[Dollar hegemony] After crude oil and the US dollar, what is the US using to manipulating the global economy?

How the U.S. uses data to control the global economy

The United States is the first country to launch a big data strategy. In May 2012, the US government announced an investment of 200 million US dollars to improve big data technology (including data storage, analysis, and collection) to accelerate scientific research, strengthen national security, reform teaching and training systems, and promote the development of professional talents.

In March 2018, the United States promulgated the "Cloud Act" (the full name "Clarification of the Legal Use of Foreign Data Act"), stipulating that if the US government requests it, all US companies must hand over the data stored inside and outside the country to the government. Since American social platform companies and cloud service providers account for most of the global market, this means that as many countries as American companies expand their global business, the data sovereignty of the United States will expand, laying the foundation for the United States to establish global data hegemony.

Origin

The introduction of the US "Cloud Act" originated from the Microsoft-Ireland case in 2013. The U.S. Department of Justice obtained a court search order when investigating a drug trafficking case, requiring Microsoft to provide the suspect’s email content. Because some of the e-mails are stored on servers in Ireland, Microsoft refused to hand over relevant information, believing that the authorities have no right to disregard the sovereignty of other countries and forcefully obtain information stored in other countries. The "Storage Communications Act" passed by the United States in 1986 does not clearly stipulate whether the US government's search warrant can require service providers to submit data stored abroad.

Therefore, the "Cloud Act" clearly stipulates in the provisions that when the US government requests it, any US company that stores data on the cloud must transfer the data to the US government. As long as a company located outside the United States is deemed "sufficiently connected with the United States and subject to U.S. jurisdiction" by the U.S. court, the above-mentioned provisions are also applicable. In addition, companies whose companies are located in the United States but whose data centers are overseas must also comply with this requirement.

The U.S. data analysis market is huge, with more than 100 companies, but there is very little repeated competition, and each has its own characteristics:

The possible impact of data on the global economy

The era of the data economy has brought about very, very important changes, and people’s estimates of costs have changed. In the traditional industry, the cost comes from the purchase of raw materials, the allocation of human resources, the cost of transportation, etc., while the cost of the digital industry is different, which greatly exceeds the price of optical fiber, host, server and other hardware, and is more reflected in the data The value-added effect of the original industry. How much is the data worth? How much should a company spend to buy data? These are issues worthy of attention and discussion under the new situation, and are also topics of widespread concern to the government and international institutions.

The Economist pointed out in an article last year that data currently affects world trade in three main ways: First, the digital economy promotes the transnational operation of electronic platforms, and more and more Internet users around the world use Amazon, eBay or China's Taobao shopping has promoted the circulation of goods and services around the world; secondly, more and more goods appear and are sold in digital form. In the past, they were limited to records and movie discs that were difficult to sell overseas. Films have achieved cross-border sales through the Internet, and have generated huge profits; third, in the global supply chain, data has played a vital role to help companies further increase profits. Large-scale multinational companies can use digital platforms to realize global procurement and transportation of raw materials to minimize costs.

In short, which country will control the more people in the future will be the winner.