Legal imagination and the US project of globalising the free flow of data
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20396404 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leila Brännström (0000-0001-5127-2717, University of Gothenburg), Markus Gunneflo (0000-0002-5688-2482, Lund University), Gregor Noll (0000-0001-9556-0964, University of Gothenburg, corresponding author), Amin Parsa (0000-0001-7092-7280, Halmstad University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 2259-2266 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | AI & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0951-5666 • E-ISSN: 1435-5655 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s00146-023-01732-y |
| OpenAlex | W4385707718 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 13 |
Today, the US pursues the global capture of data (understood as a significant engine of growth) by way of bi- and plurilateral trade agreements. However, the project of securing the global free flow of data has been pursued ever since the dawn of digital telecommunication in the 1960s and the US has made significant legal efforts to institutionalise it. These efforts have two phases: In the first 1970s and 80s “freedom of information” phase, the legal justification (and contestation) of the global free flow of data hinged on imagining data as information, and its exchange as a practice of liberty. The second phase began in the late 1990s and continues today. In this phase, the free flow of data is aligned with a free-trade agenda in the context of first e-commerce and, starting in the 2000s, through attempts at creating a global public domain of personal data for the platform economy. The global free flow of data is an intrinsic aspect of informational capitalism. Assuming a constitutive, but not commanding role for law in informational capitalism, we conclude that the US attempt at ensuring free flow for its informational corporations is neither an entirely contingent nor a necessary outcome. It is a product of legal imagination
Business · Capitalism · Data Protection Act 1998 · Digital economy · Economics · Free flow · Free market · Law and economics · Political science · Sociology · Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Law · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |