The Future of Data Portability is Direct Data Transfers

Delara Derakhshani is director of policy and Zander Arnao is a policy intern at the Data Transfer Initiative (DTI). Shutterstock Today, data portability–the ability to move personal data from one technology service to another–typically occurs when users download their personal data from one service and upload it  to another. As the demands of users and requirements of regulators evolve, this approach is giving way to a new paradigm: direct data transfers between digital services. Direct transfers will likely become the preferred mechanism to serve users, raising important questions about how to design digital services to enable sharing while also keeping users’ personal data secure. To better understand the shift to this new paradigm, it is worth examining how data portability has developed to date. The Rise of Data Downloads In 2011, Google (a founding partner of our organization the Data Transfer Initiative) released a product called Google Takeout, which allows its users to export personal data. According to the team that built Google Takeout, the “Data Liberation Front,” the goal of the tool was to help users move their data in and out of Google so that they can choose between multiple (even competing) technologies. This mission– empowering users with choice–has remained the bedrock principle of data portability ever since.  Over time, the data download became the standard for enabling data portability. Many companies that process personal data began to follow Google’s lead and designed features that enable users to export their data. In 2016, the European Union (EU) made data downloads…The Future of Data Portability is Direct Data Transfers