- The European Union is pushing for data portability to give consumers more freedom of choice.
- The new EU law will make it easier to move data from iCloud to other cloud services.
- The law also provides safeguards for data transfer and puts Big Tech in check.
Currently, if you’re deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem, you likely have a huge range of data stored on iCloud – contacts, messages, calendars, photos, videos, mail, notes, documents, device backups, and more. Moving data from iCloud to a different cloud service (because of a price increase, say) is non-trivial, and that’s something a new law aims to change.
The idea behind data portability is that consumers should be free to move all their online data from one service to another, as quickly and as easily as possible. This is why Facebook, for example, had to launch tools to download and transfer your data. The European Union has been introducing a range of laws designed to curb the powers of big tech, including the Digital Markets Act. According to Reuters, outline agreement has now been reached on the latest of these, simply known as the Data Act.
The new law will make it easier to switch to other providers of data processing services, introduces safeguards against unlawful data transfer by cloud service providers, and provide for the development of interoperability standards for data to be reused between sectors. Moving data from iCloud is likely to be one focus of the law. While there are methods to transfer some of this data to other cloud services, transferring _all_ your data would be no trivial process. The law is likely to require a much slicker process, which makes it as simple as a consumer tapping a button to move all their iCloud data.
In addition to making it easier for consumers to choose where their data is stored, the upcoming law will give you and I greater say on what data tech giants can use. As with all EU legislation, the process of passing it is a time-consuming one, with many stages to complete, so don’t expect it to take effect anytime soon. It’s likely to take at least two years before the Data Act becomes law and applies to Apple and others.
