The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has called on countries to make digital data flow for the benefit of all.
On this, UNCTAD said the world needs a new global governance approach to enable digital data to flow across borders as freely as necessary and possible.
The UN trade and development body said the new approach should help to maximise development gains, ensure those gains are equitably distributed and minimise risks and harms.
It should also enable worldwide data sharing, develop global digital public goods, increase trust and reduce uncertainty in the digital economy.
According to the Digital Economy Report 2021 by UNCTAD, it revealed that the new global system should also help avoid further fragmentation of the Internet, address policy challenges emerging from the dominant positions of digital platforms and narrow existing inequalities.
UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in his preface to the report, said it is more important than ever to embark on a new path for digital and data governance.
“The current fragmented data landscape risks us failing to capture the value that could accrue from digital technologies and it may create more space for substantial harms related to privacy breaches, cyberattacks and other risks,” he stated. (Guardian)