Digital Policy

The increasing digitization of transnational commerce and innovation has raised new concerns about the existing frameworks on issues such as data protection, privacy, freedom of speech, artificial intelligence, taxation, trade, intellectual property, and competition. Digital issues touch much of day-to-day life and have the potential to cause disputes with major consequences, as domestic legislation now has far-reaching international effects. In an era of great power competition, governments are competing to create a model of digitalization that can become the global “gold standard.” The Atlantic Council aims to position itself as a critical facilitator of dialogue for the coordination of common standards for advancement in the digital realm.

Content

In the News

Sep 8, 2020

Pandemic accents federal need for identification technology

By Atlantic Council

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans have become increasingly reliant upon digital tools for their very survival. Whether in digital workspaces, or online applications for essential aid through unemployment insurance and other forms of relief, Americans have depended on digital resources to get through this tumultuous time. The crisis, though, has highlighted the weakness of much of the country’s digital infrastructure for handling such transactions, particularly in the lack of sufficient forms of digital identification. Dr. David Bray spoke to Signal magazine of the AFCEA on how Canada has implemented a form of digital identification that allowed them to overcome some of the hurdles faced by the US Government as it attempted to support the population.

Civil Society Coronavirus

Issue Brief

Sep 8, 2020

“One world, two systems” takes shape during the pandemic

By Hung Tran

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated fragmentation of the postwar world order. Its most poignant manifestation is in an intensifying competition between the United States and China for political and strategic influence. In essence, the post-Cold War globalized economic order has gradually morphed into a “one world, two systems” configuration, edging toward a new Cold War.

China Digital Policy

In the News

Aug 28, 2020

Crisis innovation through data trusts: Dr. David Bray

By Atlantic Council

Major global crises like COVID-19 have proven how understanding data quickly and effectively will be essential to our survival; and, to meet that necessity, artificial intelligence will be key. However, without intentional choices to put people at the center of how we collect and manage data, artificial intelligence could spell the end of open societies, replaced instead with surveillance states or surveillance capitalism. “If companies or countries want to succeed in the next decade, we’ve got to figure out a way to do data with people, not to people,” Dr. Bray explained.

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

GeoTech Cues

Aug 27, 2020

Building a collaborative ecosystem for AI in healthcare in Low and Middle Income Economies

By Abhinav Verma, Krisstina Rao, Vivek Eluri, and Yukti Sharma (GeoTech Guest Authors)

For AI-enabled technologies to truly transform healthcare and improve national and global health outcomes, it is imperative that cross-cutting challenges like data availability, business model sustainability, and lack of enabling infrastructure and other building blocks are addressed.

Africa Americas

Digital currencies

Aug 25, 2020

Advanced economies under pressure in the central bank digital currency race

By Barbara C. Matthews, Hung Tran

Advanced economy central banks are also actively engaged in CBDC research and development efforts. But as guardians of global reserve currencies, their approaches will necessarily be more deliberate and cautious than Beijing’s aggressiveness.

Digital Currencies Digital Policy

New Atlanticist

Aug 24, 2020

China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment Project reveals the good and the bad of central bank digital currencies

By Hung Tran, Barbara C. Matthews

The development of the DCEP has revealed the significant advantages and potential drawbacks for both China’s digital currency project and the potential for widespread central bank digital currencies around the world.

China Digital Currencies

Event Recap

Aug 21, 2020

Digital crossroads: How to pilot data trusts for good

By Borja Prado

While much of public discussion around data has focused solely on the debate of data privacy protection versus deregulation and economic productivity, data trusts represent legal, technology-enabled constructs that allow for more equitable ways of sharing the profits among different stakeholders. In this structure, a relationship of fiduciary responsibility would exist not only with the shareholders, but also towards the data owners and producers, and where the data economy would happen "with people" instead of "to people".

Digital Policy Education
earth hands global people all of us

GeoTech Cues

Aug 21, 2020

Why a well-intended ‘Digital Platform Agency’ may not fit our global, networked world

By Atlantic Council

Ultimately, when considering the reality that "Statutes and Regulatory Models Adopted for the Industrial Era are Insufficient for the Realities of the Internet Era", any solutions must consider where the metaphoric puck is going vs. where the puck is.

Civil Society Digital Policy

Event Recap

Aug 19, 2020

Event recap | Data salon episode 3: Coordinating data privacy and the public interest

By Henry Westerman

On Wednesday, July 30, the GeoTech Center hosted the third episode of the Data Salon series in partnership with Accenture. The virtual event hosted by Dr. Divya Chander, Chair of Neuroscience at Singularity University, and Ms. Krista Pawley, Principal and Culture and Reputation Architect at Imperative Impact, in conversation with audience members from across the data and innovation space.

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

In the News

Aug 17, 2020

Propp in Lawfare: After Schrems II: A Proposal to Meet the Individual Redress Challenge

In the aftermath of the July 16 Schrems II judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidating a principal legal method for transferring personal data from EU territory to the United States, the future of data flows for transatlantic commerce is dangerously uncertain. The more than 5,300 companies that relied on the U.S.-EU Privacy […]

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

Experts

Events