ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the ‘trust’ aspect of the concept of ‘Data Free Flow with Trust’ (DFFT), which was proposed by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January 2019. Although there is no clear definition of the term ‘trust’, this chapter explores the term by specifically focusing on six topics that are on the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s negotiation table, namely, (i) online consumer protection, (ii) personal information or privacy protection, (iii) unsolicited commercial electronic messages, (iv) source code protection, (v) cryptography, and (vi) cybersecurity development. Although WTO members achieve a certain degree of convergence on particular topics, enormous gaps still exist on several issues. This necessitates some generalities in the negotiated rules (final outcomes) and a sustained dialogue process to gradually develop such rules.
