The ownership Web

Abstract

This chapter dives into the visions and the emergent imaginary of Web3. It shows how they operate as a response to a disillusionment with what the Web has become. Visioners of Web3 depict Web 2.0 as a corporate takeover of the Web and offer their vision of the Web as a way for users and creators to reclaim control and a fair share of the value they co-create. However, instead of resurrecting the idea of a post-ownership Commons unrestricted by the imperatives of commerce and property, Web3 seeks to erect a new kind of Commons that cannot be usurped and exploited by Big Tech. This requires a radical break with the economic innocence of the early Web. Instead of rejecting ownership and business it embraces them, with an eye to re-erecting the Web on the principles of tokenomics. Decentralized token ownership is meant to ensure more efficient and sustainable management of the shared Web infrastructures and resources while also ensuring genuine participation of Web users in the distribution of economic rewards and the governance of the Web Commons. This chapter concludes with a reflection on the (d)evolving imaginaries of the Web surveyed across this part of the book.