Data storage and digital sovereignty: The public (big) data governance facing the new global challenges

Abstract

By using data retention policies in the public sector as a paradigm, the paper reflects on how States are asserting or defending their digital sovereignty. The article recalls the digitization path of the Italian PA, on which big data has had a significant impact. The digital data storage has imposed the transition from paper archives to the cloud, a transition regulated by national and European legislation and partly influenced by the digital strategies of the great world powers. The proliferation of localization obligations and prohibitions confirms the complexity and centrality of these issues in the protection of digital sovereignty. The paper ends with an analysis of the key points of the European strategy for data published by the European Commission in February 2020, and with a look at the Franco-German data storage and data sharing project called GAIA-X.