The Data Economy: Challenges and Calls for Governance

Personal data that users have been voluntarily providing for decades is mainly used by large digital platforms and social networks, as well as by states, which are accumulating increasing amounts of information about citizens. Experts interviewed by La Diaria emphasized that personal data have become a key input for the digital economy, and their collection has been taking place for decades, largely without citizens being aware of its scope or possible uses. According to Javier Barreiro, founder and board member of DAMA and CEO of IUGO, and Cecilia Rikap, an Argentine economist and researcher, information generated on digital platforms—such as searches, interactions, purchases, and behaviors—feeds increasingly extensive databases used by both private companies and states. "We are facing a sort of theft of the century because data is being converted into an asset even though it is generated collectively," Barreiro stated. He noted that without the micro-tasks often performed by piece-rate workers or hired by companies in peripheral countries, which contribute to preparing data for AI training, there would be no digital economy. Rikap, a professor of economics at University College London, added that all information generated on the internet can be collected and transformed into databases, and she emphasized that access to this data is deeply concentrated. While individuals, organizations, and states can access certain levels of information, nothing compares to the volume and comprehensiveness of data held by the major tech companies of the United States and China. "Without data centers, there is no digital economy, but without data and algorithms, there is none either," she noted. She also warned of the risk that society only talks about data centers without observing the resources required for them, such as water or electricity consumption, and their impact on the lives of communities where they are installed, reinforcing an "extractivist" process. Barreiro highlighted that with the expansion of AI, the ability to use and cross-reference data becomes increasingly powerful. Although Uruguay has long had a solid regulatory framework for data protection, "gray areas" persist that raise questions, especially when multiple sectors—such as banking, health, or commerce—accumulate extensive histories of consumption, behavior, and user profiles. Rikap also pointed to the case of Uruguay's state-owned telecom company, Antel, as a "pathway to expand digital sovereignty" in Latin America, suggesting that such initiatives could form part of an "alternative digital ecosystem from the public sector."