Who holds most data about us?

Marshal Kirkpack Says ...

Google and Facebook, two companies that hold more user data and do more with it than almost any other consumer service on the market

Source: Google and Facebook Join DataPortability.org from Read/WriteWeb

Isn't he being too tech-world-centric and ignoring the "old economy" completely?
I think companies who "hold more user data" and "do more with it" than others surely would be Banks and other financial institutions (I am counting out governments as they are not "consumer services") than Google or Facebook for 2 reasons:

How many people have accounts with these two companies as compared to how many have accounts with Banks?
How much important is data like say "my search history" or "my friend list" as compared to "my credit history" ??

Need I say more .... ?

While data portability is an important technology issue (new microformats, APML etc) which needs to be discussed - governments, corporate and individuals urgently need to agree on uniform code of conduct for privacy related items which will spring up when data portability technology matures and becomes a norm.

And given that the old economy will continue to store data in traditional manners which might not be portable - it is very important that stakeholders like Financial Institutions and the government are party to all the initiatives that deal with data portability as it is very closely related to privacy.

Unless there is involvement from the 'old economy' quarters - we will probably be heading towards a Y2K equivalent of data privacy!

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