Call for papers - Theme day on Web 3.0.

The Cyberjustice Laboratory invites students, doctoral or master's degree candidates, to submit a paper on a Web 3.0 related topic.

Two students will be invited to participate in two roundtables as part of a Web 3.0 theme day to be held in to be held in the fall of 2023.

  • Round table 1 - The promises and applications of Web 3.0. Empowerment of the citizen and disintermediation of society
  • Round Table 2 - Challenges and regulations of Web 3.0

The Cyberjustice Laboratory will cover the travel and accommodation expenses of the selected candidates.

 

Criteria for submission

  • The text must be related to the field of technology law and respect the theme of the thematic day: Web 3.0. Please specify which round table you wish to participate in.
  • The text must not be an article that has already been published. The text must not exceed three pages and can be written in French or English. Please note that papers will be held in English.
  • The paper must be submitted in PDF format before April 30 2023 to the following email address: alexandre.lapalme@umontreal.ca.
  • Papers received will be subject to a single blind review process.

 

Details of the theme day

  • Title: "Web 3.0 : from decentralization to emancipation?"
  • Date of the day: October 16, 2023
  • Location : Event at the Cyberjustice Laboratory (B-2215), Pavillon 3200 Jean-Brillant, Université de Montréal

 

Abstract

Succeeding to the first-generation encyclopedic web and the social or participatory web, Web 3.0 heralds the "Great Decentralization" era, a new Internet age marked by a fiduciary governance model embedded in technology. This new concept arises in reaction to Big Techs' "Great Domination" as to both digital infrastructures and access to content, with the creation of gigantic databases on and by the third-party users as well as the burgeoning of a new data-driven economy.  The advent of Web 3.0 promises an open, distributive, freely accessible, reliable and verifiable self-driven cyberspace (even) without trusted intermediaries, where the Web 2.0 "consumer" finally becomes "citizen" of the world. Our data economy is morphing into a sharing or collaborative economic model restoring for all the freedom to act, work and live. The use of distributed ledgers to record and validate cryptocurrency-based transactions executed by smart contracts is indeed undermining the pivotal role taken up thus far by our financial institutions and governments as recognized trusted intermediaries. From finance (deFi) to business (DAO) and user data management, the commitment of decentralization is on everyone's lips.

 

Yet, is Web 3.0 really leading to a democratic Internet? The Bitcoin White Paper, released in the midst of the 2008 banking and financial crisis, purportedly depicted a peer-to-peer electronic payment system that stands out as an alternative - and critique - to our existing financial system. That said, the high energy cost required for validating blockchain transactions could only be borne by a minority of miners, and favours the concentration of decision-making power in the hands of a "privileged" few. More fundamentally, concerns raised by the prospect of crypto-capitalism would be less about its novelty than the temporary nature of its empowerment promise which will soon be exploited and reclaimed by the States, (other) traditional trusted intermediaries, and even the Big Tech of Web 2.0. Besides short-term compliance issues, long-term regulatory reforms are in the process of being crystallised so to absorb, firmly and lastingly, Web 3.0 into the existing regulatory framework: one may think in particular of the (new) taxation of virtual currencies, sweeping control measures against money laundering and terrorist financing, or the rise of DAOs as a new recognized LLC legal structure. As governments, central banks and social networks are creating their own digital currencies and maintaining their own distributed ledgers in the name of improving public services and user experience, what would ultimately remain of the decentralization ideals of Web 3.0?

 

This content has been updated on 12/14/2023 at 11 h 15 min.