Data Sovereignty in Action: Ant Group and Didi Chuxing Case Studies

The global economy is undergoing a transformation widely recognized as the 4th industrial revolution made possible by data driven intelligent systems. Policy makers around the world are searching for new regulatory and governance frameworks to help societies manage the potential and risks these new systems bring to society. China is at the forefront of this[…]

Who Believed in COVID-19 Conspiracies in China?

As COVID-19 quickly spread throughout the world since January 2020, the uncertainty concerning the origins and features of the virus provided a fertile ground for misinformation and conspiracy theories to thrive. Different from those popular COVID-19 conspiracy narratives in the West, on Chinese social media the conspiracies that gained traction were ones that faulted the[…]

Not At Home: Resisting ‘home’ as a natural space of refuge

  As the news of the pandemic confirmed the reality of the health crises pandemic, we all turned square, sitting in rectangles that frame our faces, as we work from home. ‘Shelter in Place’[1] became the rallying call, offering the home as a retreat, a refuge, a fortress of solitude where we defy the Covid-19[…]

Australia: A poor model for QR data ‘attendance tracking’

In Australia, two main technologies have been used for COVID-19 contact tracing: a Bluetooth-based proximity tracking app, and QR Codes to assist tracking of those attending venues or events. They take radically different approaches to the protection of privacy, including that the first is voluntary, the second is (in effect) compulsory. Effective contact tracing is[…]

Pandemic strengthens China’s platforms as infrastructure providers

After strict lockdown measures went into place in China, nearly all commercial activity shifted online. E-commerce expanded its reach in the form of rural live-streaming (村播): farmers-turned-online-hosts selling fresh produce and the nostalgia of the countryside to tens of millions of urban consumers glued to their smartphones at home. The exchange is simple. Using apps[…]

The bio-surveillance state: an emerging new normal in Asia

When economic activity gradually resumed in China in mid-February, Chinese residents returned to a “new normal” under a strict surveillance infrastructure. They have their temperatures taken and personal information logged as they enter office buildings, residential communities and large commercial venues. And their freedom of movement depends on an app called Health Code (健康码), which[…]

All Carrots and No Sticks: A Case Study on Social Credit Scores in Xiamen and Fuzhou

In 2018 Xiamen and Fuzhou, two cities in Fujian province, a region on the coast in the southeast most famous for its historic trader links and global diaspora population, became one of just a handful of cities in China with their own city-level personal credit scores (个人信用评分). These are algorithmically created scores, using data gathered[…]

A tech upgrade for India-China relations

Chinese technology companies are now world leaders in areas such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce and fintech. After investing heavily in South East Asia, they are rapidly establishing themselves in India, with venture capital firms following suit. This can have a transformative effect on the Indian technology scenario over time and catalyse an Operating System (OS)[…]

Lead Leapfrogger: Chinese O2O Commerce and The Nature Of Cultural Innovation

I. The Remarkable Story of Everyday O2O Commerce in China Let’s say you were planning to visit China ten years ago. You would have your visa and flights booked, perhaps even a hotel. But the preparations wouldn’t end there. You’d have withdrawn plenty of RMB in cash, which you’d need for just about everything, except[…]

The Data Protection Convention that We All Need

Once upon a time, in a faraway land (Europe), some countries decided that it would be worth setting in stone (in an international treaty) the protection of persons when information on them were being used (automatically processed by computer). The Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic[…]