Big Tech & Big Data

Does Silicon Valley have too much power? Are they monopolies? Do we need a Keep in India data campaign? Can the US and Chinese governments sort out their data differences? How can governments handle the tonnes of data that all their citizens are putting up on Social Media? What about the issue of data ethics?

All these issues have come to a head in 2020. First up, the biggest story is that India has banned dozens of Chinese apps and the world has not only taken note; but followed suit. It’s not just about a global rivalry or the skirmishes at the border. If Chinese apps are storing data in Chinese servers and the government there has access, then it serves as a major security breach. In fact for the Indian soldiers at the border, the ban list was expanded to even include American apps. This is also one of the reasons that Huawei came under the scanner: National security.

Data localization is a big issue. Ideally we should have enough data centres across the country, both private and government, and data that relates to the citizens of India should never leave its shores. We need strong legislation on those grounds. However our utter dependence on US and Chinese apps has to do with the fact that Indian apps have not at all been successful. Look at all the popular means of communication. Facebook. Instagram. WhatsApp. TikTok. LinkedIn. Twitter. Zoom… you won’t find a single name in the global list. Till Indian IT makes the pivot from services to apps, such issues will persist. India also set up a committee last year to look into sharing non-personal data

In the US, President Donald Trump has taken on TikTok head on. The Chinese company will now have to sell off its US operations if it has to survive there. Trump had taken on Huawei and has come out with a Clean Network Policy: Clean Carrier, Clean Store, Clean Apps, Clean Cloud & Clean Cable. Silicon Valley doesn’t have just Trump to worry about. The US Congress has also taken on Big Tech. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai all had to testify in the anti-trust case. What do we call it? Data monopoly? He who controls the data controls the world and now governments of the world are waking up to that fact. Continuing with the US, more than half of the State Attorney Generals there are looking into anti-trust violations by Big Tech. Data woes continue as a data transfer arrangement between the US and EU set in 2016 has faced recent legal troubles.

Zuckerberg has been summoned by the Parliaments of both UK and Canada. He didn’t go to testify. The Canadian government has summoned him with a subpoena and he could be technically arrested if he sets foot in Canada and doesn’t testify. Such a thing won’t happen, but these collisions show that governments are finally waking up to the power of big social media.

China is a unique case where the Internet there is dominated by Chinese companies and the likes of Google Search and Facebook don’t have a role. All their data pipes are virtually closed to the world. Russia wants to separate its Internet from the global Internet. Is this the way forward where countries will maintain their own data silos?

Maybe the maximum action has happened in the European Union. They came out with the General Data Protection Regulation which set the pace for most of the world. They are planning a comprehensive ePrivacy Regulation (ePR). The EU had begun a competition investigation against Google way back in 2010. While the EU have levied massive fines against Big Tech companies, the latter seem to have generally gotten their way in the way they do business.

Recently the EU has tried to change rules to make data unlocking much easier for them, but that’s easier said than done. They are coming out with a Data Act in 2021 that should increase the sharing of data between governments and businesses. It is also bringing in things such as data generated from IoTs (Internet of Things) in industries (key for 4.0). Today we have more IoTs than people and the absolute upper limit for IoTs by 2030 is 500 billion. One can’t even comprehend the amount of data that will be coming out.

Things are getting more and more complicated and it’s not just about the volume of data. There is so much data that humans cannot handle it. Algorithms will sift through the data ocean. When Artificial Intelligence takes over (along with Machine Learning and Deep Learning) for management of data, who will be held responsible if something goes wrong?

The 2020s will see a lot of data questions asked and maybe not all of them will be answered.