It is a simple term that expresses the next generation of decentralized web that relies on the distinctive blockchain technology, but what is the role of the Ethereum network?
The Ethereum blockchain provides protocols that encrypt globally distributed networks on computers to save data, to create a new set of distributed applications, and it is worth noting that it cannot depend on my data from the traditional generation.
From the “web 2.0” where the main structural data is completely reconfigured, as P2P was used in the 1990s, and after the development of the blockchain for P2P it was taken to a whole new level.
It is a version of the Web that gives users the power to create and execute their own tools and software, rather than depending on other people for software.
Web 3.0 Features
- The advanced version allows the ability to create their own programs without relying on programs
- It cannot be controlled by specific people because it is completely decentralized
- Data ownership can be protected or its ownership transferred from one person to another. I think the best example of this is NFT technologies
- Penetrations are less and very tiring
- "Eco operability" where no operating system is a cluster running anywhere
Ethereum Name Service (ENS)
In this world of amazing internet, mass adoption has become a big challenge along with security risks. Third generation of internet service (web 3.0) is full-filling that part. Ethereum name service is often called ENS shortly, which is a lookup system and offers a secure and decentralized way to address resources using human-readable names. ENS usually links information to a human-readable name. Let’s make it more digestible for you to understand by an example.
In the very early days of the world wide web, if you would need to access the “Utopia Educators” website, you would need to type the IP address of it. Just like this ( “165.22.36.39’’). Later the second generation of the internet made it much easier to surf the web by providing human-readable names. It turned out to be “IP address” to “Utopia Educators”. And now guess what? We are in the third generation of the internet where everything is trying to adopt blockchain technology.
But, this seems topsy-turvy which gives much longer IP address phrases and most difficult to remember addresses in order to access the service we need. For instance, the way it usually looks like “ 72u39toP88ia9xEdu….” Please note, even though it normally looks so boring, it is a more secure form than ever. That’s where the ENS comes in to make our lives easier with these things. ENS is built on Ethereum’s smart contracts. It is more secure, private and resistant to censorship than the DNS. Also most importantly, it’s distributed and trustworthy. So, what is the best thing about it? It’d be user-friendly.
IPFS
IPFS refers to the Interplanetary file system which is a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol and a distributed system for storing and accessing files, websites, applications and data. IPFS uses a way to store information so it can be retrieved based on its content, not it’s location. Today, we use the internet to consume media, communicate with friends, learn, business and much more. But the web 2.0 we use has a problem. It is centralized. It’s all stored on server farms and usually controlled by a particular company. So, the server can be controlled by the government or the company. Government can turn it off or on as per their will. Sounds quite censorship, right? Exactly. Because content is hosted on just a few servers. So, it can be easily blocked from accessing.
How does IPFS work?
To understand it, let’s understand how we access files on the web 2.0 right now. For example, you want to download a utopian magazine. You got to tell the computer exactly where to find the magazine. Such as https://utopiaeducators.com/magazine.pdf . For this case, the location is the domain name. And it is called location based addressing. So, it means you tell the computer where to get the magazine and then you find it. But imagine, if your location is not accessible or the server is down somehow, you will not get the magazine. Here’s why IPFS came up with a solution. It moves from ‘location based addressing’’ to “content based’’ addressing. Means, instead of saying “where to find the magazine” to “what you want”.
So, basically what happens here is that every file has a unique hash and when you need the magazine you just ask the network who has the magazine with the same hash. And someone with the IPFS network will provide it to you. Hash is the easy way to verify your file whether it’s tempered or not. If multiple people publish the same file, it will only be created once. There are lots of advantages to it. Yet like other things it has some drawbacks. We will dive deeper regarding this later on.