(Originally Posted July 16th 2023)
Bit of a wide question but I think the importance of ownership means more for small time developers and personal accounts. Many platforms on ‘Web 2’ usually retain the rights to anything and everything created on their platform. “Web 3” is about ownership of (self)creation regarding blog posts, personal photos, art, music, videos, stories, and can go further with participants creating and owning communities tied to their account surrounding topics (Similar to a forum) or ownership of a (Decentralized) Application developed on ‘Web 3’.
There is so much confusion reading ‘terms and services'(ToS) agreements platforms use that are worded in such a way that it is confusing to understand what the hell is actually being agreed upon. Besides ‘Adhere to the code of conduct’ it might also state that the company retains all rights and complete ownership of anything created, shared, and posted on their platform that could also be removed at any time if what was shared is suddenly deemed as going against the signed ToS. Poof! Everything created and shared is gone.
“Web 3” is built on “Blockchain” and all the data created is saved within the blocks and tied to the unique key code that represents a participants account. When created, the block is signed, dated, and can be checked on at anytime to verify who the creator is. The simple act of looking at the previous blocks and connection to a unique key means that verification and ownership are no longer *JUST* represented by a piece of paper.
Helpful Link:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/money-finance/3-ways-web-30-will-change-digital-ownership/432166 – Article about digital ownership and what is could represent
https://ethereum.org/en/web3/ – Another overview with a segment on ownership.