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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a three- to four-fold increase in digital innovation and adoption globally. At its peak in 2020, 58% of global consumer interactions were digital.
Once users, consumers, and employees experienced the benefits of digital interaction, including increased flexibility, freedom, and shorter commute times, most didn’t want to go back. Online channels have become the “new normal” for both personal and business communication.
But while there are good reasons for technology optimists to celebrate these changes, it is also important to identify and mitigate the risks that come with them. For example, centralized real-time communication (RTC) platforms such as Skype, Zoom, Slack, etc. pose serious data mining and privacy invasion threats to users.
Solving these challenges will help users take full advantage of the power of digital communication. Web3 opens up new opportunities for this. The decentralized real-time communications (dRTC) revolution is underway and will put users in control of their digital interactions and data.
Centralized RTC networks are competitive private commodities.
Most existing RTC platforms are “private products” with one main goal: to maximize profits. Typically, there is a freemium model that allows users to mount and use the product at zero or minimal cost. But as the saying goes, If you don’t pay for it, you are the product.
The Web2 communications giant has been notorious for mining user data and monetizing it through third-party advertising and other channels. For example, Zoom was caught transmitting users’ personal information to Meta from the moment they logged in.
The dataset included everything from contact information to users’ device models to unique advertising IDs. What is more concerning is that the packet encrypted transmission and Content is not encrypted. This means that encryption is broken on the server side, allowing Zoom to see and read your data.
Notably, Zoom provided this information to users who did not have a Facebook account. It may seem strange, but it shows that traditional digital communications and advertising are completely company-centric rather than user-centric. “Help us provide you with the best experience” is a joke.
“Unique advertising identifiers allow companies to target users with advertisements.” says the lawsuit against Zoom. This is about platforms or service providers making the most of user data with little regard for ethics or fairness. On the other hand, users do not have much control over their data, which is the driving force of the digital economy, even though data is the primary source.
Legacy RTC systems are distorted and broken from every angle. In addition to unethical practices, excessive centralization and single points of failure make it prone to external hacking and breaches. The rise in high-profile “Zoomombombing” incidents provides worrying evidence.
Moreover, in 2019, Slack had to reset user passwords four years after a security breach in March 2015. This shows that the actual life cycle of a data breach may be longer than the global average of 200 days, which IBM highlighted in its report. “Cost of data breach” Report in 2023.
Finally, centralized RTC networks face severe performance bottlenecks when there are sudden spikes in user activity. Legacy A/V communications can be uncomfortably choppy, especially for users with low bandwidth and connection speeds.
‘Privacy is for people who hide things’
This is one of the most infamous and misleading claims of this century. This is a ploy by companies to get users to give up control of their digital lives and data. And trading personal information for convenience has so far been the best thing users can do due to the lack of alternative tools.
But Web3 is here to change things for the better. Privacy is a fundamental principle of this ecosystem, based on the ideas of Joseph Kupfer. Essential for autonomy and freedom. With access to private, secure communication channels, users can: Choose What thoughts, feelings, and information you want to share and with whom.
Privacy is not a haven for criminals and criminals, but a way to maintain basic human dignity and safety. Because, as Edward Snowden rightly said, knowing too much about us gives Big Tech companies power. ‘Creating a permanent record of your private life.‘It’s like we’re living in someone’s database.
These records can be used to influence your decisions, actions, and choices – everything about you. And at a time when established giants are betraying their totalitarian tendencies through incidents including Cambridge Analytica and Pegasus, relate Platforms like the NSA’s Zoom.
dRTC innovation puts users back in control
Tim Berners-Lee imagined the World Wide Web as a decentralized realm accessible to everyone.Best information at any time.’ We’ve come a long way from that point. The web is no longer just about consuming/accessing information, it is also about creating, storing and sharing data. However, this is also a process in which the user loses control in the ways described above.
It is clear that the main culprit in this story is the motivation of centralization and private profit maximization. Legacy RTC platforms and service providers have no incentive to prioritize end-user privacy and focus solely on pumping the bag. They are inherently rent-exploitative and simple ethical arguments will not change anything.
But decentralized real-time communications (dRTC) networks can set the record straight and align incentives for enterprises and end users. It provides secure wallet-to-wallet communication beyond the simple P2P framework that was widely used in the early days of web3’s evolution. This enhances anonymity by giving users options beyond the typical IP/email address based communication.
It also uses the innovative dRTC framework. Embeddable Stream and spray For strong end-to-end encryption. This ensures better security from surveillance and censorship. It is difficult for rogue third parties to infiltrate these channels, which are accessible only to authenticated participants.
On the other hand, breaking down siled architectures and using globally distributed data points (nodes) significantly improves the performance of dRTC. Even users with weak Internet connections can access high-quality A/V communications in this way, democratizing access in an unexpected way.
Most importantly, a wallet-based dRTC infrastructure is absolutely user-centric, as individuals always have complete control over their data. The community orientation of the web3-based dRTC protocol ensures that rules are implemented or modified through consensus rather than the whims or fancies of centralized entities. Unlike legacy RTC models, dRTC networks foster a sovereign and circular economy where value is ultimately returned to the communities that produce it.
Therefore, dRTC is a new frontier in digital communications, and its implications go beyond secure data and information sharing. This is a way to provide a true mechanism for freedom of speech and self-expression. Finally, dRTC will enable a socio-economic dApp paradigm. This will go a long way towards making communities around the world stronger, more resilient and self-sufficient, and promoting inclusion and progress across the board.