Post 5: Digital and Big Tech
In the times of the industrial revolution, there was a risk of cartels, and monopolies pertaining to newspapers, steel, railways, oil industries.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (which later became the World Trade Organization) were set up, to govern international commerce.
The same issue with the 4th industrial revolution - was a risk of cartels, and monopolies, in the digital world. The intersection of multiple new technologies, within the influence of a a handful of organisations, are able to influence social, economic and political behaviours.
This is rooted in Big Tech’s increasing dominance over markets, information, and communications.
This social, economic, political power directly depends on their size and scope/reach, and results in tax loopholes, subsidies, regulatory exemptions, and other forms of government favouritism that is unavailable to smaller firms.
There is an argument for a, template, based on the general Agreement on Trade from The Industrial revolution, as a template for digital.
Why is this so important?
Basically it's to prevent five companies knowing, profiting from, our digital lives. In this age, it is the internet, digital property, digital competition, and personal privacy that is at risk. Here are a few of the issues faced in this global challenge.
- Misuse of individual's private data It challenges our very autonomy. our online behaviours are indicative of the type of "purchases we make" powerfully used via advertising organisations. It shapes our understanding of ourselves, our communities, and of the world. Big Tech have enabled us all during COVID, but there is a price to pay. "Free" services by social media, make £500 ($656) per household annually – a testament to their market power.
- Social platforms perverting political discourse, encouraging bigotry, enabling demagogues and even endangering children.
- Eroding consumer choice in platforms, little choice but to engage with the key platforms, to reach the public.
- Inhibiting smaller firms innovating, there are formidable barriers to new entrants in some fields, this is effectively cartel behaviour. New technologies give a competitive edge to large companies that can accumulate enormous global market power.
- The digital divide - universal access to the internet is far from adequate. Education, healthcare, and social interactions are mainly online now, and to be without internet access at adequate speeds, is a severe disadvantage.
- Security concerns - Cybersecurity / cyber-espionage, and political manipulation of social media, as with the press.
- Piecemeal / localised regulatory guidance & policies are ineffective in the long term, and this will cause advantages in one / disadvantages in the other again influencing trade. There are already two main regulatory influencers, being the EU, and China.
What needs to be done urgently?
The Digital divide, is one of the most important areas to address. It is not only access to hardware that is an issue. It is access to high speed internet connectivity.
Rural areas in the UK are still suffering speeds of 10Mbps, and terrible mobile connectivity. Rather than installing fibre, rural 5G could be used as a quick win, though there is the stigma of masts in rural areas, however there are power pylons in these areas, so why not 5G masts.
It is badly needed infrastructure. It is already being implemented, but there are challenges, as it is still in its developmental stages. Universal access to the internet is needed for education, social & health care, as well as enabling the workforce, with increased privacy as part of a new social norm, wherever you are located, in the world.
What needs to be done in longer term?
There is deep Parity with the need for the Trade organisations, in the Industrial revolution, and with this fourth industrial revolution in the Digital Age.
The key aims are the same. To prevent monopolies, from becoming shadow governments, dictating policy, by eroding consumer choice.
There is a need for new economic governance models. The digital economy is driven by proprietary technology, and by its nature favours first movers and economies of agglomeration.
Ultimately, global governance is the only real solution. There is a need an international body to shape global standards and regulations for the platform economy.the EU has led the way with Digital Services Act (and big tech accept them, as price of trading in the EU) and they have had a global impact, however there is a Chinese counter part.
Localised and piecemeal, solutions will not work in the long term, and will be largely inadequate in a globalised world.
It is the opinion of many experts, that a centralised solution will not work, neither will asking the Big Tech companies gatekeeping, which seems to be the approach being taken.
Rather, a decentralised, patchwork / mesh / network approach, with certain standards at the point of crossing borders, will provide, and have the flexibility required to allow differing strategic regulations to be applied to localised jurisdictions as needed. The intersection of the "patches" could be the cross-border points, with recommended standards, best practices, and the ability to monitor risks arising from new organisations & technologies. Each "patch" of the mesh, could have different levels of regulation applied, negotiated and discussed with each jurisdiction. There needs to be a discussion for each jurisdiction, with a new international organisation, to balance the gains from trade (maximised when regulations are harmonised) against the gains from regulatory diversity (maximised when each national government is entirely free to do what it wants).
How do you apply border regulations in the digital world, and in the cloud? It is a complex but it is possible.
Countries may devise their own regulatory standards and define their own national security requirements.Either we design this patchwork now, or we will end up, with a messy, less effective, and more dangerous corrupt version.
3 Take-aways: What can I do to help, in my bubble?
- Help remove the digital divide in your bubble. Where you see it, you can do something about it, do it. Setting up shared workspaces, and internet access in libraries is good. Councils do this, yet these facilities usually don't have 24/7 access. They do not need to be staffed, 24/7, if adequate access control is in place, perhaps request this be done. Lobby your, organisational leaders, to enable the whole community to gain the education, healthcare and employment resources they need. Low internet speeds, if you are in a rural area in England, there are 5g pilots taking place, find out about them here, and understand how it could help your community: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/5g-testbeds-and-trials-programme.
- Privacy vigilance & diverse services. Being aware of how your photos, social posts are being used, watched and marketed. You may you use only one phone, or a free service provider and it's easier to put it in one place. A tip is not to use their integrated services, like photo storage, but use separate providers. They are now seamless, so it is possible, investigate this. Example, don't use your bank's app, to track all your expenditure / budgets. There is no need for one bank to know all your spending behaviours. Use an independent money budgeting app, that pulls in the data from multiple sources, as you spend. This sounds like extra effort. It is true, and right now, it is. However with this little effort you are protecting yourself, from your data being used, by other organisations to their advantage, and targeted marketing.
- Misinformation - be vigilant, on social feeds. Report the content, as you see it, if they seem suspicious, or misleading, or damaging. How do you verify the information, use trusted organisational, or personal accounts as your content sources.
To allow competition, and innovation to prosper, regulation / governance is needed over the business models (not the technologies) and practices, that technology companies use across the globe.
Governance leads to healthy digital systems. Healthy society. Healthy big bubble
A big bounce-back, or A big bounce-forward?
Post 6:Discrimination and its impact on Prosperity
Post 2:Growth & Trade Challenges