The recent changes to Google Reader, which prompted last week’s post, call for more than a search for a new RSS reader. They’re a good occasion for us to think about “our” data, who controls it, and whether we’ll be able to maintain our own access to it.

Jason pointed us to a fine post in last week’s Weekend Reading: Steven Poole’s “Whatever Made You Think It Was Your Data Anyway?” Seriously, if you haven’t read it yet, have a look. Then go peruse Boone Gorges’ Project Reclaim, particularly his inaugural post.

To be sure, not everyone will be able or willing to take many of the measures that Boone’s implementing for himself. Still, we’d all do well to remember what Steven Poole points out in the post mentioned above: “If you’re not paying for something, you have no reason to expect it to be there tomorrow” (he calls it the “iron law of ‘free’ internet services”).

With that in…

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