Yes, precisely as Marc says, it’s “Business as Usual.” It’s a good thing too, otherwise Data Portability will never be broadly adopted by social networks. With precious few open-source exceptions, new technologies and standards become mainstream because some startup sees potential profits in making users much happier.
Data Portability will be no different. Top-down imposition of new standards by any means, including yelling loudly, doesn’t work in business. Top-down imposition only works (and unfortunately only sometimes) where people’s lives and wellbeing are concerned. In those areas, I’m with Marc’s way-lefty views. I’m thrilled to support heavy societal overhead in order to protect civil liberties, ensure free speech, uphold personal privacy, stop massive electoral fraud in US presidential elections, achieve universal health care, provide universal daycare, return our educational system to a decent level, etc. “Closed” social networks threaten none of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness in any meaningful way. When they’ve come close to becoming privacy threats, quick action was taken, and openness would not have helped.
Marc is also completely correct that Data Portability is inevitable but completely wrong about how it happens. He can not convince the vendor community that Data Portability is “right” or that the Internet citizenry deserve to be treated a certain way. Instead, someone else will figure out how to turn truly portable social profiles into an economic advantage that raises the standard of competition among social networks. Facebook did something analogous with the F8 application platform, and it’s going to make them (and hopefully us) a ton of money. It’s also made their competition’s life hell for at least the last few months.
I like Marc personally and have great respect for his intellect. I’ve tried hard to take a glass-is-half-full perspective on his counterproductive and self-destructive posturing, but today’s unwarranted personal attack on Dave is just too much. Per Jason’s comment on Marc’s post, Dave is investing his time in helping along as many social software entrepreneurs as he can reach, to a large degree selflessly. The people that Dave freely supports and teaches are exactly the kind of greedy, competitive innovators who will make Data Portability for social networks a reality.
Marc’s repetitious, empty, and in loco parentis misrepresentation of his own opinions as the Common Good is delaying Data Portability rather than accelerating it. He is estranging those of us that agree with him in substance but can no longer bear his form. Dave McClure, Tim O’Reilly, et al, would be Marc’s natural allies on Data Portability if he allowed it. There’s nowhere near 100% alignment of that group’s views, but their vision of an Open Data endgame is more in sync than in opposition.
Delivering new software and services that intensify social networking competition is a productive and high-probability method to achieve Data Portability on a massive scale. At best, all the other noise is weak attempt to take credit for other people’s focus and hard work ahead of their success.
Disclosure: I’m happy and proud to be on a panel at Graphing Social Patterns West and to have Dave as an investor in Mashery. Of course, it would be nicer if I hadn’t lost him money on Feedster.