With the mechanics for data running, is there something figured out yet? How do we get the data in, and how do we get it out? Is it just physically bringing in the data, or is it sent over the airwaves? How does electronic warfare figure into that?
TL;DRParts are figured out: data is acquired by scanning, stored physically on computers where power loss means data loss, and passed on by docking or ship-to-ship transfer, not just dumped into a box.
So there's a lot behind that question. There are parts that are figured out. It's not about taking data and here's your data. So you will have ways to acquire data. Let's say you're a science vessel that is scanning a moon and getting data about that moon, or scanning a nebula, getting data about that. You will acquire that data through scanning. How you transport it, yes, it's kind of physical, because you have your computers that are storing it. If power drops, you lose your data. So if you get attacked, there's a risk there in transporting the data. And then how you pass it on: you either land and download the data in the station to whoever wants to buy it, or you transfer it to others, might be NPCs that want to meet with you in a shady corner of the universe to transfer data to them. Might be a trap, might not. But yeah, so there are ways to transfer between ships, as we said before, and you will acquire it generally, but not always, from a distance. But you will not go like, I'm gathering data and I'm dumping it in this box. It's a bit more sophisticated. I mean, even now we still have a phone, we take a picture.