Page 89 - AEI Insights 2019 - Vol. 5, Issue 1

AEI Insights: An International Journal of Asia-Europe Relations, Vol 5, Issue 1, 2019, ISSN: 2289-800X

Opinion

TWINNING EUROPE AND ASIA IN CYBERSPACE: THE EU
LEGISLATION, ASEAN AND ITS TRANSFORMATIVE POWER

a
Melda Kamil Ariadno
b+
Anis H Bajrektarevic

a Faculty of Law Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta.
b International Law and Global Political Studies, Vienna, Austria.

1
+ Corresponding author : dessa@ifimes.org

Abstract
While our troposphere is dangerously polluted, one other space – that of intangible world,
created by the interconnected technology – follows the same pattern: a cyberspace.
Additionally, our cyberspace becomes increasingly brutalised by its rapid monetisation and
weaponisation. It mainly occurs through privacy erosion. How to protect effectively individuals
and their fundamental human rights, and how to exercise a right for dignity and privacy? The
EU now offers a model legislation to its Member States, and by its transformative power
(spillover) to the similar supranational projects elsewhere (particularly ASEAN, but also the
AU, OAS, SCO, SAARC, LAS, etc.), and the rest of world.
Keywords: Cyberspace, Data, Privacy, EU, ASEAN; Indo-Pacific, Twining, Transformative power

Introduction
While our troposphere is dangerously polluted, one other space – that of intangible world,
created by the interconnected technology – follows the same pattern: a cyberspace.
Information is a content and the frame, means and the goal in the world of binary codes.
Commodification of information in digital world is nothing else but a search for a cyberspace
currency. Hence, what is a black gold, oil/crude for the PEM (Primary Energy Mix) of every
national economy that is a personal data in the world of cyber-information – component that
predominantly energises and runs the system.

No wonder that our cyberspace becomes increasingly brutalised by its rapid monetisation and
weaponisation. It mainly occurs through privacy invasion and its constant erosion due to an
expanding exposure and inadequate preservation. How effectively to protect individuals, their
fundamental human rights, and how to exercise a right for (cyberspace) dignity and privacy?
The EU now offers a model legislation to its Member States, and by its transformative power
(spill-over) to the similar supranational projects elsewhere (particularly ASEAN, but also the
AU, OAS, SCO, SAARC, LAS, etc.), and the rest of world. (From a lege specie towards the
universal jurisdiction.)
Rules and regulations to protect personal data do not trigger many sympathies. The corporate
world sees it as an unnecessary deterrent; as a limit to their growth – more to pay and less or
slower to yield, innovate and expand. Governments would traditionally wish the rules should

1 E-mail via his assistant

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