Blank (Media) Slate

We are joined by Robert Scoble in episode 9 of the DataPortability: In-Motion Podcast. Currently the Managing Director of FastCompany.tv, he is a well-known and respected technology pundit who got his start blogging at UserLand. He is well known as an early advocate of the DataPortability Project when he tried to download his social data from Facebook.

The show is kicked off with a discussion about his recent speculation that Microsoft could buy Facebook and keep it closed. Scoble talks about the services and tools like FriendFeed that offer alternate news streams to counter the Facebook hegemony. The discussion also flowed around automated behavior tracking, advertizing, and the interplay between control/privacy within various portable data models.

Of particular interest is Scoble’s view of the inevitability of an open flow of user data:

Openness does win in the end. It will just take a little bit of time to get there. We’ll see a lot of new stuff come along to make it easier for users to open these systems up.

Episode 9: Listen | Comment
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Episode Length: 00:26:30