Mon, Mar 04, 2024 page12

• ‘Game-changing’ tech fuels US relook at China data risks

  • AFP, WASHINGTON
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  From Internet-connected cars to genomic information, the US is rethinking its data protection policies — with further trade curbs aimed at China in the cards — as technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) brings new risks.

  In the past week alone, US President Joe Biden took steps expanding Washington’s national security toolkit, sounding the alarm on possible risks from Chinese vehicles and tech, a day after issuing an order to limit the flow of sensitive personal data abroad.

  The fear is that such data can be used to track citizens, including those with sensitive jobs, or train AI models.

  

  US President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday last week.

  Photo: AFP

  The use of sensitive data to develop AI could allow adversaries to use the tech to target US individuals for espionage or blackmail, such as by recognizing patterns across datasets to identify people whose government links would be otherwise obscured.

  Washington has started to recognize the “strategic and national security value of data,” said Lindsay Gorman, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

  The US Department of Commerce’s investigation into risks from Chinese tech in connected vehicles is “a long-overdue look into the application layer of the future Internet,” Gorman said.

  “We should expect further investigations into the data produced across the Internet of Things,” she said.

  The moves signal “broader concerns about national security risks emanating from unfettered free access to data,” Center for Strategic and International Studies’ trade and technology project director Emily Benson said.

  Until now, Chinese firms could legally buy US data in bulk, Peterson Institute for International Economics senior fellow Martin Chorzempa said.

  This creates an “imbalance,” he said, adding that the latest order closes a “loophole.”

  Washington has tried using national security grounds to limit foreign firms’ ability to buy US companies and access US data — but businesses could still acquire the information.

  A Duke University study published in November last year found that it is not difficult to obtain sensitive data about active-duty military members, with information available through data brokers for as low as US$0.12 per record.

  “Overall what we do see is the recalibration of the United States’ approach,” which has traditionally leaned towards free data flows, Benson said. “That era seems to be behind us.”

  The approach to data comes as Washington mounts a broader push to power economic growth and maintain a US lead in tech competition with China — while putting up national security guardrails.

  A key factor is AI, which can quickly analyze and manipulate bulk data in carrying out espionage or cyber operations.

  “A part of this is a foundational security approach to reining in certain high-risk AI capabilities,” Benson said.

  Concurrently, Washington’s need to stay ahead in AI has spurred other federal policies such as the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act, which pours US$39 billion into manufacturing incentives.

  On Monday last week, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said that AI has been a “game changer” in demand for advanced chips, adding that the US can eventually house the entire supply chain for producing such semiconductors.

  Most global semiconductor manufacturing capacity is in China and East Asia, according to the US Semiconductor Industry Association.

  “China has been very proactive at building out its own data protection and data security regime,” Chorzempa said.

  “One element of that is restrictions on what data can be transferred cross-border,” he said, adding that foreign companies would not necessarily be able to get data from China on its citizens.

  US moves represent it coming more aligned with data governance regimes of its close partners, Benson said.

  The EU has strict data protection laws including its 2018 General Data Protection Regulation, and rules covering the flow of bulk commercial data between devices.

  Japan has been pushing for the flow of data, while ensuring trust in privacy and security as well.

  “It’ll be interesting to see to what degree [US action] actually facilitates greater convergence among regimes, or whether we’re into unchartered territory when it comes to digital governance,” Benson said.
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