Global Digital Compact

News: UN organized the Summit of the Future and adopted the Global Digital Compact (GDC).

What is GDC?

It is a non-binding law with a set of shared goals for governments, institutions, firms, and other stakeholders, resting on the idea that digitization is constantly changing the world, and there is a need to reap the benefits while guarding against serious flaws and concerns.

Goals

• Close digital divide and foster inclusive participation
• Improve access to data and digital technologies
• Advance responsible and equitable data governance
• Advance digital innovation in a sustainable fashion
• Foster trustworthy technologies within a free and competitive market

Significance

• Helps in bringing global cooperation in the governance of data and digital technologies
• Resolves digital divide through digital public goods like open-source software, open data, and open AI models
• Recognizes interoperable data governance for innovation and promotes economic growth
• Provides a platform for best practices that can be adopted by other nations
• Integrates private entities into the realm
• Helps with capacity building and fosters South-South and North-South collaborations in the development of digital public goods

Concerns

• Openness may be limited by contractual requirements like non-disclosure, confidentiality, and protection of intellectual property
• GDC adds little to existing frameworks of digital governance and relies on self-regulation by digital technology companies, which is not an optimal solution
• Collection, sharing, and processing of data, particularly for AI, may amplify risks without effective personal data protection and privacy laws
• The compact fails to address countervailing measures to deal with monopolistic control
• The wording on “data flow with trust” in the compact contradicts the spirit of digital sovereignty

Way Forward

• Need for multilateral as well as regional negotiations
• Emphasize jurisdictional, regional, and local needs
• Address the complexity of digital governance, as no single entity can fully capture it