Expert interviews on data trading
The core competitiveness of data exchanges lies in efficiency, compliance and security, and requires systematic research on data trading methods and trading scenarios, promotion of the standardization of data products, and innovation and exploration of new trading models. China's big data trading industry is still in the primary stage of exploration, although the national and local government support, but the development of big data trading there are many obstacles.
So, what is the status of the domestic data trading market? What are the problems with data trading? What kind of development path is needed for data trading? Qi Aimin once led a team to Hangzhou, Guiyang, Wuhan and other places of data trading place research, is a second-class professor of Chongqing University School of Law, Chongqing University National Cyberspace Security and Big Data Rule of Law Strategic Research Institute director, on the above issues to accept the Nandu interview.
Government-led big data trading platform model
Nandu: Prof. Qi once led a team to a number of data trading venues to research, according to your observation of the current status of the development of the domestic data trading market? What are the main types?
Qi Aimin: At present, various places are actively responding to the national development plan on the cultivation of the data factor market.2021 During the period of 2021, the Beijing International Big Data Exchange and the Shanghai Data Exchange were established one after another, and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city was approved to set up the Northern Big Data Exchange Center. As a whole, China is still in the exploratory stage in terms of data rights, data pricing, transaction models, and system construction.
In terms of transaction types, China's government-led big data trading platform model is dominated by data transactions within the ecosystem of Internet enterprises and third-party data companies to promote data transactions. For the data transaction in the big data trading platform, the main body of the transaction to the central enterprises, state-owned enterprises and research institutions, commercial organizations due to compliance risk and other considerations have not been widely involved in the big data trading platform. In the transaction content, the trading platform is different, some trading platforms provide API data services, some trading platforms provide processed data products, there are trading platforms to provide the original data set.
Nandu: What are the main problems found in data trading? Has it been improved after several years of development? What are the recommendations for this?
Qi Aimin: We conducted research on big data trading platforms in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guiyang, Wuhan and other places before and after 2016, and found that seven problems include: all kinds of data subjects lack the concept of **** enjoyment; the positioning of data trading platforms is unclear; there is a lack of unified standards for data trading; the legal attributes and attribution of data are controversial; and the trading rules are not clear. The data transaction platform positioning is unclear; data transaction lack of uniform standards; data legal attributes and attribution are controversial; the theory of transaction rules needs to be innovated; the lack of interdisciplinary talents and insufficient construction of training bases; and the classification of government data is unclear and there is a risk of transaction.
After several years of development, China has made great progress in the top-level planning of the data elements market and the development of artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies, but the problem of constructing a basic legal system for the flow of data has not yet been well resolved, and the Guiyang Big Data Exchange has almost come to a standstill in its business, and similar big data exchanges in China have yet to form a more mature business model. In my opinion, we should learn from the experience and lessons learned from the previous years' practical exploration of big data trading platforms, and on the one hand, encourage localities to carry out pilot projects and rule-making for big data trading, and on the other hand, we should also solve the fundamental problems of data ownership, data value assessment, and the boundaries of data trading from the legal level.
Nandu: At present, data trading platforms in the market mainly include government-type data trading venues, data service providers, etc. What are the advantages of each? As data application becomes more refined, which data do you think is more in line with market demand?
Qi Aimin: At present, the well-known domestic big data trading platforms, such as the Beijing International Big Data Exchange, Shanghai Data Exchange, Guiyang Big Data Exchange are mainly constructed by the government support, this kind of data trading venues have a high degree of trustworthiness, and can expand the scope of the main body of the participation in the promotion of the local government. It can stimulate the enthusiasm of the main body of data trading and the vitality of the trading market, and can promote the integration of data resources, standardize trading behavior, reduce transaction costs, and enhance data liquidity, and has a greater advantage in the source of data, operation standardization and other aspects.
