Another factor people aren't mentioning -- even if such a format were to gain widespread adoption, along with the emergence of a side industry of Equifax-like companies that verify all the bullet points -- it would in effect amount to the backbone of a social credit system:
Wat? The article is just talking about automated software parsing different file formats. If you're worried about 'Equifax-like companies that verify all the bullet points' I'm sorry to inform you that's already happening. Not that I agree with this system but that's where we already are. People can't get jobs because the current zeitgeist in the industry is using algorithmic software to select candidates. The entire solution is just bad software built on a crap idea that has real world consequences. If we can't get something better at least having some standard format that we can feed this crap software it can actually parse is slightly less worse.
[Regarding] 'Equifax-like companies that verify all the bullet points' I'm sorry to inform you that's already happening.
Specifically?
Yes there are obviously companies that strip mine every nugget of "data" they can possibly find about an individual, and then pass this along to whoever may be willing to buy, garbage-in, garbage-out style.
But actually verifying that this information has anything to do with the real world (the way background check companies do) is a completely different, and very expensive endeavour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System
And as such, it should be rigorously boycotted, no matter what benefit it may bring to the drones in HR.