In 2020, the top seven global tech companies added $3.4 trillion in valuation. At a time when the world was struggling with deaths, economic decline and unemployment, the disproportionate gain by tech companies reveals a larger and persisting problem of inequity. Data plays a central role in this astronomical rise of tech companies. Most of these firms have big data business models, i.e. they utilise user data to generate profits.
Who benefits from data now? The emergence of big data businesses has caused a tectonic shift in the global economic landscape. Today, out of the 10 most valued companies in the world, at least six are tech giants. Corporates like Facebook, Alphabet and Amazon have business models that strongly rely on personal data of their users, often without their informed consent. Exploiting user data for targeted advertisements, these companies have generated disproportionate and windfall business gains. The economics underlying these business models is called ‘surveillance capitalism’—a system where behavioural data of users is utilised for profit through advertisement revenues.
Source of data inequity: Unfortunately, no benefits have accrued to communities or citizens whose data is being used in the process of generating profits. Such exclusions are a source of great inequity, especially during health crises such as the present one. There is now a compelling need for our communities to get a fair and equitable share of benefits in their own data.
Way forward: To ensure that value created by data is distributed equitably, there needs to be a calibrated legal and policy approach to data.
Firstly, laws should strive to devise frameworks that enable data principles to share the economic gains derived from their data. Data can be used to usher in social equity, improve access of the marginalised and increase social good. One way to achieve this is by redistributing profits and benefits accruing from data to the community from which it is sourced. A community redistributive framework decreases inequities arising from private exploitation of data and redresses the harms arising from it at a population level, especially to the marginalised sections of society. Communities must also be made benefactors of data-based programmes by governments.
Secondly, laws must ensure that privacy and related harms to individuals are minimised by mandating data protection principles such as purpose limitation and consent. A robust personal data protection law is the first step to achieving data equity.
Thirdly, barriers created by the datafication of the economy must be removed. With artificial intelligence and machine learning, an increasing number of decisions are now being taken by automated machine processes. Algorithmic decisions by machines have implicit limitations. When the machine’s database does not have sufficiently diverse data, its decisions are inevitably biased and arbitrary. For example, facial recognition technology has been criticised for making errors in identification, especially in certain minority demographics. The problem has in fact led to advocacy of a right against arbitrary decisions by machines—the right to a human decision.
Finally, data should be made affordable and accessible to all sections of society. Devising data frameworks that require common standards of collection, storage and usage will facilitate ease of data access, quality and interoperability. Accessibility also can be increased through a diverse, equitable, and inclusive approach to presenting and visualising data. During Covid-19, we have seen that many state governments have made real-time data about the cases, hospital availability and vaccines in an accessible and understandable manner. Such measures increase citizen awareness and strengthen democracy.
The experience so far, global and Indian: Some countries have already recognised the importance of equity and proposed open data initiatives and mechanisms to share it for public benefit. The European Commission has formulated a strategy called the European Data Strategy for inclusive digital growth and innovation. It seeks improvements in health and well-being, environment, transparent governance, research and convenient public services by facilitating wider access to data. It seeks to protect small businesses against data monopoly and creation of a common infrastructure. Similarly, the commission has also proposed a legal framework on artificial intelligence to regulate the inequities arising from it.
India is also moving towards data equity frameworks. The Personal Data Protection Bill, which is yet to be enacted by Parliament, has incorporated progressive principles of personal data protection. Barring a few problems (which I have highlighted in my previous articles), the Bill formulates a comprehensive consent framework. Thus, individuals have greater control over their data and are protected from any misuse. Similarly, the Data Protection Authority is vested with wide powers to regulate the collection and processing of personal data. Further, the recent report by the Committee of Experts on Non-Personal Data has important suggestions to reduce data inequity. It has tapped into data as an economic asset and attempted to incentivise start-ups by correcting the imbalance established by a few dominant players. The report has sought to use data for public good while protecting collective community interests. One way that the report seeks to ensure community interests is by establishing ‘data custodians’—entities that collect, store and process non-personal data and are responsible for preventing harm to the community.
Conclusion: Today, the modern world is at an inflection point. It is experiencing a digital revolution, where the future is largely oriented around data. Collective global efforts should therefore ensure that progress is inclusive and equitable and that the digital revolution leaves no one behind. The concept of data equity, by definition, balances the incentives of the data principles and processors and minimises risks of misuse and abuse of data to the detriment of the former. Being a global leader in technology services, India has an unrivalled opportunity to lead a global effort in this direction.
(Views are personal)
Amar Patnaik
BJD Rajya Sabha MP, ex-CAG bureaucrat with a PhD in management and now an advocate
(amar_patnaik @yahoo.com)