Abstract:

Public data is a vital resource. And data governance rules are fundamental in our digital era. They must protect citizens’ fundamental rights and promote cooperation among social actors to stimulate digital empowerment. Most data governance studies adopt a government-centered perspective, focusing on data sharing within the government. Nevertheless, one agency is not always entitled to authorize to share the data of another. Thus, the government faces the dilemma of providing a public resource and protecting privacy. Based on in-depth interviews and a questionnaire survey in Hangzhou, this article demonstrates a local government’s introduction of data governance by citizen authorization. We argue the construction of the Citizen Authorization Mechanism in public data governance goes beyond government centralism. It is a practical approach that balances multiple policy goals, including privacy protection, quality data management, and cross-border data-sharing. This study provides a fresh perspective for the development of public data governance mechanisms that meet the needs of big data analysis.

Key words: digitalization, public data, privacy protection, data sharing, data governance