It's a big internet, but each move requires users to take their data with them as they migrate from sites like MySpace to Facebook and beyond. But one organization, the DataPortability Workgroup, is looking to change all that by allowing users to easily transport their information across the web. This week, that group got a major shot in the arm when engineers from Google, Facebook and Plaxo joined the team.

In a Wikinomics blog post, Derek Pokora called the decision by Plaxo, Google and Facebook to join the group a major development because together the three companies currently are the major players working on competing social networking platforms and methods for data portability.

While Pokora praised the development, Wired blogger Scott Gilbertson cast doubt on the news, calling it "little more than lip service."

But even with competitors agreeing to share information on how best to tackle the data portability problem, the lingering issue of user privacy will remain. That hurdle won't be solved by technology alone, which means data portability may still be pipe dream.