Internet Governance/Research

Digital capitalism is characterized by the rise of a unique business model: the platform firm, which leverages the combined force of internet connectivity and algorithmic intelligence to build a new infrastructural basis for production, market exchange, and a host of socio-economic interactions…

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has invited stakeholders to comment on the ‘Consultation Draft: Targeted update of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and their Implementation Procedures’ (Consultation Draft). The OECD Guidelines for Multinational…

Continuing our engagement with UNESCO's effort to formulate a set of ‘Guidelines for Regulating Digital Platforms’ to safeguard freedom of expression and access to information, IT for Change provided comments and recommendations on the Draft 2.0 of the Guidelines. We commend the second draft of…

The Global Digital Justice Forum, led by a digital justice vision, is a multisectoral group of development organizations, digital rights networks, trade unions, feminist groups, corporate watchdogs, and communication rights campaigners [including, Campaign of Campaigns,…

The Global Digital Justice Forum, led by a digital justice vision, is a diverse group of development organizations, digital rights networks, feminist groups, trade unions, and corporate watchdogs. This includes Campaign of Campaigns, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN),…

India should prioritise strong AI governance to ensure data sovereignty, promote indigenous innovation, and address ethical concerns.

ChatGPT may represent a point of inflection in public consciousness about the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its key role in society. It is time…

Abstract

Twitter, the social-networking platform which serves as a socio-political barometer, was recently purchased by Elon Musk, owner of Tesla. Musk has fired 50% of Twitter staff, toyed with its policies on registration and posts, making it an oligarch’s doll. Clearly the world needs…

Over the last two decades, information and communication technologies have become an important part of the implementation of different types of programs and schemes by the Government of India in the form of ‘large-scale public digital information systems’, designed for the implementation of…

In April 2023, the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology introduced Amendments to The Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Rules, 2020, and opened the same for public consultation. The Amendment allows non-state actors to provide…

The entry of generative AI applications in the digital marketplace has intensified recent public debates about AI. Silicon Valley’s ‘move fast’ techno-optimism is now under the scanner. A humane and just AI system requires a radical restructuring of the global political-economic regime of…

A data-propelled tendency for economic concentration and the policy deficits that have fueled the rise of Big Tech companies have brought to the fore a critical realization – market power is coterminous with data power and the entrenched control of Big Tech over the data value chains is at the…

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act of 2023 has rightly been criticised for failing to uphold good consent and data subject rights. One provision that has been largely overlooked is Section 16, which pertains to the transfer and processing of personal data outside India. Section 16…

In the last few years, data has been likened, aside from the hackneyed comparison to ‘oil’, to any number of tangible entities such as mineral deposits, dividend deposits, and even the Alaskan Permanent Fund. Metaphors as a tool could re-entrench existing power asymmetries or resist them,…

As procurers of all the civic tech that surrounds us, municipal authorities today find themselves in a unique position — they have become the custodians of personal and aggregate data generated by the world’s largest human concentrations. Rich or poor, large or small, democratic, autocratic, or…

In this paper, the authors argue that there is substantial scope for data governance policies for the Global South to draw from theories and practices informed by the idea that data can be a subject of decentralized, community-centric governance. First, the paper highlights the importance of…