I've been reading up at the dataportability.org and the plan looks great. I can attest to suffering from data fatigue but I can't help but wonder about how privacy is managed as sensitive data and content is passed and accessed among a number of "other people's servers." Reading their FAQs it looks like they are somewhat open ended about privacy concerns:
I hope a viable privacy strategy surfaces from Data Portability members rather than expecting the actuaries to sort out the details after the fact.Are there any disadvantages of Data Portability?
It would be foolish to say ‘no’. But very tempting. People are going to voice concerns about privacy, but soon enough the actuaries will insure our personal privacy much like they do every other aspect of our lives.
In the end, however, a sort of data banking system will emerge where truster 3rd parties will earn credibility and trust with data - and others will not.
I love the convenience and mobility that web-based services provide and I'm lured by the efficiency that data portability promises but in the back of my head I hear the words echoing, "It's not 'your space' at MySpace." This mantra applies to all web-based services.
With the web-services and application game growing so rapidly, new players entering the space everyday and the Goliath, Google, continuing to expand its reach offering more and more services for free (wink) it's becoming harder and harder to know which direction is up when it comes to privacy in the data cloud.
The connect-the-dots data game is becoming easier and easier for users and particularly service providers. One bit of news I find disconcerting in this area is that Experian, one of the 3 credit bureaus, recently purchased HitWise, a company that collects traffic data directly from ISPs. Yikes.
