Should-Read: Ben Thompson:The GDPR and Facebook and Google, Intelligent Tracking Prevention, Data Portability and Social Graphs

Should-Read: We seem to be headed toward a future in which governments—at least in Europe—both entrench and then heavily regulate Google and Facebook, with their information edge creating the possibility that they will be for the 21st century very much what AT&T in the United States was for the bulk of the 20th century:

Ben Thompson: THE GDPR AND FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE, INTELLIGENT TRACKING PREVENTION, DATA PORTABILITY AND SOCIAL GRAPHS: “Several folks have suggested that the GDPR’s requirements around data portability… https://stratechery.com/2017/the-gdpr-and-facebook-and-google-intelligent-tracking-prevention-data-portability-and-social-graphs/

…including that it be machine accessible (i.e. not just a PDF) will help new networks form, but in fact the opposite is the case…. It’s a reasonable regulation: my friend on Facebook didn’t give permission for their information to be given to Snapchat, for example. It does, though, make it that much more difficult to bootstrap a Facebook competitor…