Digiteccs, a consultancy dedicated to digital prosperity through corporate transformations and policy change, has today joined the global debate over data privacy, sovereignty and security with a new policy framework that has profound implications for the way in which digital industries are governed.
Outlined in a white paper, Empowering Nations in a Digital Age authored by Digiteccs founder Dalibor Vavruska, the Digital Nation Model (D-NA) calls for a fundamental rethink of the way in which the telecoms and technology industries are structured and recommends a framework for transforming the policies that govern data handling by different parties.
The DNA model views data as an asset subject to ownership, trading and regulation to protect security and society values. It acknowledges that monopolies may emerge in technology standards, networks and digital products and recommends these should be appropriately recognised and governed, with a preference for open models. It argues that individuals must retain accountability, governance choices and freedoms versus machines if the rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence is to be a universal force for good.
Under the D-NA model, Digiteccs recommends separating national digital ecosystems into three layers – infrastructure, licensed data, and open market data – each subject to different degrees of regulation to ensure the essential balance between competition, freedoms and protection that underpin a successful digital economy is maintained.
The D-NA model also examines the economic and policy benefits of separating telecoms companies into infrastructure and services businesses, as well as proposing different incentives for companies willing to provide services in the licensed and open market layers. Throughout, it underscores the need to respond to the growing threats of anti-competitive practices, cybersecurity and misinformation through a holistic approach to managing data as a vital commodity of our digital age.
Dalibor Vavruska, founder of Digiteccs and author of today’s white paper, said: “The D-NA model is a fundamental rethink of policy frameworks for data, with far reaching implications for how telecoms and technology companies collect, process and share information. It proposes new relationships between regulators, digital companies and customers to boost the sovereignty of individuals, nation states and public and private entities over their data, while assuring smooth and secure interoperability in handling data with different protection requirements. It re-imagines data as a resource that, if used responsibly, can bring about individual empowerment, opportunity and digital prosperity for all.”
Commenting on today’s white paper, Kaan Terzioğlu, co-CEO of VEON, said: “Empowering Nations in a Digital Age is a must-read for all players across the tech landscape, most notably for telecom companies in search of ways to unlock the hidden value of their considerable customer footprints, as well as for governments trying to find the most appropriate methods to regulate emerging challenges around data sovereignty.”