Data service providers aim to serve the specific data analysis needs of their customers, and profit from providing legally collected data to their customers after processing, and their services are more flexible and diversified, such as helping customers with consumer identity verification and fraud detection, and providing customers with marketing effectiveness analysis. In my opinion, the data in some highly digitized fields, such as finance, healthcare, education, and transportation, have a greater impact on people's production and life, and are more in line with the needs of the data trading market.
Nandu: High-quality data is mainly concentrated in the hands of government departments, head Internet platforms and financial institutions, how do we need to cultivate a diversified data supply and demand market and transaction scenarios?
Qi Aimin: I think it is necessary to establish some basic legal systems, such as the legal nature of data, the boundaries of data transactions, etc., so that on the one hand, the controllers of high-quality data can dare to release the data, and on the other hand, let the demand side of the data to rest assured that the data can be used. The data transaction market cultivation is a systematic project, we should not rely too much on the current mainstream mode of big data transaction platforms, and should also encourage the financial, education and other areas of high digitization to carry out intra-industry data transaction rules exploration, so as to form a diversified data transaction market.
Nandu: China's Cybersecurity Law, Data Security Law, and Personal Information Protection Law have been taken as a trio of cyberspace governance and data protection, and what are the new challenges that data trading still faces? How do we need to improve the transaction model and the construction of the legal system?
Qi Aimin: In recent years, China has made great achievements in cyberspace legislation, the introduction of the Cybersecurity Law, the Data Security Law, and the Personal Information Protection Law has established some basic boundaries for data trading, but data trading is still faced with problems such as unclear ownership, and immature pricing models, which hinder the free flow and exploitation of data. free flow and exploitation of data. Article 127 of China's Civil Code affirms the legitimacy of data, providing the civil basic law support for specialized legislation on data trading.
In my opinion, the first step is to establish the legal nature of data at the level of civil law. Second, establish a data asset evaluation system through departmental regulations and other means to promote the formation of a diversified data pricing model. Finally, the establishment of access thresholds and filing and registration systems for data service providers, such as big data trading platforms, and the adoption of a collaborative regulatory model between the government and platforms to strengthen compliance review of the trading entities and trading activities within the platforms, in particular risk assessment and prevention of the protection of personal information, data security, and the sovereignty of national data.
Nandu: data ownership is a data legislation can not be bypassed, Shenzhen introduced the first domestic comprehensive data legislation, put forward the concept of data rights and interests, the Shanghai Municipal Data Regulations put forward the authorization of the operation, etc., on January 25, 2022, Tianjin released the Interim Measures for the Management of Data Transactions, etc.. At present, what are the experiences for data rights and data transactions at the legislative level? Where should local data legislation go?
Qi Aimin: Data rights is a very complex issue, data is different from the traditional tangible goods, non-competitive, directly take the way of rights may not be conducive to the circulation of data. At present, China's legal level has not yet established the attribution of the rights of data, but the conduct of data trading activities and the boundaries of some principle provisions. For example, Article 42 of the Cybersecurity Law allows anonymized personal information to be provided to others, providing a legal basis for data trading activities. Article 33 of the Data Security Law stipulates that data transaction intermediary service providers shall require data providers to state the source of data, audit the identities of both parties to the transaction, and keep records of the audits and transactions. The Civil Code, the Criminal Code, and the Personal Information Protection Act establish a legal bottom line prohibiting the illegal trading of personal information.
In terms of promoting data transactions, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Tianjin, and other places are conducting local legislative exploration, the content of which is more to encourage market players to carry out innovative practices of data transactions under the existing legal framework. In my opinion, for a newly established market that is not yet mature, market players should be given more freedom to explore the space. In the case of the successive construction of big data trading platforms around the world, local governments should be allowed to develop specific trading rules based on local data trading practices, such as the Interim Measures for the Management of Data Trading in Tianjin, etc., and continue to improve the data trading system in the process of applying the rules, and then rise to the level of national legislation after the relevant experience has matured.
Output: Nandu Big Data Institute Digital Government Research Center
Planning: Wang Haijun, Coordinator: Zou Ying, Ling Huishan, Researcher: Yuan Jiongxian, Designer: Liu Yinsan