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 recognizing communities and groups as agents with…
Internet Governance
The nature of evolution of the Internet is an important determinant of social change. The Internet is no longer simply a technical platform about which technical experts are best placed to take important decisions. Who then should shape the evolution of the Internet, and how? Users determining the Internet's trajectory is largely a myth, though some remarkable oases of alternative practices amongst committed techies and other 'power users' do exist. To the extent the user has a role, it is in her capacity as a consumer, which capacity is very unequally distributed between affluent and marginalised groups. Largely, it is corporatist and statist powers that are shaping the Internet. We believe that ordinary people and communities must have greater control in shaping the Internet for a future society that is egalitarian. Towards this end, we undertake research, and advocate national and global norms and policies that recognise, and underpin, the Internet as a force for equality and social justice.
RECENT
The public release of ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot by OpenAI, in November 2022, percolated the public consciousness with the disruptive potential, both incredible and iniquitous, of emerging general purpose AI technologies. In the following months, AI has dominated the public discourse and imagination, with tech organizations trying to…
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 otherwise, cities — mostly in the Global South —…
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 heart of the problem of economic inequality. The…
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, depending on how they impact and influence our…
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 knowledge, innovation, and development. In an era…