Learning from the Future at the Next Web with Chris Saad from Maarten on Vimeo.

You can also watch the DataPortability keynote on Christian’s blog.

As part of the ongoing DataPortabilityAndMe conversation, I have posted my series of videos answering the questions posed… here they are!

What does DataPortability mean to me?

How will DataPortability change the way I use the web?

How would you explain the value of DataPortability to Vendors?

How would you explain the value of DataPortability to End-users?

What would you like to see from the DataPortability Project in the next 12-24 months?

I want DataPortability

I was asked some questions by Ouriel Ohayon to help with his upcoming presentation at Tel Aviv University. I thought I would share my answers here as well.

He asked me what I thought were the top 3 concerns for Privacy on Social Networks in a DataPortability enabled world

My answers…

1. Perception: Privacy Concerns are somewhat over-exaggerated - just like with any new system/approach. If I email you, you get my email address. Why wouldn’t the same thing happen if I ‘friend’ you on a social network. The question is not if Robert Scoble had a right to get the data and the data of his friends - the question is why Facebook won’t let him.

   Update: I forgot to mention here that if email addresses and spam are the issue - then moving away from email addresses as a means for uniquely identifying users should help solve the issue. As Chris Messina says, we should be using OpenID instead of Email addresses for login and uniqueness checks.
   

2. Control: “Privacy” is just a subset of a broader issue of “Control”. Facebook and others can give lots of Privacy but ultimately give very little Control. A whole set of other Control features are needed including DataPortability support. Facebook and others like to pretend they are protecting users - but actually they are just protecting their business model. Open will always win though.
3. Language: Privacy is a very poor, out-dated word. In a social world privacy is less of a concern than complexity and information overload. We need to move onto more practical words such as permissions and trust. Words that let users act.

Nick Hodge from Microsoft flew up to interview us about Particls. He did a great job and we had a fun time at lunch afterwards.

Check out the fruits of his labour over on10.net

Thanks to Nick Hodge for getting it done and our biz dev manager Nik Seirlis for his help.