Development and Democracy/Advocacy

The Political Economy of Data

Data and data governance are hotly contested issues in the 21st century. Typically, they have been perceived as questions of policy and political economy. Data is attributed multiple characterizations…

Working closely with the trade unions All India Gig Workers Union & Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers, and the civil society organisations Aapti Institute, the Centre for Internet and Society, Tandem Research and TWN Trust, IT for Change co-drafted an input from the standpoint…

Technology is often heralded as the ultimate answer to all developmental issues, although it is a mere tool. Through its flagship programs like Digital India, Smart Cities, and Startup India, India is gearing up for a technological revolution, but it holds as many threats as promises for our…

Current trajectories of the network-data complex relying on corporate partnerships cast data and intelligence as purely market goods. Investment by state in public data architectures could show the way for new possibilities in this direction. Read more for  Anita Gurumurthy's take on 'data for…

Developing countries need to recognise that in the datafying economy, any step towards creating a level playing field for local platforms must foreground and tackle the question of data in digital trade regimes. Read more in our submission to the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce…

In March 2018, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights invited all stakeholders to provide input on human rights challenges relating to the right to privacy in the digital age, including on principles, standards and best practices with regard to the promotion and protection of the…

E-commerce platforms have radically reorganized economic activity, given rise to new structures of intermediation and changed the conception of global trade altogether. And yet structural inequities in opportunities and access between actors in developed and developing nations continue to…

The US based Multinational Corporation (MNC) Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart undermines India’s economic and digital sovereignty and the livelihood of…

IT for Change submitted comments on the draft general comment on state obligations under the ICESCR in the context of business activities. The submission asserted the need for an immediate and appropriate regulatory response to platform-companies, who have increasingly become…

This article examines the new concerns for privacy emerging in the age of data-based governance, using the UID/Aadhaar scheme in India as a case in point.

Privacy is no longer just about non-interference from the State but an urgent imperative in the age of digital where citizen data protection is vulnerable to incomplete legal safeguards. Read more on this in our take on the Aadhaar Act in First Post.

IT for Change supported the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) in developing their critique of the Draft Ministerial Declaration of the High Level Political Forum (2017), on follow up and review of progress towards Agenda 2030. The theme of this years' review of the 2030…

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement whose negotiating partners include the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and India, New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan and South Korea.The RCEP negotiations have been clandestine,…

What are the implications for e-commerce issues in the 19th round of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations?

Parminder Jeet Singh offers a breakdown of the RCEP talks in The Hindu.

STOP CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION:
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!
 
A Statement of Unity from
the OUR WORLD IS NOT FOR SALE Network:

INTRODUCTION: OUR CHALLENGE

“Our World Is Not for Sale” is a…