Join Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter

Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter unveiled plans to facilitate the transfer of personal data from one user of an online service to another. The data transfer project revealed by companies responds to concerns about the growing influence of these platforms and the concern of users to control their shared personal information online.

Controlling your data on the Web, in part because of the ability to transport your data, "said the companies on the project's website on the Internet

Data portability has been a goal of many activists for the protection of privacy. and is registered in certain national regulations, including the new general regulation for the protection of personal data in Europe.

Currently, users can download their data from an online service but without guarantee that it will be possible or possible to download them to a new one.

The situation can lead people to feel anchored to a service or an application so as not to lose photos, contacts, publications or other accumulated data, even if they are not satisfied or if an option that the draws is presented more.

"Facilitating the choice between services facilitates competition, trains people to try new services and allows them to choose the offer that best suits their needs," says the project on its website.

"There are many cases of use for users who transfer data directly between services, some of which are known today, others that we have yet to discover."
The reasons for retrieving personal information may include removing an earlier service, testing a new one or simply backing it up to keep it safe

The project was created ago two years and is in the development phase.

The announcement comes at a time when social networks and Internet messaging services are under scrutiny for their potential to abuse positions of power and in full debate about the right of people to control their data online.

Be that as it may, the fact that the initiative is supported by four of the most influential companies in the technology sector should go a long way in stimulating the interest of the industry. . The group has created a website dedicated to the data transfer project