In May 2018, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation will come into force, and EU citizens will be given additional rights in regards to their data. As well as this, data controllers (organisations that collect data on users) will have additional obligations placed upon them.
Interestingly, one of the new rights given to users is the right to data portability. Wikipedia defines it like so:
A person shall be able to transfer their personal data from one electronic processing system to and into another, without being prevented from doing so by the data controller. In addition, the data must be provided by the controller in a structured and commonly used electronic format. The right to data portability is provided by Article 18 of the GDPR. Legal experts see in the final version of this measure a "new right" created that "reaches beyond the scope of data portability between two controllers as stipulated in Article 18."
For the purpose of this question, take the example of a smart health tracker (such as a FitBit). Will I be able to export data from my FitBit tracker and then import the data into a competitor's tracker?
In addition, how will I be expected to comply with this regulation if I design my own IoT device that synchronises with the Internet?