I started thinking about my database project today. I recalled that Identi.ca allows users to download their data. Perhaps every website should permit the user to download his data in an open format? I also believe that web services should permanently delete user data at the user’s request.
Since my database project involves creating an auction site, I will use it as my first example. Let’s say a user bids on an book and wins the auction. The user wants to add the book information to his library application. The auction listing contains the basic information for the book. If the information were open the user could perform some of the following actions:
import data using an application
convert the data to a format useful for another application
With the open data, the user will be able to view his bidding history without having to visit the website everytime.
Facebook users will be able to save data from applications even in the event the application ceases to work (I would liked to have had this feature when my bookshelf application crashed). Facebook could require all developers to save their data in open format(s). Facebook could give the user the option of downloading data for applications and his profile.
There are numerous other examples I could think of. If you know of other ways you could benefit from by controlling your web data, please post them in the comments.
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