Democratic Party's Woo Won-sik: "Charge Companies Big Data Usage Fees for Basic Income"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Woo Won-sik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea preparing to run for the party convention, has proposed a plan to collect big data usage fees from companies and use them as a source of basic income.

On the 11th, Woo stated on Facebook, "Companies have a rightful obligation to pay big data usage fees," adding, "This can be used as a source for basic income. In that sense, it could be called a basic dividend."

The core of the 4th Industrial Revolution era is data, and discussions on returning part of the profits earned by companies through data to the people who produce the data are actively underway both domestically and internationally. The Democratic Party is preparing legislation to establish a Data Agency and Data Exchange as party policy, which will serve as the foundation for the data usage fee system.

Woo explained, "It is unfair for the owners who provided the data to be alienated from the added value generated by it," and added, "The added value should be fairly distributed to the people who contributed to new industrial innovation. It is the same principle as Alaska distributing oil sales revenue to its residents."

Since basic income without a funding plan can lead to populism, Woo emphasized data usage fees as a feasible method. He said, "The post-COVID-19 era will further accelerate industrial methods based on big data, such as non-face-to-face online, AI (artificial intelligence), smart factories, and platform-based industries," and pointed out, "Big data is a shared resource like oil or water in the past. Companies use data provided by the people to invest capital and labor to create new added value. The problem is that the people who provided the data may face a reduction in quality jobs and threats to employment stability due to technological innovation."

He also stated that expanding nationwide employment insurance and basic income are not mutually exclusive choices. Woo said, "Irregular workers in the aviation sector, who were hit hard by COVID-19, are employment insurance subscribers, but employers do not pay their 10% share of contributions, forcing workers into layoffs and unpaid allowances of 500,000 won, which is the reality of the employment safety net," adding, "Those working outside employment insurance, such as special employment, platform workers, and self-employed individuals, are in even worse conditions. Expanding the traditional concept of workers to provide an employment safety net for all working people is a fundamental responsibility of the state."

He continued, "Above all, through emergency disaster relief funds, we have been able to sufficiently learn the economic effects and methods of basic income. By using it for limited purposes to guarantee essential livelihoods and utilizing electronic money instead of cash to ensure it is spent on consumption, side effects can also be minimized," he argued.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.