Cross-border data flows replicate colonial patterns and concentrate through the United States

Evidence

As with previous stages of colonialism and capitalism, exploitation creates and exacerbates inequalities between metropolis and colonies, between “developed” and “underdeveloped” worlds. The flow of data between the Global North and the Global South exemplifies the inequalities that still plague neocolonial relations, especially since the circulation of digital data is becoming just as important as the circulation of material goods in international trade. Cross-border data exchanges represented an overall traffic flow of 211.3 terabytes per second (TBps) in 2014 (up from 4.7 TBps in 2005) and were valued at $7.8 trillion in that year alone. But a closer look reveals that exchanges are highly uneven: while flows between North America and Europe jumped from 1,000 TBps to more than 20,000 TBps between 2005 and 2014, the flow between North America and Latin America, for example, increased only from 500 TBps to 5,000 TBps during that time, and the flow between Asia and Africa (to illustrate flows between the Global South) went from less than 50 TBps to no more than 500 TBps. An overwhelming majority of all cross-border data traffic passes through the United States and is subject to whatever surveillance and collection methods that government deems necessary. Thus, the Global North still assumes the role of gatekeeper, as it did in the days of the telegraph and the telephone, and data flows continue to replicate the movement of resources from colony to metropolis. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 332

Categorization

• XREF: Data for this replication claim grounds the reader’s comparison of the data-colonialism frame against attention/surveillance schools; also echoes telegraph-era gatekeeping noted earlier in the book. — connects to: The 4X framework exposes continuity between historical and data colonialism — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 274; Data colonialism is backed by both the US and China as a global order — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 573; Data colonialism is not a Western-only project but operates globally and within societies — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 100 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Data extraction functions like colonial resource appropriation despite different modes #epitomizes (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 27
• The 4X framework exposes continuity between historical and data colonialism #expands (0.82) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 274
• Data colonialism is not a Western-only project but operates globally and within societies #qualifies (0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 100
• Data colonialism is backed by both the US and China as a global order #qualifies (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 573