The Center for Data Innovation has responded to a request for comment from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the potential benefits and challenges to consumers and competition raised by data portability. In these comments the Center explains that policymakers should avoid broad data portability mandates, such as those imposed by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Rather, policymakers should pursue targeted data portability requirements where either there are clear opportunities to improve consumer welfare or the industry in question is highly regulated, such as healthcare, education, and financial services.
Comments to the FTC on Data Portability
Hodan Omaar
Hodan Omaar is a former senior policy manager at the Center for Data Innovation focusing on AI policy. Previously, she worked as a senior consultant on technology and risk management in London and as a crypto-economist in Berlin. She has an MA in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh.
Daniel Castro
Daniel Castro is president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the world’s top-ranked think tank for science and technology policy, where he leads the organization’s work shaping debates on critical issues at the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. He is a prolific writer and respected public speaker on issues ranging from Internet policy and digital governance to artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. Castro also founded and is director of ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation, a leading voice on open data, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. He has played a key role in advancing the OPEN Government Data Act and has long worked on the policy and economic impact of data-driven innovation. His work on AI spans a broad range of policy issues, including adoption and diffusion, privacy and security, intellectual property, deepfakes and information integrity, and the economic and competitive dynamics of AI, as well as global competition and governance—particularly in China and Europe.
