To access Friend Connect features on a Web site, people can log in using not only their account information from Google but also from Yahoo, AOL and the industry standard , .

Meanwhile, Facebook its users to contact their favorite Web sites and encourage them to implement Facebook Connect, which is already running on places like , and .

"Obviously our launch partners don't cover all the websites you use on a daily basis, so if you want to see this list grow, get in touch with your favorite websites, developers, and services, and tell them you want to connect. With your help, we can all share more information across the web," wrote Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a blog posting.

Still, the grand vision of widespread and seamless data portability is far from complete, as these and other initiatives are fairly recent, and important technology and privacy issues remain unsolved.

For example, days after the initial announcements of their data portability programs in May, Google and Facebook promptly locked horns and have been unable to work out their differences. Facebook blocked Google's Friend Connect service from accessing Facebook members' data, saying the Google program violates its terms of services because it redistributes Facebook user information to developers without users' knowledge.