Techno-Regionalism & Security Implications
The internet and then the rise of the world wide web connected humanity unlike ever before. Changing how we trade, speeding up cultural transmission. With the rise of social media and smartphones, many declared autocracies would fade, we would be united as a species. Until we weren't.
As the geopolitical order is shifting and democracy is more fragile than ever and conflicts get hotter around the world, we are seeing the dissolution of this coherent digital commons. Distinct techno-regional spheres are emerging.
This represents a fundamental restructuring of of how societies organise, secure and express themselves through these digital technoscapes (Appadurai et al). This will impact not just global political systems, but how multinational corporations must operate. In this article I will look at the implications for global businesses.
In this emerging landscape, security becomes not just a technical challenge but also a complex exercise in cultural translation (trust, privacy and security) across increasingly divergent digital societies. And we will see middle powers starting to play an outsized role. I realise I'm covering a lot in a short article. So perhaps consider it an executive summary of sorts.
Perhaps some of the earliest indications of techno-regionalism can be seen in how both large and middle powers are shaping their technoscapes.
Companies that operate in China’s technosphere face some specific challenges. They must meet their comprehensive data security and privacy laws, yet maintain global security standards. They have to deal with the unique technology ecosystem of WeChat, Alibaba and Baidu and navigate increasingly difficult reviews of cross-border data transfers and technology infrastructure deployments.
The White House ordered its cybersecurity organisations to cease attacks against Russia earlier this year. That is a remarkable action to take, leaving America and its allies vulnerable.
Understanding cultural differences is key to all of these challenges ahead. The technological choices regions make reflect their deep cultural archetypes. Technologies encode cultural values, adoption patterns follow cultural logic. Security is culturally constructed.
In Europe not only are there the challenges of GDPR for privacy and data, but now the EU’s AI Act. Then there’s the GAIA-X and other digital sovereignty initiatives that aim to minimise dependence on non-European providers.
In the ASEAN are the emerging cross-border digital integration and infrastructure networks. The Gulf States are pushing a rapid series of digital transformations while trying to maintain cultural integrity.
All of these require navigating complex cultural dimensions. Western cultures tend to emphasise transparency and disclosure. Eastern cultures prioritise discretion and face-saving. Other regions may emphasise resilience over prevention.
Even staff moving between regions create knowledge management challenges for companies where issues of IP protection, algorithms and various views on innovation versus strict controls.
An increasingly challenging issue is digital identity systems and laws. Biometric systems vary as do national ID approaches. This will present attribution problems across regional boundaries for security incidences and regulatory compliance.
Then of course, there’s supply chain fragmentation problems. Component trustworthiness becomes and issue with policies like the US Clean Network excluding Chinese components. Then there’s regional semiconductor security verifications. Regionally developed software elements create new attack vectors and some regions may require a degree of indigenous software.
Cross border data flows are being impacted by increasingly complex laws and regulations. The Five Eyes nations are pushing for backdoor access, others are prioritising end-to-end encryption.
Safe harbour agreements and adequacy decisions are becoming more fragmented and politicised. This may require company-specific arrangements rather than standardised models.
Increasingly, major Cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle are finding themselves having to create regionally isolated instances with divergent capabilities and compliance requirements.
The emergence of alternative app stores, operating systems and development environments creates complexity for security management. Russia, for example, has created its own indigenous software. We are seeing the fragmentation of technology stacks.
This all creates epistemic security challenges. From maintaining coherent organisational knowledge across technological boundaries to truth consensus breakdowns. AI systems trained on regionally and culturally distinct data present challenges for having a cohesive AI system.
Corporate resilience planning faces cultural complexities unlike ever before. From responding to breaches and other major security incidences to recovering from value conflicts with regions and nation states.
We are starting to see the emergence of distinct security cultures across regions and nations. The most significant security threats in this landscape aren’t purely technical exploits but approaches that weaponise cultural differences and exploit the liminal places between regional technological systems.
