I've spoken about the Web 2.0 movement that is now calling itself "data portability." Now there are web sites, and format specifications and plans are underway to make it possible to quickly export the personal data you put on one social networking site to another. While that sounds like a good thing -- we like interoperability, and cooperation, and low barriers to entry on new players -- I sometimes seem like a lone voice warning about some of the negative consequences of this.

I know I'm not going to actually stop the data portability movement, and nor is that really my goal. But I do have a challenge for it: Switch to a slightly negative name. Data portability sounds like motherhood, and this is definitely not a motherhood issue. Deliberately choosing a name that includes the negative connotations would make people stop and think as they implement such systems. It would remind them, every step of the way, to consider the privacy implications. It would cause people asking about the systems to query what they have done about the downsides.

And that's good, because otherwise it's easy to put on a pure engineering mindset and say, "what's the easiest way we can build the tools to make this happen?" rather than "what's a slightly harder way that mitigates some of the downsides?"

A name I dreamed up is BEPSI, standing for Bulk Export of Personal and Sensitive Information. This is just as descriptive, but reminds you that you're playing with information that has consequences. Other possible names include EBEPSI (Easy Bulk Export...) or OBEPSI (One-click Bulk Export...) which sounds even scarier.

It's rare for people to do something so balanced, though. Nobody likes to be reminded there could be problems with what they're doing. They want a name that sounds happy and good, so they can feel happy and good. And I know the creator of dataportability.org thinks he's got a perfectly good name already so there will be opposition. But a name like this, or another similar one, would be the right thing to do. Remind people of the paradoxes with every step they take.