Emerging Topics in Data Sovereignty and Digital Governance

In an increasingly digital world, we are continuously being met with novel and unprecedented challenges, the likes of which we have never encountered in our human history. Not only are we engaged in the balancing act of protecting individual and personal rights and freedoms with respect to both positive and negative rights, but we are also working to balance the interests of our communities, societies, and the greater global world in this novel forum. We have seen a growth in the desire for equality and equity for under-recognized and marginalised social groups, including the interest in indigenous rights and data sovereignty, as well as greater environmental accountability and transparency with regard to the inner workings of data centres and large technological infrastructure projects. Finally, we are seeing the fast-paced growth of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the corresponding concerns relating to human rights and ethics. These topics, and many more, are the ones which we will have to face as emerging topics in data sovereignty and digital governance in the months and years to come. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the major emerging topics in data sovereignty and digital governance, including the concept of digital rights, indigenous data sovereignty, the issues associated with data centres and data mines, digital self-determination, artificial intelligence, social responsibility, and data policing.