Development and Democracy

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) today is hindered by limited computational power, largely controlled by concentrated markets dominated by Big Tech. High-performance chips crucial for large AI models are further restricted through vertical integration and a centralized cloud market. As AI's economic importance grows, access to…

The use of trade secrets to enclose the data undergirding artificial intelligence (AI) systems is a dimension that remains under-explored. IT for Change and Data Privacy Brasil submitted a policy brief to the T20 which posits that the data enclosed in trade secrets by digital transnational corporations has the effect of stifling genuine…

IT for Change, in collaboration with the Centre for Labour Studies, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, presented to the Karnataka government a memo on creating a government-supported ride-hailing platform in the state. The memo focused on the issues and challenges faced by new entrants in digital markets like ride-hailing…

IT for Change, in collaboration with Rishab Bailey, an independent tech policy consultant, responded to the call for public comments on the draft Digital Competition Bill, recommended by the Committee on Digital Competition Law.* The response agrees with the need for having an ex-ante framework to address digital competition. In particular, it…

The Global Digital Compact (GDC) is a framework for international digital cooperation that is currently being negotiated as an annex to the Pact for the Future, an intergovernmental agreement that seeks to “build a multilateral system that delivers for everyone, everywhere” with concrete actions towards…

IT for Change successfully submitted the policy brief titled 'Reorienting Public Services Platformization in Health' to the T20.

Co-authors include Cynthia Picolo and Raquel Rachid from Lapin, Brazil.In this brief we highlight the pitfalls of a techno-deterministic approach to digitization that include the increased commodification of…

Towards Democratic Governance of Digital Society is the January 2024 edition of the WACC's Media Development Journal. This issue seeks to address growing concerns around the potential for governments, security services, and Big Tech to misuse digital technologies to suppress and exploit users. More importantly, it delineates pathways to ensure…

Workers in India's platform economy have been working in gruelling conditions for several years, in the absence of fundamental labor rights, such as access to welfare, redressal for occupational harms, and the right to collective bargaining. Simultaneously, the platform economy has also created new frontiers in the fight for decent work,…

Data cooperatives offer an alternative to the enclosure of data in digitalized agricultural supply chains by large agri-tech platforms. Despite their potential, experiments in data cooperativism face challenges in a rapidly privatizing technopolitical ecosystem. In India, platforms addressing this issue often focus on producer organizations,…

This baseline report, conducted as part of IT for Change’s broader partnership with LabourNet under the ‘Re-wiring India's Digitalising Economy for Women's Rights and Well-being’ project, aims to provide data-backed, specific recommendations for the development of the SAHI Serve app, recognizing the ecosystem in which it is situated and the…