[icebraining]

It's not ahead of time - that regulation has existed for a long time. See the work of Max Schrems against FB, and his site on how you can get your own data: http://europe-v-facebook.org/EN/Get_your_Data_/get_your_data...

The new regulation updates that existing right to specify that the data should be provided in a "structured, commonly used and machine-readable format".

[rising-sky]

I believe the writer is referring to the GDPR regulations in Europe which are coming into force May 25, 2018, therefore "ahead of time" is chronologically accurate. They have a handy countdown clock here:

https://www.eugdpr.org/