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The principle that data should be borderless and that it should flow freely is a policy decision that has profound effects. Some base that principle on the idea that data is a commodity that should be freely traded.
But the idea that data should flow freely does not actually flow logically from the idea that data is a commodity: commodities are taxed and the producers of raw material are compensated for providing that material to the industries that transform it and add value to it.
Further, the idea that data is a commodity to be freely traded contradicts fundamental human rights.
And the benefits of free flow of data have been overstated: indeed free flow of data likely increases income inequality.
There is no obvious justification for policies favouring the free flow of data other than to allow OTTs to continue to accumulate huge profits (often monopoly profits) by extracting and refining data, without paying taxes and without compensating the users who produce the data in the first place.
As a consequence, there should be a moratorium on negotiations regarding the free flow of data.
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