The Competition Bureau published a report today showing Canadians could save a lot of time and money if they could easily and securely transfer their personal data from one service provider to another.
The report-Your Data, Your Control: How data portability can unlock competition and empower consumers- breaks new ground by estimating the value of data portability for consumers, using the insurance sector as a case study.
The Bureau found that a data portability framework in the insurance sector could save Canadians between $1.1 billion and $3.8 billion in annual costs. These savings come from switching to less expensive insurance plans and from reducing the time Canadians spend comparing and switching insurance providers. The potential savings and benefits from enabling data portability across the broader Canadian economy could be much greater.
The Bureau's report also provides a roadmap for policymakers by identifying key factors for the creation of a Canadian data portability framework. These include:
- Ensuring consumers trust oversight bodies and understand how their personal data is used;
- Providing strong privacy protection, clear consent rules, and high interoperability to allow data sharing between digital platforms; and
- Learning from the efforts of other countries, such as open banking in the United Kingdom and Australia's Consumer Data Right.
The Bureau's aim is to promote the benefits of data portability in Canada-beyond early developments in areas such as consumer-driven banking-and to encourage the adoption of policies that give consumers more power over their data in the digital world.
