Data Border Crossings

Extract

Most of us are well aware that the world is being changed by new information technologies, especially in the area of computers and telecommunications. Fewer are aware that these same technologies have stimulated major policy debates in international councils and within the economic and foreign policy-making chambers of an ever-increasing number of nations. Generally, these debates focus on the economic and political impact of technologies that enable computer data to be sent across national borders, a process known as transborder data flow (TDF). But transborder data flow has given rise to complex social and moral questions as well. At issue are such matters as national sovereignty and security, and the right of citizens to privacy and freedom of speech.