Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter launch an open source data portability project for direct platform transfers



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At present, many of the online products and services we use do not interact coherently and intuitively. Hosted information on a platform can not be transferred easily and securely to other services. It is to change this situation that 4 big Internet initiates a project of transfer of the data. The initiative is open source and aims to make the process as seamless as possible between platforms.

Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Google are the initiators, but it seems that the dclic has left Mountain View. The portability of data follows the creation of a Libration Front (data) by Google engineers. She is borrowing from the Takeout service of the Mountain View firm. By relying on the service that has become Download Your Data, users can transfer their content to Dropbox, Box, Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive, without having to go through the intermediary step of creating an archive.

Moving your data between two services can be complicated because everyone relies on their own design and uses types of data that may require special privacy controls, writes Facebook. The portability of data between services is a simple, important concept and a highly complex technological challenge, writes Microsoft. The generalization of lide Takeout is not an easy task. However, in the long run, it deserves to stick with the spirit of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The initiative also brings the seeds of increased competition between platforms. Indeed, it will become easier for one user to give up one service for another. Following the scandal Cambridge Analytica, such a maneuver would be justified for users eager to leave Facebook for an open source alternative and without tracking.

From a technical point of view, this project aims to bring participants to make use of common data models . Under these conditions, each cloud service provider will only have to set up and maintain an API that allows the support of these formats. The approach will allow the direct transfer of contacts, photos, emails, tasks, calendars, music, etc. between platforms. What must be emphasized here is that these are categories of data that can be divided into types. For example, playlists and videos may be music streaming as a type of data transfer.

The project is still in its infancy. However, the companies have given the possibility to gauge it by observing the demonstration of the local server that accompanies the other available resources.

Sources: Google ticket, project site

And you?

What do you think of this initiative?

Do you know why other Internet players would benefit from following this trend? What could justify the opposing posture?

See also:

Google Data Studio, a data visualization and reporting tool, available as a free version

Google officially introduces its Data Loss API Prevention that helps businesses protect and regulate sensitive data

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