Dear Listers, Just a random thought. What if the law entitled users to a periodic (eg. quarterly) download of all data collected of them by large platform companies (including telcos); and the users could grant file access to the competitors as the user migrates? What if it was API-based data access that the user could grant to third parties including competitors? What if there was an automated data depository eg. for telcos; whereby I can invoke the right to access all the data the telco holds of me, and I proceed to grant the data depository access to my data, automatically retrieved from my telco A. That way my data *anonymized or otherwise permitted* can be accessible from the depository and aggregated with other peoples' to develop services on top of the data layer by third parties such as startups, data mining & research services, and even telco B which competes as an underdog with telco A. The assumption would be that the user owns the data held by the platform/telco which has already got its head start with appropriating my data by collecting it in realtime. It would also be assumed that access to my data in the depository is only by licensed entities under stringent rules that respect my access permission settings. What could go wrong with such an approach to user data? What could go well? Any thoughts? -- John Kieti Phone: +254-735-764242 // +254-722-764242 Twitter: @johnKieti <https://twitter.com/johnkieti> // Skype: jkieti Blog: gmeltdown.com <http://www.gmeltdown.com> // LinkedIn: https://ke.linkedin.com/in/*kieti* <https://ke.linkedin.com/in/kieti> The ordinary just won't do