The development of emerging technologies, the increasing centrality of data to nation-state power, and the possibility of concentration of social, economic, and political influence by a few elite platforms are pushing dramatic shifts in the way the technologies and data use are envisioned and governed. Data and technology are now increasingly being configured around national politics, laws, and interests and are at the heart of geopolitical and diplomatic negotiations.
Over the past decade, China and the United States have engaged in a race for the new “gold” of the 21st century: data. As the escalation of state-sponsored cyberattacks during the Covid-19 pandemic has shown, nowadays (inter)national security is most frequently jeopardized in the field of cyberspace.
Data is increasingly perceived as the black gold of the twenty-first century and, despite its fundamental differences with oil, the ways in which it is governed are still not well understood.
The global technological landscape is changing the interaction dynamics between governments and private actors. The capability to access, control, and exploit vast amounts of data provides a crucial strategic advantage in terms of “political power”, while deepening the digital economy. At the same time, international organizations and state actors are imposing new data regulations to introduce new standard-setting practices.
The rise of Artificial Intelligence applications is accelerating the pace and magnitude of the political, securitarian, and ethical challenges we are now struggling to manage in cyberspace and beyond. So far, the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and cyberspace has been investigated mostly in terms of the effects that AI could have on the digital domain, and thus on our societies. What has been explored less is the opposite relationship, namely, how the cyberspace geopolitics can affect AI.
Il governo degli Stati Uniti mette sotto accusa il più famoso motore di ricerca al mondo: “Monopolio che impedisce la concorrenza”. C’entrano gli accordi con Apple, ritenuti irregolari. È la causa più grande contro un’azienda del settore tecnologico.
In the last months a meme went viral on social media networks that showed a multiple-choice test with the questions “Who is pushing remote working in your company?” the answers were “CEO”, “CTO”, “Covid-19”. Mutatis mutandis this joke can be translated to many other sectors that are deeply affected by the pandemic. One of these is elections and voting modalities.
With the potential of enabling not only significant economic growth but also the innovation of critical technologies in various fields, both the US and China view 5G as one of the key influencing factors in the “great power competition”.
The UK has taken an intelligence-led approach in assessing the security of its critical network[1]. This model carefully balances the commercial imperatives of network providers with national security risk in the supply chain. An approach taken well before the current debate on 5G.
It is commonly believed that 5G networks will allow the development of new types of services based on innovative use cases, for the benefit of both private end users and companies, thus becoming the real "nervous system" of the future connected society. This will also have obvious positive effects on the economy: the European Commission estimated that 5G will generate a turnover of 225 billion euros in five years, and the related networks will be used by 2.6 billion users worldwide, that is 40% of the total world population.
5G networks represent one of the key elements upon which the future process of digital transformation of both the economic and social level of each nation is based. Indeed, the potentialities of these networks will go well beyond the supply of telecommunications services between users.
5G technologies are reshaping the way users experience the digital sphere and, thus, their daily lives. 5G is one of the game changers that would further enable cyberspace’s potentialities for our societies, economies, and lifestyle. Yet, there are multiple and contrasting geopolitical interests and security concerns regarding 5G adoptions and implementations. The current confrontation between Chinese companies and some Western governments is emblematic. What are the political and securitarian implications of such technological disputes?