The Conflicts in Defining Data Ownership in China’s Digital Transformation and the Regulatory Path

Abstract

China is aggressively pursuing digital transformation, and data, alike labor, technology, capital, and knowledge, has become as a crucial factor of production. Digital transformation is accelerating the emergence of a data-intensive society, and the ensuing difficulties of balancing freedom and responsibility, openness and security, as well as free sharing and legal regulation are posing new challenges to national and social governance. Among these challenges, defining data ownership, the social disorder and anomie brought about by the unclear definition of data ownership, and data ownership regulatory path are new propositions that need to be urgently addressed in this data-intensive society. This paper systematically explains the theoretical meaning and practical value of data ownership through a literature review on the analysis of domestic and foreign scholars as well as research think tanks, compares the differences and inherent conflicts between the definition of data ownership by the government, enterprises, and society in China, thoroughly compares the definition standards of the European Union, the United States, and Japan, and on this basis, discusses the formation of a definition of data ownership that meets the requirements of China’s digital transformation.