Firms pledge more data security efforts amid Didi crisis
The issue of data protection has become a hot topic during the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), with workshops, forums and speakers pledging to enhance data security and exhibiting related technologies, after the removal of the “Chinese Uber” Didi Chuxing app from domestic app stores raised concerns and discussions about how data should be treated in cross-border business.
Several speakers told the Global Times on the sidelines of WAIC that the trend of using technologies and services for data privacy protection while still unlocking the value of big data is “on a rapidly rising curve,” as artificial intelligence companies face tightened regulation requirements on data protection.
A number of forums are dedicated to the discussion of creating a balance between unlocking the value created by big data and keeping the date safe through technical means.
One such technology is called the PrivacyPreservation Computation (PPC), which is a set of cutting-edge technologies that allow companies to analyze data jointly without seeing the specific data.
For example, the technology will allow companies to know what tea brands 20-30 girls like to drink based on a pool of data, but they wouldn’t be able to see the original data of each person involved.
“I think China is leading in Privacy-Preservation Computation. Especially this year, many new companies have emerged in the field of privacy calculation, including companies that used to engage in data, safety business or even blockchain,” a person at the Ant Group booth told the Global Times.
Ant is also using PPC technologies by “scale application,” while promoting the technology to other companies commercially, the person said.
Wang Shuang, founder of NVXClouds Tech, also a speaker at the WAIC, said that the market of privacy calculation has surged this year.
Data also shows a booming trend of Chinese companies’ usage and sales of data privacy services.
“Didi’s rectification should serve as an example of how Chinese regulators would supervise big data platforms’ data treatment model. In the future, the direction of such supervision would become clearer, which would exert a positive influence on national security as well as privacy protection,” Kuang Yuqing, founder of Lens Company Research and a veteran financial commentator, told the Global Times during the conference.