Americans created the internet and the business models that supports many of the services that kept the US and global economy vibrant during the pandemic, and data underpins those services. However, policymakers are in the early stages of governing data at the national and international level.
Susan Aaronson, director of GW’s Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub at the Elliott School, is trying to understand what data governance means for democracy, economic growth, innovation, and human rights. Corporations built a new economy using personal (and other types) of data to create new products and services. They also sell their analyses and data sets to a wide range of governmental and corporate customers. Harvard scholar Shoshana Zuboff calls these practices surveillance capitalism because they are built on the analysis of personal data as a product.
However, these practices undermine political and social stability. If firms can easily use personal data to manipulate customers or voters, these customers or voters have less autonomy and are less able to effectively participate in democracy and trust their fellow citizens.
The business model also poses an indirect threat to democracy. Firms and individuals can mix troves of personal data with other data sets to reveal information about a polity or society, from the level of trust to troop movements. This dependence on personal data poses a multilayered threat to democracies worldwide. Troves of personal data are now not just an asset but a problem for national security policymakers.
“The only way to regulate these global practices is to work collectively,” Dr. Aaronson said. “That requires that you have shared approaches to everything from combating spam to disinformation to personal data protection and cross-border data flows.”
The Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub, created by Dr. Aaronson and Thomas Struett, has two objectives: to educate policymakers and the public about data-driven change and data governance and to do research on data governance at the national and international levels.
In this regard, the Hub created the first analysis of data governance, the Global Data Governance Mapping project. The Hub team is the first in the world to map the governance of various types of data. The team created a metric of comprehensive data governance built on six attributes: visions and strategies, laws and regulations; human rights and ethical statements; structural changes to government; public participation; and international coordinative efforts. The Hub is beginning its second mapping of data governance and hope to complete it by June.
Also in June, the Hub will have its first in person conference on how virtual reality will change how we understand and practice international relations. Students are welcome to attend the Hub’s monthly webinars and events. Dr. Aaronson is also GWU’s Public Interest Technology lead, and in that regard, she encourages projects and training on new technologies to serve the public.