Social Media Users' Bill of Rights: Good idea?

The Bill of Rights codifies many arguments which have been in play for some time like portability of user data on which there is at least some consensus. Yet other features of the draft like syndicating content users have created in one site like Facebook with another are more problematic. Many social networking sites thrive by virtue of the fact that they are a closed system and such an approach would likely pose a threat to their business model.

And then there's governance. It is unclear who would enforce these 'rights' - Government Entity? Users? Consortium? Tricky business no matter how you slice it.

In fairness to the authors, who are well-known for their savvy in the blogging world, it is doubtful they expect their Bill of Rights to be implemented as-is. Their draft is useful if for no other reason than to spur on discussion about these issues.

Clearly, it will be difficult to ignore the realities of profit motive for social network sites, but in order for exponential growth in social media to continue, some schema for data sharing will likely be necessary.

Figuring out how to do that in a way which preserves privacy, portability, autonomy and the bottom line for social media businesses...well, that's the hard part.

Social Networking Bill of Rights