Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Dismantling the Barriers to Personal Data Portability
Arthur Borem, University of Chicago; Lisa Dusseault, Data Transfer Initiative
Data Portability is an under-rated right, but is needed for people to have agency over their data privacy – a fact recognized by emerging regulations (EU, UK). Companies hosting personal data such as photos, playlists, conversations, search history, favorites and forum messages, must satisfy these regulations.
Despite the increasing regulatory pressure, significant barriers to data portability remain, including usability barriers, interoperability problems, and lack of trust between the services that need to work together. We explain the biggest barriers and provide some recommendations by presenting relevant findings from academic research, as well as prototypes that show that best UX practice is feasible for any participant. We point to solutions for the problem of trust coordination failures, which has contributed to the low number of effective options for personal data transfer. This talk is especially relevant for privacy-conscious companies holding personal data.
View the full PEPR '26 program at usenix.org/conference/pepr26/program
Dismantling the Barriers to Personal Data Portability
Arthur Borem, University of Chicago; Lisa Dusseault, Data Transfer Initiative
Data Portability is an under-rated right, but is needed for people to have agency over their data privacy – a fact recognized by emerging regulations (EU, UK). Companies hosting personal data such as photos, playlists, conversations, search history, favorites and forum messages, must satisfy these regulations.
Despite the increasing regulatory pressure, significant barriers to data portability remain, including usability barriers, interoperability problems, and lack of trust between the services that need to work together. We explain the biggest barriers and provide some recommendations by presenting relevant findings from academic research, as well as prototypes that show that best UX practice is feasible for any participant. We point to solutions for the problem of trust coordination failures, which has contributed to the low number of effective options for personal data transfer. This talk is especially relevant for privacy-conscious companies holding personal data.
View the full PEPR '26 program at usenix.org/conference/pepr26/program
