Han Liu

Abstract:

Recently, the concept of data sovereignty has been widely discussed, mainly because of data security threats faced by countries, especially the challenge of the cross-border flow of data to the actual control of data by sovereign states. Currently, the concept of data sovereignty refers to at least three ideas. First, the nation-state’s localization control of data; second, it is the actual control of data by international Internet giants who master big data technology and mass data. Indigenous peoples claim data rights from the governments where they reside in. Data sovereignty has two dimensions: defensiveness and expansionism. The two concepts of data sovereignty correspond to different specific legal systems. Clarifying the concept of data sovereignty has important implications for building the legal system of Internet governance.

Bio:

Han Liu is Associate Professor of Law and Deputy Director of Office of Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University. He also serves as Deputy Director of Tsinghua Institute for Law and AI. He receives his J.S.D. from Yale University. Professor Liu works on public law and internet law and publish in leading journals like American Journal of Comparative Law and International Journal of Constitutional Law. He is a board member of China Cyber and Information Law Association and Deputy Head of the Legal Team at China Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance.