The Draft Data Governance Act, 2020 envisages the rules for data sharing in the EU. This initiative is part of the Data Strategy, adopted by the EU to regulate the digital economy. The summary feedback by IT for Change is available here and the detailed feedback is here. We recommend the need to…
Development and Democracy/Advocacy
2021
We are pleased to announce that on May 4, 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed IT for Change's Anita Gurumurthy to a ten-member expert group that will support the development of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM). The group will advise on ways to…
2021
The Draft Data Accessibility and Use Policy is silent on the norms, rules, and mechanisms to bring to fruition its vision.
In February 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) released the draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy 2022 (or Draft Policy) for…
2020
Statement of the APRCEM S&T Constituency on COVID-19.
The world is presently facing a global health pandemic as many countries battle the widespread transmission of COVID-19 that has already cost the lives of almost 42,000 and afflicted nearly 858,000 people. The healthcare community…
2020
IT for Change was among 150 signatories to an open letter led by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), urging Gilead Sciences to give up its exclusive rights on patents and regulatory and trial data in remdesivir. Monopoly-based patents regime in this could obstruct access to…
2020
We are pleased to announce that Fondation Botnar has commissioned IT for Change to develop a framework focusing on ‘Health Data as Global Public Good' that centrally includes community ownership of data into it. The research for this project will lay out the nature, role and governance of health…
2020
Anita Gurumurthy participated in a session on Technology and Surveillance for the Janta Parliament, a virtual peoples' Parliament, on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. Some of the participant organisations and individuals presented resolutions before the parliament that were voted on at the end of the…
2020
India and the US are close to signing a limited trade deal that includes some key agricultural and dairy products, medical devices and some issues of digital trade. However a more ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is being discussed between the two countries and talks may be launched soon.…
2020
Statement issued by an Alliance of Labour Unions and Civil Society Organisations
The Indian Parliament is currently in the process of overhauling the country’s labour laws. Unfortunately, this exercise has sidestepped platform workers, a constituency whose needs and challenges have become…
2020
The Government of India, through the National Health Authority, released the draft Health Data Management Policy on August 26, 2020. As stated in its objectives, the Policy is meant to act as a guidance document across the National Digital Health Ecosystem (NDHE) and…
2020
IT for Change provided feedback for the EU Consultation for the New Competition Tool and the Digital Services Act Package.
This was followed up with a questionnaire that included our inputs.
The EU proposal for a New Competition Tool is one of the measures aimed at addressing gaps…
2020
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…
2020
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…
2020
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…
2020
A steady stream of public commentary is flowing in about the implications of the draft Rules on Social Security Code, 2020, and the Motor Vehicle Aggregators Guidelines, 2020, for the rights of platform workers. We interrogate these developments from a data rights standpoint. The draft Rules on…