There's a new kid on the block, another potential standard that's trying to unify the web ... the problem is clear: -
"As users, our identity, photos, videos and other forms of personal data should be discoverable by, and shared between our chosen (and trusted) tools or vendors. We need a DHCP for Identity. A distributed File System for data. The technologies already exist, we simply need a complete reference design to put the pieces together."
The solution, less clear: -
"DataPortability is not inventing any new standards. In fact many of the participants in DataPortability project are very active in the existing standard communities (in some cases helping to start them!). DataPortability simply puts the standards in context of each other so that consumers, vendors and developers can more easily understand and implement then as an end-to-end data portability solution. Please visit the Supporting Standards Page for more information."
There's already an large list of names involved: -
- Google
- Plaxo
- Facebook
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- Flickr
- Six Apart
- Microsoft
- Digg
- MySpace
The team over at DataPortability.org have uploaded an impressive FAQ which describes all the issues and potential solutions.
I have to say, when I read the name of companies involved it instantly reminded me of a Yes Minister episode: -
I wonder, which of the list above are in it to win it, and which are in it to stop it?
The power of many of the social networks is derived from the data which they hold, if they open up too much, their data becomes less valuable.
It will be interesting to watch the project.