data sovereignty

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the principle that data is subject to the laws and governance structures of the nation or community in which it was generated, and that states or peoples have the right to control how data about their citizens or members is collected, stored, processed, and transferred across borders; data sovereignty is asserted at multiple scales: national governments seek to prevent strategic data from being stored in foreign jurisdictions (data localisation); Indigenous communities assert sovereignty over data about their people, territories, and cultural practices generated by researchers (Indigenous data sovereignty, or CARE principles); developing nations argue that data generated by their citizens should not be extracted and monetised primarily by foreign platform corporations without benefit to the originating communities