A policy vision for portability in the United States
In February of this year, DTI held a day-long Data Transfer Summit in Washington, D.C., joined by leading academics, industry, civil society, and government representatives. The United States is, and will continue to be, a critically important environment to realize DTI’s mission. Today we are sharing our vision for this context, including why data portability is important in the U.S., and what can be done to advance the benefits of portability for the internet ecosystem and all of its participant organizations and people.
Much of the regulation concerning data portability has been outside the United States, but there has been some activity. Last year, we analyzed legislative proposals in the U.S. and compared them to portability rules in the European Union, specifically the GDPR and the Digital Markets Act. Both this year and last year, DTI also highlighted the portability provisions of newly passed U.S. state privacy laws and provided global policy updates, noting a trend towards more regulation on the issue. Certainly, future U.S. action could meaningfully change the landscape.
But laws are just a piece of the puzzle of data portability, neither necessary nor sufficient in and of themselves to realize benefit. And the benefits of portability are significant. Its origins are in data protection, and recently many analysts have focused on its relation to competition. Even these significant domains do not tell the full story of data portability’s impact, however.
In our U.S. vision paper, we articulate the broad range of benefits that user-driven data portability helps provide, including innovation, user agency, online safety, and AI governance. Data portability is not meant to be a complete answer to any of these, but it offers significant and sustainable positive impact towards them all.
We also offer a roadmap to realize the benefits of data portability in the U.S., one that can be led by the U.S. government or by non-governmental actors, though it will ultimately require collaboration from a broad range of leaders. The action items on that roadmap are to raise public awareness; convene stakeholders; develop metrics; invest in innovation; promote compliance; and collaborate globally.
As data portability becomes more central in policy discussions, U.S. stakeholders, both in and out of government, have a rare opportunity to come together and provide tangible and universal benefit, not only for the country but for the world. At DTI, we will do our part, leading and bringing stakeholders together to advance our mission: empowering people by building a vibrant ecosystem for simple and secure data transfers.