Will Web3 be Better than Web2?

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This morning I got on my Withings “smart” scale and I saw a number I did not like.

In fact, I got frustrated and started yelling at myself.

Last week, while at a conference, where I ate very caloric food and was unable to exercise, I came back 2 pounds lighter.

Today, the scale said I had gained it all back.

I couldn’t help but think that maybe this “smart” scale says that I weigh more so that I weigh myself more. Isn’t their goal daily usage? That’s the privacy skeptic in me for all these “smart” devices.

I was planning on doing a Peloton ride anyway, but I hate to admit, that number on the scale did make me want to work harder. They tell you at the beginning of each class that output, which is a combination of your resistance and cadence, will tell you how hard you are working.

However, the whole time, I was struggling to get up to my normal average output, even though I was fueled by anger. I could blame it on the fact that I broke a rib 6 weeks ago. I could lie to myself and say that I am still building back fitness from that injury. But the fact is that I have noticed a lower output for a lot longer than 6 weeks.

My mind wandered and as I pedaled harder, I began to wonder, maybe this isn’t my imagination but actually on purpose? Since it is clear that output is not just the combination of resistance and cadence (the math doesn’t work), there is something else going into the calculation.

I bet it is age.

Since our “fitness” declines with age, I bet my output score is lower as I get older because of that declining fitness. They probably get their benchmark age data from some privacy violating, data aggregator, like Facebook.

Grrr. Why can’t Peloton customize/ individualize it? After 500 rides, it should not be that difficult to tell me how I stack up against my own performance.

So instead of feeling better about myself, I got off the bike feeling even worse. Welcome to Friday.

But what really kills me is that I know Peloton’s developers use the age factor in an effort to get me to be a regular user, which makes the company money, like that stupid scale. In thinking about your users, you want them to be so addicted to the tech that they keep coming back. What makes me addicted to an exercise bike? It’s competing with myself, based on my metrics. Peloton shows you your best performance metrics in every ride. I want to beat that!

But, I will never beat it because factoring in my advancing age makes it mathematically impossible (there are some caveats here, but you get the point).

So I keep working against a system that I have learned doesn’t work for me.

This system represents Web2. At the beginning, the transition from Web1 to Web2 meant a move away from the internet “superhighway” to an internet where users self published, like a blog. But, as it evolved, centralization took over. Peloton, for example, centralizes your workout. It gives you a class, tracks your fitness and provides the full workout experience, even post ride stretching.

But by providing these companies with our data, they do stuff with it that has unintended consequences, like violating our privacy and compromising our security. And, sometimes, making me feel bad about myself.

To change this system, we need a new one.

The promise of Web3 and decentralization is the promise of being able to take back some control. I like to think it means control over our data, and I don’t just mean metrics.

As Allison said in our webinar last night on this topic, “Web3 is very much a, ‘can I be an independent economic factor.’ ‘Can I make these things called NFTs, can I create my own cryptocurrency.’ Web3 is individualization.”

I think most people interested in their own data privacy and security are drawn to this future, regardless if it is promoted with a shiny object term like “Metaverse” or “Web3.”

I also think it is logical that we are skeptical, as I am of the technology I used this morning. The minute I woke up, technology was part of my day. From the scale to exercising, I was already immersed in an online universe. I did not need to open my laptop or put on my VR headset.

Which makes me wonder, are we already in a quasi-Metaverse? Are we too late to bring up privacy and security concerns? Can we have the right balance of individualization this time?

I know my answer to those questions. What are yours?

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About the author: Caroline McCaffery is a co-founder at ClearOPS, an A.I. privacy tech company managing privacy and security operations data to make mundane tasks, simple. She is a frequent blogger and speaker with over 20 years of experience as a lawyer working with tech startups. You can connect with her on Linkedin.

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