the future of public data sharing is gloomy, with no clear direction and regulations
In 2015, China announced an ambitious plan to promote 'big data' for its potential to improve governance, economic efficiency and social services. Premier Li Keqiang 李克强 notes that the state holds 80 percent of all data; the plan called for a unified government data-sharing platform to be set up by end 2018, gradually dismantling 'information silos' across the government. But such a centralised data platform is nowhere in sight. Forging one will be a focus of the upcoming Big Data Expo in Guizhou 26-29 May.
data openness provisions in State Council big data plan
- promote government data sharing
- promote public data resource openness
- coordinate big data infrastructure construction
- support ‘scientification’ of macroeconomic regulation and control
- promote governance capacity
- improve convenience of business-facing public services
- promote effective social governance
- improve public services
- healthcare big data
- social security big data
- education and culture big data
- transportation and tourism big data
The state was supposed to clarify data sharing boundaries of each agency by 2017, establish a unified sharing and exchange platform among central agencies and a unified national government data open platform by 2018, and expand the public data platform to different public service areas by 2020. Agencies were expected to further develop existing databases as they share with each other and to the public. The plan also promised to open data to the public to serve social governance and industrial development. Some localities even imagine big data as a new means of managing Party cadres.
But despite Premier Li’s June 2017 call to action, a Politburo study session on big data and numerous policy recommendations from industry stakeholders, progress has been limited. Public information resource sharing pilots were announced after State Council approved eight national big data comprehensive pilot zones between 2015–16, but no real measures were taken to integrate them on a unified public platform.
step-by-step or wide-open?
Debate on the policy reemerged during the 2019 Two Sessions, because of its relevance to AI and smart city development. Cybersecurity advocates and industry representatives failed to agree on the future of public data sharing: the former stressed stricter regulation but the latter called to legitimise and accelerate it.
Public data can spur economic development, especially for emerging industries like AI, which relies on availability of quality data. With the state’s massive data trove hidden from the public, commercial AI development is curtailed, argues Wang Xiaochuan 王小川 Sogou CEO, who recommends the state share data vital to public interests like healthcare, education, elderly care and law. Ride-hailing and bike-sharing firms have set up platforms with local governments to optimise (public) transportation, and autonomous driving companies are also calling for the state to share more data in the interest of progress.
There are however grounds for caution. Unregulated data sharing will, warn critics, increase security risks. Despite the anonymous nature of public data, malicious actors may still be able to harm individual citizens with rapidly evolving technological tools. Concerns include individual privacy, but also ownership of valuable commercial data and threats to national security. A Data Security Law and GDPR-like Individual Data Protection Law would address privacy concerns, but legislators struggle to draft one that safeguards government access to citizen data. The Cybersecurity Law focuses on national security, but its implementation has been stalled by technical challenges and impractical definitions of key criteria like 'important data’.
a national bureau to break local and departmental resistance
The state needs a formal legal and liability framework for data ownership, as local governments often have doubts about what data can be used or shared. They have been experimenting with disclaimer frameworks and classification systems that could be rolled out nationwide. Remove barriers to government data sharing from the Cybersecurity Law, proposes Chen Mingbo 陈鸣波 Shanghai municipality deputy secretary general. Promoting the advantages of data openness across government levels and agencies will be important to overcome local and departmental protectionism.
A national big data bureau could oversee these developments, says Yang Fan 杨帆 Chongqing Big Data Use and Development Management Bureau vice director. Many provincial governments have already created bureaus to manage public data sharing. Yang’s proposal resembles hands-on approaches to mobile payments, individual credit ratings and telemedicine. In all of these areas, after an initial period of grey-area experimentation, regulations have required innovative firms to submit their services to state-sanctioned institutions, which then provide some of them as public goods. Such nationalisation can hamper innovation—this may happen again if the proposed bureau restricts private data sharing and trade.
Xue Jun 薛军 Peking University Law School argues proposed data regulations are not grounded in rigorous policy research and may harm long-term socioeconomic development. Government agencies do not have a clear understanding of big data and lack the awareness and courage necessary to use big data for governance and policy innovation, notes Meng Qingguo 孟庆国 Tsinghua University National Institute of Governance executive director. They also wrestle for political influence and thus hesitate to share data with each other. A proper institutional framework is necessary to clarify local responsibilities and devise national data sharing standards.
roundtable
Meng Qingguo 孟庆国 | Tsinghua University National Institute of Governance executive director
Expert in governance innovation and e-governance, Meng is a prominent advocate for the national big data platform. Officials must, he argues, absorb the revolutionary power of big data. A believer in top-level design, he sees big data reshaping governance by enabling e-government, helping tune policy and services to specific community needs, and addressing shortcomings that in his view plague traditional decision-making.
Wang Xiaochuan 王小川 | Sogou CEO
Wang heads search engine Sogou, a Tencent-controlled internet company that has invested heavily in language-related AI. The state should detail data opening measures, he advises, improving quality and increasing public availability. Wang also believes data openness would fortify China’s leadership in AI competition.
Xue Jun 薛军 | Peking University Law School deputy dean
A commerce and internet law specialist, Xue says the state should be cautious about data law legislation and enforcement. He advocates a lenient approach to regulating e-commerce and internet industries via such means as industry standards. Strict data regulation enforcement may stifle industry development, he suggests.
context
6 May 2019: China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT) releases 'White paper on integrated development of big data and real economy' and calls on the state to push forward data openness and strengthen data governance
8 Mar 2019: NPC delegates and CPPCC members reignite debate at Two Sessions
28 Dec 2018: CAICT releases a white paper on internet laws, calling for a Data Security Law and Individual Data Protection Law
26 Oct 2018: Meng Qingquo 孟庆国 argues in People's Daily that big data can improve innovation, efficiency and quality of government work
12 Jul 2018: CAICT releases 'Big data security report' and calls for a comprehensive big data defence system
29 May 2018: Guizhou held Big Data Expo, with closing remarks from experienced propagandist Wang Chen 王晨
31 Mar 2018: China Electronics Standardisation Institute's (CESI) releases 'White paper on big data standards'
21 Mar 2018: CAICT set up a framework to evaluate government cloud platforms’ technical performance
6 Feb 2018: NDRC and MIIT announced that Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guizhou will carry out public information resource sharing pilots
17 Jun 2017: Premier Li reiterates commitment to establish a national data sharing platform
7 Apr 2017: NDRC announces all basic information of citizens, businesses, service agencies and social organisations will be made available to government offices nationwide in H1 2017
19 Dec 2016: State Council’s ‘Strategic emerging industry development 13th 5-year plan’ calls for implementing the national big data plan, specifically by expediting government data sharing, developing a new application ecology and strengthening big data and internet information security
8 Oct 2016: NDRC announces a second batch of national big data pilot zones, in Jingjinji, Pearl River Delta, Shanghai, Henan, Chongqing, Shenyang and Inner Mongolia
13 Apr 2016: NDRC releases ‘Three-year work plan for promoting big data development (2016–18)’, calling for data sharing, innovation and security
16 Nov 2015: State Council approves Guizhou as the first national big data pilot zone
31 Aug 2015: State Council releases ‘Action guidelines for promoting big data development’, calling for completing an interdepartmental data sharing framework by end 2017 and a unified government data-sharing platform by end 2018