Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft are joining forces to make your data super portable

Avengers: Infinity War is the most ambitious crossover event in history…but Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook might beg to differ.

Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft have all teamed up to work on a new open-source project called the Data Transfer Project.

The goal of the project is to give users an easy and convenient way to transfer data between each platform. If all goes as planned, users’ data would be seamlessly transferred service to service without having to be downloaded then uploaded it each time. Users would no longer feel bound to a service solely based on all the data they have stored on it.

With the Data Transfer Project announcement comes a website where the project lives, along with a white paper that gives a complete rundown of the venture. You can also find the code for this open-source undertaking on GitHub. The project is still in development.

The current iteration of the in-development project allows for the data transfer of email, calendars, tasks, contacts, and photos. The services currently integrated into this data portability system include Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Microsoft, Flickr, SmugMug, and Remember the Milk.

Seeing these four tech giants come together in order to give users total control of their personal data is certainly a positive. While each of these companies allow users to export and download their data, there’s never been a simple method for porting that data over to another service. Most users download the data where it sits locally on their hard drive. Users are left with no more than the peace of mind that they have this data. The Data Transfer Project’s goal is to change that.

It’s no coincidence that this project arrives following the implementation of the GDPR in Europe. One of the requirements of GDPR, which was enacted to protect consumers and their data and privacy, is that companies provide its users with the ability to download their data. This has pushed many of these tech companies to put a focus on its users and their data. While the GDPR only covers EU citizens, its reverberations are clearly being felt across the globe.

Looking at the powerhouses involved, there’s a few big glaring omissions when it comes to tech companies that have an exorbitant amount of our data, say Apple for example. However, the Data Transfer Project is still very much a work in progress. As its development continues, lets hope even more platforms and services get on board.