borderless nature of technology and the anonymity of the actors involved, India, as the G-20 chair, can take the lead in shaping this

 borderless nature of technology and the anonymity of the actors involved, India, as the G-20 chair, can take the lead in shaping this

A global order as technology’s much needed pole star

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Challenges to notion of nation-state

Nation state First, as defined by political theorists, a nation-state is a territorially-bounded sovereign polity.

Technology   However, this fundamental notion of a nation-state of a geographical unit in which citizens live is undergoing a massive change because of technology. 

Internal and external threats 

While geographical boundaries are still essential to be safeguarded against physical aggression/invasion,

 there are now several externalities occurring across the borders of nation-states, i.e. cyber-attacks, which have a ripple effect on the physical boundaries to challenge their socio-economic and political existence. 

The advent of Web3

massive peer-to-peer networks and blockchains has allowed actors, both state and non-state, to influence areas such as trade, commerce, health and education even while remaining outside of financial and judicial scope.

. Now, any form of “virtual activity” is not confined छोटा to the realms of the borders of a country; data travel on the chain of the world wide web and spread across the world at speed hitherto unimaginable.

 More importantly, when such activities fall foul of the laws of a particular geographically-determined nation-state, it is extremely difficult in the absence of a globally-accepted norm, to enforce the law in that particular geography and book the recalcitrant actors under the laws of the nation-state. 

sovereignty of countries is challenged 

It is difficult to collect incontrovertible मुंहतोड़ evidence without cooperation from other geographies. So, when the national sovereignty of countries is challenged by activities beyond their physical boundaries, their existing constitutionally set-up institutions comprising the executive, legislature and judiciary will prove inadequate  अपर्याप्त in tackling them. 

applicability of any country-specific legislation 

Further, it is also difficult to establish applicability of any country-specific legislation due to the universal nature of technology, leading to problems in enforceability.

How can   administer and regulate these technologies

 Third, the emergence of newer technologies has exposed the incapacity and inability of the government of the nation-state to administer and regulate these technologies. 

These entities have transcended physical boundaries to collaborate with the rest of the world, independent of traditional administrative and regulatory institutions. 

For instance, topographical maps, which used to be produced by public and military institutions, are now available entirely by private non-state actors, such as Apple or Google Maps.

Governing complexities and technology

1 On the economic side, “with a valuation of more than $4,100 billion, the five largest American tech companies (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft) 

2 have symbolically surpassed Germany’s GDP (the world’s fourth largest economy) in terms of valuation”. One of the most important levers of these companies is data and their use.

3 companies now hold unparalleled economic power and influence over it

This means that data “have become the most important raw material of our times, and only a handful of companies now hold unparalleled economic power and influence over it.

4  their huge size allows them to constantly increase the amount of information they analyse and refine the algorithms they use to influence, if not control, us and our activities”. 

 more importantly, anonymity of actors involved, have challenged the traditionally accepted concepts of sovereignty, jurisdiction/regulation, and privacy”. 

What need ?

1 In such a scenario, a principle-based global order 

for technology would help in streamlining the enforceability challenges in the adoption and diffusion of technology and providing guidance to emerging economies on how to deal with the evolving definitions of their sovereignty. 

2 Further, as we have seen in case of the COVID-19 pandemic

the way forward in managing future global pandemics is probably by the adoption of digital health.

3  have a data-sharing ecosystem based on privacy, free flow of data, and a global regulatory system trusted by all countries/nation-states, particularly developing countries? 

4 Therefore, India needs a data transfer and data privacy law. But these laws, in isolation, will only be able to do so much unless a global principle-based regulation architecture trusted by all countries facilitates it.

the need

for a global order for the deep Web, crypto, or regulations for cross-border data flow). 

We need to have a globally-coordinated approach to the regulation of digital assets such as crypto-currencies, given the potential risks they pose to the world’s financial ecosystem.

With India, as the current chair of the G-20, this is the perfect opportunity to take leadership in this as it has done earlier in green initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance or the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

Source the hindu