An interesting article for all those who are interested in technology discourse. In a recent VNU.net post the EU Commission made a statement about their understanding of Web 3.0:

While Web 2.0 described the trend towards online collaborative working, including the evolution of social networking sites, wikis and blogs, Web 3.0 will rely on high-performance broadband infrastructure.

According to Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Web 3.0

means seamless, anytime, anywhere business, entertainment and social networking over fast reliable and secure networks. [...] It means the end of the divide between mobile and fixed lines. We must make sure that Web 3.0 is made and used in EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea to the ....

This sounds to me like selling old wine in new bottles, revitalising the Commission’s infrastructure policies. And altough broadband is a crucial factor in the evolution of the web, the Commission totally misses the point about the semantics-related innovation paths rolling out in a Web 3.0-scenario.

If anyone has the opportunity, please give Mrs. Reding a briefing!