digital economy

2024

On 13 February 2024, Merrin Muhammed Ashraf represented the Global Digital Justice Forum and IT for Change at a virtual consultation convened by the co-facilitators of the intergovernmental process for drafting a Global Digital Compact, which would be annexed to the Pact for the Future. The goal of the consultation was to allow civil society…

2023

Tech titans are fostering new forms of digital colonialism, both within wealthy countries and on the global stage. But it’s not too late to build a digital economy that works for everyone.

The digital economy is not working.

Democracy, freedom, and prosperity were the original promises of the internet. The world wide web was a…

2023

The Asian region is in the eye of a perfect storm for a wholesale digital transformation, one that has been accelerated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The region is home to two-thirds of the world’s population and a significant market base for dominant Chinese and US tech interests today. It also boasts of several home-grown tech hubs…

2022

Digitalization is rapidly changing the economic landscape. Advances in platformization and AI have thrown up a range of new realities to contend with respect to the future of work and workers’ rights. ‘Gigification’ and servicification of multiple sectors has proliferated non-standard employment arrangements and…

2022

The European Commission’s proposal for a European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade – an important milestone towards a foundation for our shared digital world – reflects a predictable unease. It mirrors the fraught politics of our times; the tall order to recover the planet and people from the insatiable profit…

2022

The faster pace of digitalization during the pandemic has tended to increase gender injustice. Systemic analysis, respect for the rule of law and a solidarity-driven strategy are essential to create a digital future that will benefit women.

Techno-capitalism in the Pandemic and the Abyss of Gender Injustice

The pandemic’s severity, scale…

2021

The Centering Women in India's Digitalizing Economy project team at IT for Change made policy recommendations for inclusive entrepreneurship and sustainable social business as part of Gender Park, an undertaking of the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Kerala. The recommendations focused on how policy support can deliver…

2021
Why legalizing crypto assets is dangerous

The Indian Government appears convinced that cryptocurrency is a dangerous proposition. Cryptocurrency enables relatively invisible transactions, with serious implications for crime, terrorism, money laundering, tax evasion, etc. Another worry is that the crypto mania is getting built of purely…

2021

IT for Change's research series on Intelligence Infrastructures interrogates essential digital infrastructures that underpin the economy, society, and governance, putting the spotlight on the need for democratic control of these building blocks of tomorrow. Policies must straddle a people-centric vision of tech-design and institutional…

2020

In recent years, the Philippines has seen a trend of platformization in domestic and care work through small-scale digital platforms that offer on-demand cleaning services. The nascent and informal nature of this system has given rise to new modes of employment and labor relationships that do not conform with the traditional models of domestic…