Internet: A new way of politics to become a superpower

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In just a few decades, the medium of the Internet has become an integral part of the contemporary life of billions of people of the world. Internet networks have changed the way communications between businesses, individuals, and governments change. It was primarily thought of as the power of ‘democracy’ and ‘liberalism’. Today data is seen as a resource. These include advertising, political campaigns and cross-border reconnaissance.

The emergence of ISPs beyond the national borders is a clear indication that the politics of becoming a superpower has gradually entered this realm. The notion of ‘reconnaissance state’ had come to us long before the advent of the Internet. In modern times, data is being used for many purposes. These include advertising, political campaigns and cross-border reconnaissance. Because of this, the countries of the world have started trying to prepare a global data-collection system. The process of reconnaissance has taken the form of surveillance system on a large scale.

The US government has long been using Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to carry out such surveillance activities. According to a 2021 report by the US Federal Trade Commission, Internet service providers have the potential to collect vast amounts of and extremely fine-grained user data. This gives them the power to monitor the activities of users of all websites and devices.

A few years ago, countries like India and the US banned China’s apps and network infrastructure citing national security concerns. The data collection of users was being done on a large scale through such services and products. Apart from this, he was also imposing the antics related to China’s censorship on the rest at the global level. In response, China also banned the remaining US tech services on its soil on the pretext of national security concerns.

In 2019, the US banned the activities of Chinese mobiles here. Chinese-owned Internet service providers are bound by China’s national intelligence law. Under this law, Chinese companies have been imposed legal responsibility to help Chinese officials carrying out cross-border intelligence activities.

America has also done similar things. For example, participants of the national security agency’s Prism program share similar global user data with the US government. America also has tools like National Security Letters. This could force companies collecting user data on US soil to share data with the US government. Now let’s talk about the emergence of satellite based broadband.

Because of this, Chinese and American Internet service providers providing such services can also provide such services to populations living remotely outside their soil. A network of private low-Earth orbit (LEO) 5G satellites, such as Galaxy Space and GW, are planned to produce 140 and 13,000 satellites, respectively. Both have their own 150 LEO satellites in orbit. Such alliances provide both the US and China with tremendous comparative strength outside their borders. Now they have got the necessary opportunities for surveillance related activities.

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