PEDAS · The Political Economy of Data: Comparing the Asian Giants

The Political Economy of Data: Comparing the Asian Giants

• What is the problem/issue being addressed? We have now reached the end of a relatively settled period of the international data economy where the big tech firms, such as Google and Facebook, grew rich harvesting the personal data of their users. Now their business model is being challenged. Taking effect in May 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sparked a global data law revolution as countries around the world consider how to claw back a larger share of the profits generated by the personal data of their citizens. This research looked at the intended and unintended consequences of the spread of data regulation from an emerging economy point of view as the big tech firms turned their focus to the populous, young, tech-savvy countries like India and Indonesia. Can these countries negotiate a bigger share in the value of personal data through national regulation? Or will there be what some are calling a form of “digital colonialism” where the data produced in their countries is turned into high value-added intelligence overseas to be sold back for enormous profit? • Why is it important for society? The move to digital economies has the potential to provide benefits for developing countries. However, under current conditions, the dominance of a small number of companies with their control of data, and capacity to create economic value from it, is likely to further accentuate increasing inequalities in the global economy. • What are the overall objectives? The overall objectives of this research were to chart the political debates and negotiations around the economics of personal data in India and Indonesia, to provide input for European and international policy-makers, and to contribute to theory on the international political economy of data. • What are the research conclusions? The research found that European data regulation (GDPR) has had an enormous influence on the development of data law around the world, including in countries of the Global South. However, despite some real and some superficial, similarities with the GDPR, data regulation in different countries is more decisively informed by the unique confluence of political interests, institutional legacies and rhetoric of each national jurisdiction. Another conclusion is that alternative forms of value capture from data are emerging in the Global South, led by India. Framed in a new theory of “Digital ID Capitalism”, it is based on identity data gathered through the course of state welfare distribution, rather than the data trails left on the internet. The research undertaken during this project also found that countries of the Global South are in a good position to develop another alternative to the current US-led data business model – ‘data commons’. The issue of “data localisation”, where countries around the world insist that US big tech firms build data centers on their home soil to store the data produced by their own citizens, has emerged as the hot button issue of the international negotiations over the global data economy. The research found that some countries use the issue as leverage in wider trade negotiations, while other countries have more realistic plans to build their own national digital economies around the construction of these data centers. The research also led to policy advice for donors who design programmes to support digital economic growth in developing countries. It urged donors to acknowledge the sensitive confluence of interests around personal data which has human rights implications related to surveillance and privacy, in addition to national security interests and economic value for both domestic and international business. Donor programmes should therefore prioritise the use of political economy analysis (PEA) in programme design to support digital economic growth.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз