The COVID-19 Pandemic and Trends in Technology

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized that, more than ever, governments and businesses have to reinvent themselves through the fuller integration of digital technology in all aspects of their work, and that they must pursue long-term digital transformation in order to compete and operate both nationally and internationally. Otherwise, they risk falling behind, unable to find their place in an altered global landscape. The issues encountered during the development of track-and-trace apps as part of the fight against COVID-19 have highlighted significant differences in levels of accountability and transparency between the public and private sectors. This has underlined the areas of tension between corporate power and the authority of democratically elected governments, and the capacity of tech companies not just to deploy ‘soft’ power in the form of lobbying, but also to block access to essential technologies. The fragmented response to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed focus on the lack of internationally agreed technical standards that are both privacy-respecting and secure by design. Such standards could potentially offer interoperability if individuals travel overseas, while at the same time guarding against overreach by some governments. It remains to be seen whether the mechanisms and networks that have been established in response to the rise in cybercrime during the pandemic will be leveraged for the long term to sustain progress on cybercrime cooperation. These could prove to be enormously helpful in addressing the challenges that have long impeded effective cooperation on cybercrime between the public and private sectors and criminal justice actors within and across borders. As certain countries are now being accused of violating agreed norms during the pandemic, and with the increased blurring of the boundary between state and non-state cyber activity, the gulf between major cyber powers will likely only continue to grow. This could ultimately hinder progress in trying to build some consensus across the international community on the issue of future cyber norms; and, further, could negatively impact practical cooperation across borders on cybercrime and other cyber-related issues. The ‘infodemic’ that has accompanied COVID-19 has made it clear that despite social media companies’ efforts to date, problems persist in tackling cyber influence operations and are unlikely to go away unless the platforms radically change their business model – a move that will hurt their bottom line and thus one that they will have every incentive to avoid.