Following up on our previous post ‘How Internet is Getting Increasingly Split‘, let reflect for a moment on the reason for this. I don’t believe it is just censorship. Of course the censorship motivation applies for many non-democratic countries, but the reason is probably deeper and has been highlighted by the TikTok events: ownership and access to user data.
Access to user data allows all sorts of manipulations as people can be targeted individually based on their preferences and hot buttons. It also provides an insight into the private life of individuals and may help setup compromission. In brief, it provides a strategic advantage that can be used to disrupt of manipulate social situations. It is a useful source of information for cyberwar, as shown by manipulations historically performed on American, British and less developed nations elections.
The recognition of the strategic value of user data is an interesting issue at the brink of the exponential development of the Internet of Things (IoT): even more data will be generated that is linked to our private life, and often while we are not conscious of what is really happening. This will in turn bring forth even more push to avoid foreign powers to have access to user data, necessarily promoting an increased split of internet. Global companies will have to develop strategies to locate data in the countries they are generated and provide security as to the usage by foreign powers.
The strategic value of user data has now been recognized, as well as its potential negative usage. And one can expect more consequences in the near future.
