Data regulation versus data freedom

New laws, led by the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), are putting constraints on global groups that had grown used to setting their own rules. Consequently, data-driven tech companies from Google and Facebook to Alibaba and Amazon are finally coming under regulatory scrutiny for their shortcomings, especially over data privacy.

But correcting the problems of today’s digital economy will depend less on government regulators than on the harnessing of market forces. Already, market-inspired data privacy and cybersecurity services are becoming hot commercial commodities, not least in Asia.

This has given rise to a new “RegTech” sector—where companies and governments use artificial intelligence (AI) to manage regulatory processes—which could create opportunities for a wide range of businesses, large and small.

While all nations around the world face data-protection challenges, they are particularly acute in Southeast Asia because the region of 600 million people combines high growth in the digital economy with a fragmented regulatory landscape, spread across a dozen different countries. Moreover, Southeast Asia lacks the legal and…