The Tribune

ActivTrades Weekly

By Ricardo Evangelista

www.activtrades.bs

The 20th Century was the golden age of oil. The black gold, as it became known, drove the ambition of ruthless tycoons and was the reason that lead countries to war. Fortunes were made and lost and maps had to be redrawn, as oil rich regions were able to punch above their weight in terms of geostrategic importance. However, recently oil has been losing some of its appeal. A combination of environmental concerns and new sustainable ways to generate energy is dictating a change in priorities, with oil progressively losing its place at the top of the global political and economic agendas.

Today, new sources of wealth and power are arising as technology evolves, triggering massive changes in business, politics and geostrategy. Since it was first coined in 2006, the expression ‘data is the new oil’ appears with ever-greater frequency. The expression itself It’s somehow abstract, but undeniably clever, encapsulating the essence of a time when information is becoming the most precious commodity. Data is the modern-day holy grail for those seeking wealth, influence and power.

The importance of data is noticeable at all levels. Some of us may at some point have been slightly spooked by adds and messages, related to a recent online search, that appear to be aimed specifically at us; this does not happen by accident. As we use the internet, a trail is left behind. The information is then collected, analysed and used in targeted advertising. Tech companies are obviously in a privileged position to gather this modern-day gold dust, with social media and search engines playing a central role in the harvesting of consumer related data, as well as in the targeting of those same consumers for commercial or political ends.

Data is also seen as pivotal by governments. Technology is becoming a new front in the geopolitical dispute between the USA and China. Companies such as Huawei and Tiktok recently captured headlines, as they came under fire from the American authorities. Politicians in Washington and in Europe are growing increasingly worried about the Chinese firms’ ability to capture user data and even to steal industrial and state secrets through their apps and devices, in order to gain an edge over western competitors.

The sanctions imposed by the west on Huawei and TikTok may have been the opening round in a new sort of conflict. Just as in the past countries fought each other to control the supply and distribution of physical commodities, today the fight, albeit not yet in the military sphere, is for data. Earlier this month the US state department ordered the closure of China’s consulate in Huston, alleging that it was being used as a base to steal information owned by the large number of energy and agricultural firms headquartered in the city. There are obvious cold war echoes in this story, however, the dispute is no longer over territory or ideology, but focused on data and who owns it.