What Web 3.0 looks like [2014 essay by Gavin Wood]

Gavin Wood argues that the web needs to be rebuilt around zero-trust design, in which privacy and agreements are enforced mathematically rather than by trusting organisations or governments, a model he calls Web 3.0 or the "post-Snowden" web. He describes four components: static content publication similar to BitTorrent, an identity-based pseudonymous messaging system, a consensus engine, and a browser-style user interface. He names Ethereum as the first workable example of a consensus engine, and says sites will gradually adopt Bitcoin, BitTorrent and NameCoin-style components before moving fully onto a Web 3.0 browser.