FVEY or The Highway!

The recent geopolitical developments are of concern for each global citizen. The killing of a terrorist in Canada is publicized in the media as a matter of deep concern by the west. It’s laughable but it’s the west and so we all have to heed to their supremacy. India has been a punching bag for the world for the longest time possible and there’s nothing new India will gain out of this geopolitical situation. The Five Eyes or FVEY countries comprises Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. All of them are part of a joint treaty to facilitate and cooperate on gathering signal intelligence. Signal intelligence is nothing but tracking people’s movements and intercepting their communications.

Now, gathering data on citizens or people of concerns is not new and dates back to the World War 2 era. But, if you look at the current geopolitical crises between India and Canada, it appears that India has more to lose than gain in this spat. Ironically, in Indian media, this spat is ridiculed over and even termed as the end of Trudeau’s regime in Canada. The fact is that all these FVEY countries have supported Canada on the matter but at the same time kept a door open to India for business too. It’s not a situation where you support India or Canada. The militant whose killing became a national security concern in Canada is a business deal for Canada and nothing more. Trudeau’s government is no doubt supported by these militant groups and his “deep concern” is his only way to keep himself alive in politics. Now, the politics behind it might appear straight-forward but economics is a matter of actual deep concern. Just like the Russia-Ukraine conflict has nothing to do with protecting the sovereignty of Ukraine, the killing of a terrorist has also nothing to do with protecting the sovereignty of Canada. One is related to the economics of weapons and the other to data. You need to pay attention to Trudeau’s criticism. It’s about killing of a Canadian citizen that directly leads to data loss of that concerned citizen and its supporters in his next election campaign. Any immigrant who becomes a citizen willingly or unwillingly participates in the business of data. To understand this, we need to dig a bit deeper.

Edward Snowden pointed out through his expose to The Guardian about NSA’s PRISM program that comprises companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. Some of these companies rebranded themselves to get away from the legal obligations in the USA. Google became Alphabet and Facebook became Meta. FVEY countries continue to share citizen data among them. And is not only limited to combating terrorists, it has its deeper meaning with the business side of data too. The crucial fact to understand is that they don’t only share their citizen data but use data from other countries too. Do you know why India became of such an importance to the west recently?

India is not only a consumer or labor market but also a consumer data market. All the digital marketing campaigns have South Asian data where India plays a crucial role. In India, you’re as good as a phone number. Now, if you boast of Aadhar, you must understand it’s India’s way of tracking people, gathering data, and selling to the highest bidder. It has nothing to do with social security. The election campaigns on social media and spreading hatred or popularity online is part of this business. You are alive when you have a one-time password (or OTP) and dead when you don’t have. In short, when your data is linked with a phone number, it’s much easier to track and process. It’s an OTP business model which needs a completely different perspective to understand. And much of this ordinary citizen data is processed not in India alone but also in those bullying FVEY countries. So, no matter how much you boast of nationalism, the reality is and will always be different. As much as the west needs India, India too needs the west to complete the business transaction.

The west has always been a step ahead on this. The easy laws of immigration to induce more people (or, say data) inside its borders has been working out fantastically for them. And, to have their authority over it, they have promoted and propped up other South Asian data markets such as Vietnam, Thailand, or Philippines too. Now, with the large population of India, the data from India becomes obviously cheap and is sold to the global market at a reduced price whereas the data from the less populous countries such as Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom is way too costly. You have to spend much more to get that data for your personal or business use. So, the militant data was a costly one as it comes from Canada. If only India utilizes the importance of its cheaply available data and uses it to its own geopolitical advantage, then only we will see the west down on its knees. Till then, it will always be FVEY or the highway!