Nomadic information

A couple of weeks ago I asked if things could get any worse as information loss bungles seemed to hit a government department every week. With last Friday’s announcement that 600,000 people’s identities had been lost following the theft of a Royal Navy Officer’s laptop, I estimate that gives us about 48 hours until the next blunder emerges.

That is unless you count Monday’s news from Defence Secretary Des Browne that a further two laptops with similar data (but less names) had been stolen from 2005 onwards. An investigation is to be conducted by Sir Edmund Burton. We will wait and see whether his findings will address this fundamental flaw in information protection.

Online meanwhile, there are some calling for a greater portability of data (much of which is personal). The problem right now is that for every social network, online community, or e-commerce activity we engage in, the information you enter on that site or network belongs to that online island. As you hop around these (albeit connected) islands you have to re-enter that information each time. It’s a chore.

However a forewarning comes from Monday’s FT in Kevin Alison’s analysis article, Social networks may find that it does not pay to be possessive. The story heralds a growing call for a common set of ‘data portability’ standards and its not just about saving people hassle.

Alison points out that “it could change the economies of the web itself as companies rush to build new services that take advantage of the free flow of information.” The article also asks if there are significant implications for the likes of Facebook and co. who may see their competitive advantage slip if the social networks information structure is wide open for all to see.

Issues of privacy will also be massive, Jia Shen founder of RockYou who make Facebook applications asks, “What are the rights of users and what are the motives of social networks to share data between themselves?”

That’s a worthwhile question and getting users to trust a web company when they can’t even trust their own government may take a lot of persuasion.