Facebook Highlights Data Portability Issues

Facebook has called on regulators and other experts to answer key questions to help it forge its strategy around protecting user privacy while meeting demand for increased data portability, notes Mobile World Live. In a whitepaper, Facebook noted laws such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the US state of California’s Consumer Privacy Act require it to offer tools making it easier for users to transfer their data from one service to another. “But it said complex questions about what and whose data should be transferable; how to share it in a manner which fully protects user privacy; and who is liable for misuse after a transfer remain unanswered. It pointed out user data can be interrelated and a portability request from one user could potentially include information about another person. Such a scenario raises questions about whether consent should be required from all users involved and whether this would restrict portability.”

In a blog, Facebook VP and chief privacy officer Erin Egan wrote: “To build portability tools people can trust and use effectively, we should develop clear rules about what kinds of data should be portable and who is responsible for protecting that data as it moves to different providers.” Egan added Facebook wants the views of “privacy experts, policymakers, regulators and other companies around the globe about how data portability should be implemented to maximise the benefits while mitigating the risks”.

The white paper is titled ‘Data portability and privacy” and addresses five questions: What is data portability? Which data should be portable? Whose data should be portable? How should we protect privacy while enabling portability? After people’s data is transferred, who is responsible if the data is misused or otherwise improperly protected? See more and Facebook white paper here.