Facebook vs. Data Portability: Who Owns an Individual’s Data? Supreme Court asked to Decide Power Ventures’ Eight-Year Battle to Let Users Own their Personal Data Seeks to Provide Same Rights that Mobile Phone Users Already Have Won Washington - March 14, 2017 - Power Ventures, creators of a third-party platform designed to organize all of one’s social networking data in once place, today announced its petition for the Supreme Court to decide an eight-year-old dispute with Facebook on the issue of data portability, i.e., who owns an individual's data. Power Ventures CEO Steve Vachani is at the center of the dispute stemming from his former web dashboard Power.com, which allowed users to control all of their social networks from a central location. The case previously went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed prior claims that Vachani violated the CAN SPAM Act and the CFAA. Now, the case is headed to Supreme Court to settle once and for all who owns personal data placed on third-party providers. “The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recognized that we were completely authorized in our initial user authorization and that the only remaining issue is to resolve whose authorization mattered once a cease and desist notice was sent,” said Vachani “We consider this recognition a progressive move toward the overall goal of establishing users’ rights to data portability.” Power.com proved to be an appealing venture before Facebook sought to shut it down. According to Vachani, the site peaked at roughly 20 million users and without obstruction from most of the popular social networking sites– all except for Facebook. Now, this case is likely to set a legal precedent that could potentially impact every Internet user. “Data portability is the most important digital issue of our time and the determination of who truly owns your online presence will be crucial to the growth and economics of our digital culture,” said Vachani. “Users give hours daily to social networking and few really understand the nuances of term and usage agreements. My goal in making this case is to stand up for the user and finally resolve the issue of access, ownership and control of online data without obstruction.” For more information on the Facebook v. Power Ventures case, please visit: https://www.slideshare.net/vachani1/power-ventures-inc-and-steven-vachani-vs-facebook-supreme-court-petition-for-writ-of-certiorari Power currently has support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) https://www.eff.org/document/facebook-v-power-ventures-eff-aclu-amicus-brief and is currently seeking and expects a wide spectrum of additional civil liberties, human rights, and constitutional rights groups to join its Supreme Court battle and weigh in its favor stating in its petition that ‘Data portability is a burgeoning policy concern of our time, as underscored by a recent report issued by the European Union

1. Facebook vs. Data Portability: Who Owns an
Individual’s Data? Supreme Court asked to Decide
Power Ventures’ ​Eight-Year Battle to Let Users Own their Personal Data Seeks to Provide Same
Rights that Mobile Phone Users Already Have Won
Washington - March 14, 2017 - Power Ventures, creators of a third-party platform designed to
organize all of one’s social networking data in once place, today announced its petition for the
Supreme Court to decide an eight-year-old dispute with Facebook on the issue of data
portability, i.e., who owns an individual's data. Power Ventures CEO Steve Vachani is at the
center of the dispute stemming from his former web dashboard Power.com, which allowed users
to control all of their social networks from a central location. The case previously went to the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed prior claims that Vachani violated the CAN SPAM Act
and the CFAA. Now, the case is headed to Supreme Court to settle once and for all who owns
personal data placed on third-party providers.
“The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recognized that we were completely authorized in our initial
user authorization and that the only remaining issue is to resolve whose authorization mattered
once a cease and desist notice was sent,” said Vachani “We consider this recognition a
progressive move toward the overall goal of establishing users’ rights to data portability.”
Power.com proved to be an appealing venture before Facebook sought to shut it down.
According to Vachani, the site peaked at roughly 20 million users and without obstruction from
most of the popular social networking sites– all except for Facebook. Now, this case is likely to
set a legal precedent that could potentially impact every Internet user.
“Data portability is the most important digital issue of our time and the determination of who truly
owns your online presence will be crucial to the growth and economics of our digital culture,”
said Vachani. “Users give hours daily to social networking and few really understand the
nuances of term and usage agreements. My goal in making this case is to stand up for the user
and finally resolve the issue of access, ownership and control of online data without
obstruction.”
For more information on the Facebook v. Power Ventures case, please visit:
https://www.slideshare.net/vachani1/power-ventures-inc-and-steven-vachani-vs-facebook-su
preme-court-petition-for-writ-of-certiorari

2. Power currently has support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU)​ ​https://www.eff.org/document/facebook-v-power-ventures-eff-aclu-amicus-brief
and is currently seeking and expects a wide spectrum of additional civil liberties, human rights,
and constitutional rights groups to join its Supreme Court battle and weigh in its favor stating in
its petition that ‘Data portability is a burgeoning policy concern of our time, as underscored by a
recent report issued by the European Commission’s Directorate General Justice and
Consumers. (See Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, Guidelines on the Right to Data
Portability (Dec. 13, 2016), available at
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/image/document/2016-51/wp242_en_40852.pdf​).
About Power Ventures (formerly operating as Power.com)
From 2006 to 2011, Power Ventures operated a groundbreaking online communications, personal data management,
and social networking aggregator hosted at the website www.power.com. Power offered registered users the capacity
to access multiple online social networks (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging services (e.g., Microsoft
messenger—MSN), and email accounts (e.g., Google mail) through a single, integrated online interface consisting of
a digital dashboard and browser. This online interface also featured popular add-in applications like a unified address
book and mailbox integrating all of a user’s contacts, emails, social network messages, and instant messages in one
place. The interface additionally enabled Power users to move files between different accounts with a click-and-drag
function, like a user moves folders on an AppleOS or Microsoft Windows desktop.
Founded ​by CEO and global serial entrepreneur, Steven Vachani in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2006, Power Ventures
was Brazil’s first global technology startup to ever to receive funding from a Tier 1 Silicon Valley VC firm. Power built
the Internet’s first APP platform and CONNECT platforms in 2006 which were precursors to Facebook Connect and
now widely used Apple and Google App platforms.​ Power attracted more than ten million dollars of investment as a
startup from noted Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Draper Fisher Jurvetson (who also invested in Hotmail,
Skype, and Tesla) and registered more than twenty million users at its peak