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Two first step to create a more opened web , where users are in ascendence of their own digital identities and data point , may be coming together . At SXSW 2025 , enterpriser Frank McCourt , whoseProject Libertyis grow open internet infrastructure ( and isthrowing its hat in the ringasa potential buyer for TikTok ) , denote that his organisation has been in discussions with net pioneer Tim Berners - Lee about an integration withSolid , hisopen source project aimedat giving people control over their own data .
In apanelat SXSW , McCourt shared that his squad had “ talk to Tim Berners - Lee about Solid , ” add together that “ Project Liberty is compatible with Solid . ”
Though he did n’t herald an official partnership , McCourt suggested that discussions were underway on a future collaboration .
“ We ’re moot , or talking , right now about how to incorporate that — him and Solid , his Solid Pods — into the project , ” McCourt teased .
Berners - Lee , know as thefather of the World Wide Web , announced in 2018 he had been workingwith a diminished team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to developSolid . He had also tapped British technologist John Bruce to head upInrupt , a startup built on top of the subject source task .
Inrupt has gone on to launch a privacy political platform propose at endeavor , where people see their data in on-line storage entities called Personal Online Data Stores , or Pods for shortsighted .
With similar mission in idea , Berners - Lee has been supportive of Project Liberty ’s efforts . He evenbacked its TikTok bidding , saying : “ This project has my livelihood . The web I invented was to provide powerfulness and value to individuals , which they do not have at the moment . ”
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However , there has notbeen a formal collaboration between Solid and Inrupt and Project Liberty , the latter of which is focus on the development ofDecentralized Social Networking Protocol ( DSNP ) .
That communications protocol today is being adopted by a fistful of apps and other projects , includingMeWe;Soar.com(founded by Ancestry.com’sPaul Allento construct apps through a studio apartment example ) ; and the permissionless blockchainFrequency(developed byProject Liberty Labs ) .
Project Liberty alsorecently announced a partnershipwithFree Our Feeds , an effortfocused on protect the AT Protocol , which power Bluesky ’s social meshwork .
