Publications

Driving Digital Self-Determination

There is much discussion about how to transit digital self-determination from its conceptual understandings, into action.  One important component of the central strategy offered in ‘Creating Trustworthy Data Spaces based on Digital Self-determination’ (the Report) is to offer a voluntary code of conduct to guide the development of trustworthy data spaces. The code of conduct, and the achievement of trustworthy data spaces, the Report asserts, require following basic principles (transparency, control, fairness, responsibility and efficiency. These principles of digital self-determination will in turn represent a governance frame that relies on high standards of stakeholder trust. Even so, the report does not discount other regulatory forces that can influence data spaces and stakeholder trust.

The Report identifies individual and collective components of digital self-determination. In the ‘individual components, it identifies ‘knowledge (understandable, clear and useful), the freedom to make one’s own decisions (about their data) and the ability to take action. Taking action is seen as including the possibility to implement one’s decisions in the digital space. Therefore, with principles agreed, and a code of conduct in place, digital self-determination becomes an action strategy – a process that can ensure better opportunities and practices for data management and access in real-time contexts.

This note outlines the essentials for an action plan on Digital Self-determination. It takes up from the ‘Recommendations for Action’ in the Report and pivots around establishing safe (trustworthy) data spaces in which digital self-determination can be realized. We make the distinction between safe and trustworthy data spaces, preferring the former as a more encompassing notion.  Trustworthiness, while integral to the idea of safety is not the exclusive determinant.  Safety can depend on risk reduction, but more so on responsible obligations arising from agreed duties and respectful engagement between duty and obligation.

Q&A Guide to Digital Self-Determination

Digital Self-Determination (DSD) is a novel concept that approaches responsible data access away from rights, sovereignty and ownership. Instead, it centres on empowering data subjects in safe digital spaces. As the theoretical foundations of DSD begin to find grounding in contextual applications, it is important to clarify the key factors that differentiates DSD from traditional approaches to data access and management. As such, we introduce a bite-sized Q&A guide at 12 principle issues essential to understanding and defining DSD, along with some of the main challenges and opportunities it faces.

The Paths to Digital Self-Determination - A Foundational Theoretical Framework

Remolina, Nydia and Findlay, Mark James, The Paths to Digital Self-Determination - A Foundational Theoretical Framework (April 22, 2021). SMU Centre for AI & Data Governance Research Paper No. 03/2021, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3831726 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3831726