The rapid growth of information technology such as smartphones, sensors that spread throughout private and public spaces, and data analytics has resulted in the creation of massive amounts of information about human activities and the environment around us.
The volume of data has been growing exponentially, the same way as Moore’s Law, which stated in 1965 that the capacity of computers would double every 18 months.
Scientists have had to introduce new units of measurement such as Zetta, denoting thousands of billions of billions (1021 or 1000000000000000000000), to designate these orders of magnitude, which were known in the realm of natural sciences but, until recently, absent from the realm of human activity.
The explosion of data has led to a new space, “atmosphere “atmosphere” – a sort of picture of the physical world with evidence of actual-world events such as our location at any time and our exchanges, the temperatures at our residences, the financial transactions trade of goods or the movement of vehicles.
This presents an entirely new challenge to the law, which has to establish its relationship with the modern world.
Data bit
To be considered as a new area, datasphere has to be seen as a system that is formed by all kinds of digital information.
The hydrosphere (the world-wide volume of water that includes rivers, lakes, oceans as well as groundwater) is based on the molecules H 2O which is responsible for determining its reservoirs and flows the datasphere could be constructed by using the data bits.
Similar to water, data is in a variety of states available, accessible to all or private, with access limitations. Data may be static, at stationary, or even in motion. Like water in the water cycle, data cycles transform tiny drops into massive mass.
The activities of people or any equipment create data. The data is then transferred to centers for processing and storage, and then back to the individual players after transformation.
As with the hydrosphere datasphere is also connected to the global world. It is located to the physical and economic worlds, yet it is somewhat independent, just like clouds and oceans.
Its basis is principally physical. The datasphere relies on a real infrastructure composed of data centers, underwater cables, satellites for communication, and on. While not insignificant, this foundation’s physical components consume about 10 percent of the world’s electrical production.
Legal and economic aspects
The datasphere’s base is economic. It’s based on big economic actors, mainly multinationals, with their intricate links to the government and administrative establishments. Taxation and surveillance programs for the state make these platforms political spheres. They are also increasing at a rapid rate.
In 2010, 50% of top 10 stock market capitalisations were within the energy sector the majority of them are now located in the digital sphere. One petroleum company Exxon currently is in the top six of the digital platform (Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Tencent) in this trend reversal that is a sign of the Anthropocene.