The Need For Global Data & Network Infrastructure Standards
Ultimately, the U.S. has lost the race for technological supremacy at this current time and for the foreseeable future. While there is little doubt that computer system vulnerabilities are a threat to the nation’s defenses, the U.S. needs to strategically approach China’s olive branch. [1] However, one major issue in establishing a resolution is understanding how to assess the trustworthiness and security of technologies provided by distinct suppliers. [2]Given their sensitivity for national security, telecommunications systems should only be sourced from trustworthy suppliers or manufacturers.[3] The U.S. should strongly consider joining China’s Global Initiative on Data Security, establishing clear rules for data privacy and cybersecurity. Most multinational private and public entities stand to benefit greatly from the efficiencies created by a globalized democratization of data and network infrastructure. [4] Harmonization of broadband networks, software and data infrastructure, is essential to the achievement of not only data protection and sharing, but technological growth and development. Although many difficulties remain to be overcome, data protection necessary to harmonize transatlantic data transfers and provides an important step toward the development of an international data control policy for the age of the Internet.[5]
The U.S. government has continued to show its lack of understanding of technology and has moved away from funding research and development projects leaving it to private industry.[6] China, on the other hand, has placed enormous investment in both artificial intelligence and infrastructure, not just in China, but throughout the world.[7] If the U.S. hopes to get any sort of leverage in the long-run, they need to start investing in broadband network infrastructure and incentivize technological education and innovation. Moreover, the U.S. may also consider established an overreaching legal and regulatory framework to protect the security and privacy of U.S. citizens’ data and communications, developing a uniform, transparent process to assess and mediate risks from foreign apps. [8]
The Internet, by its very nature, is international, but there is no singular legal infrastructure protecting data collection or transfers. [9] The paradox, moreover, is that the open Internet is one that disregards privacy. [10] Developing a compatible international framework to protect technological innovation and national security that enables responsible data sharing and cross-border data transfers would be beneficial to all parties.[11] As technology continues to advance, without a globalized democratization of data infrastructure and equipment, there is the threat of multiple cyberspace “checkpoints” that could fragment the Internet and worsen overall data transfers efficiency.[12]
[1] See, e.g., DONALD J. TRUMP, NATIONAL CYBER STRATEGY OF THE U.S. OF AMERICA 6 (Sept. 2018), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/National-Cyber-Strategy.pdf (“Protecting American information networks, whether government or private, is vital to fulfilling” the objectives of “the National Security Strategy.”).
[2] James Andrew Lewis, Criteria for Security and Trust in Telecommunications Networks and Services, (May 1, 2020), https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/200511_Lewis_5G_v3.pdf
[3] Id.
[4] Nancy Scola, On Democrats’ Wish List: Tech Help for a Clueless Congress, POLITICO (Dec. 29, 2018, 7:05 AM), https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/29/democratstechnology-congress-1074187
[5] Anna Johansson, The Internet Is Due for a Split. Here’s What You Need to Know, NEXT WEB (Oct. 4, 2018), https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2018/10/04/the-internetis-due-for-a-split-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
[6] Google, for example, spent three times as much on the development of AI alone as the federal government’s entire spending in 2017. Bess Levin, Everyone in the White House Thinks Trump’s Trade War Sucks, VANITY FAIR: HIVE (Aug. 15, 2019), https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/08/donald-trump-trade-war-white-housedetractors
[7] Walter Isaacson, How America Risks Losing Its Innovation Edge, TIME (Jan. 3, 2019), https://time.com/longform/america-innovation/ (“In the 1960s, around 70 percent of total R&D was federally funded, with 30 percent coming from the private sector. Now those figures are reversed.”)
[8] Patricia Moloney Figliola, TikTok: Technology Overview and Issues, (Nov. 17, 2020) https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46543
[9] See 71 Fla. L. Rev. 365, 432.
[10] Michael Hiltzik, Column: Trump’s Trade War Is Politically Motivated, yet Hurts Consumers and GOP Voters, Study Shows, L.A. TIMES (Mar. 4, 2019, 12:35 PM), https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-trump-trade-war-20190304- story.html
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
