this innovative concept can download Dfinity’s Motoko SDK from their Website. However, the organization plans to create SDKs for other, more traditional, languages, such as Ruby & C, in the coming months.
The organization describes its novel service as an ‘extension’ of Blockchain technology, combined with an ‘extension’ of the Internet as we now know it. If they can find traction for their idea with the public & business at large, they are set to present an Internet where user data is secure, hackers become a thing of the past & the giant monopolies of Big Tech are broken, irreparably.
To test their disruption, these chaps have initiated an autonomous service, similar to Microsoft’s LinkedIn, called LinkedUp, which not only operates on the same premise as its famous namesake, but looks, hauntingly, similar. Notably, the service runs on an autonomous API, which is non-proprietorial, so it can never be revoked. If they pull it off, Dfinity is about to “break” the Internet as we know it.
Image credit: Dfinity
