Session
Data Governance & Trust
Big Data Architecture, Usage and Governance
Cross-border Data Flows and Trust
Data Localization, Data Residency, and Data Sovereignty
Data Privacy and Protection
Organizer 1: Francisco Brito Cruz, 🔒
Organizer 2: Alison Gillwald, 🔒
Organizer 3: Nicolo Zingales, Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade, Fundação Getulio Vargas
Organizer 4: Aishwarya Giridhar, 🔒Centre for Communication Governance
Organizer 5: Jhalak Mrignayani Kakkar, 🔒
Speaker 1: Tom Barraclough, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Francisco Brito Cruz, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: Alison Gillwald, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 4: Nicolo Zingales, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 5: Aishwarya Giridhar, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 6: Jhalak Mrignayani Kakkar, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Tom Barraclough, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Aishwarya Giridhar, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Tom Barraclough, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Round Table - 90 Min
1) What mechanisms exist now or might be developed to enable access to data for researchers based in the majority world? What challenges do researchers in the majority world currently face? (Ie types of data, format, infrastructure, and mechanisms)
2) What is the appropriate role of the government in managing researcher access and use of data?
3) Are there any legal frameworks under development for facilitating researcher access in the global majority world, and how should regulators in the minority world foster input of majority world participants in the way these are designed (especially in transnational contexts)?
What will participants gain from attending this session? The ACT is supporting majority world researchers to continue their existing work on researcher access mechanisms. This session will share the results of that research. It will also provide an overview of the Action Coalition on Meaningful Transparency, discussing emerging regulatory developments around researcher access to data, and researcher access to data in the majority world.
Description:
Researcher access to platform data has been an important component of calls for enhanced meaningful transparency for years, but it has faced difficulties, failed experiments, and outright abuse. This presents important issues for the IGF theme of Data Governance and Trust and the prevalence and scale of platform activities means researcher access could have an enabling positive impact on a range of SDGs.
Researcher access is developing globally in parallel tracks. The African Union Data Policy Framework calls for investments in data-related innovation and research and development, as well as for access to data by African researchers. This will require harmonising standards, skills and infrastructures. Issues of trust and ethics are equally important, as is the need for evidence-based and consultative regulations to enable governments to develop better data policies. The gap between the principles in this framework and how it is implemented requires careful consideration.
Latin America has also shown an interest in regulating researcher access to platform data. Brazil has been at the forefront of this development, with ongoing debates around a new bill, the Brazilian Internet Law (PL 2630/2020), which regulates several aspects of online platforms. While the approval of the law and its data access provisions remain unclear, there are ongoing discussions about how this would be implemented and what kind of safeguards would be necessary to protect users.
Transnational proposals from the minority world are also developing, oriented toward the EU and the United States. Majority world access is not an immediate priority, despite the disproportionate impact of platform activities in such contexts. This session will outline the value of researcher access mechanisms, sketch what is currently available, explore legal mechanisms under development, and identify opportunities for improving majority world researcher access. Global coordination is critical and the Action Coalition is fostering this collaboration.
The ACT is supporting majority world researchers to continue their existing work on researcher access mechanisms. This session will share the results of that research. This session will also be used to set priorities for the Action Coalition on Meaningful Transparency and key participants in the year ahead. The ACT will publish a discussion summary with some recommended points of collaboration, with a view to supporting the development of emerging researcher access to data mechanisms globally, especially in the majority world, and in multilateral research infrastructure.
Hybrid Format: The Action Coalition is a global forum and all of our events stretch across multiple timezones. We are used to facilitating hybrid engagement. We will facilitate interaction between onsite and online attendees by making use of anonymous input tools via the use of easy URLs to web forms for collating online and in-person input from people who do not feel able to speak up. We will also have facilitators and note-takers participating online to facilitate any break-out discussions or raise issues from online participants. We also aim to record sessions with a view to their use by people who cannot participate given timezone barriers or competing commitments.