Advocacy

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…

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 —…

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 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 permits data fiduciaries to transfer personal data…

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…

IT for Change submitted its inputs to the public consultation organized by the Rajasthan government on its proposed Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023. The Bill is one of the first to create a fund for guaranteeing social security benefits to platform-based gig workers, and in that regard, aligns with IT…

IT for Change participated in the call for inputs by the UN Special Rapporteur, in order to inform the report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism on online hate speech to 78th session of the General Assembly.

IT for Change's submission highlights how gender intersects with, compounds, and reinforces discrimination…

Over the past two years, there have been concerning instances of excess and malpractice by Big Tech, leading to serious social, political, and economic consequences. These include data extractivism, increased worker precarity, setbacks in gender justice, the domination of developing countries' infrastructure, manipulation of global governance…

IT for Change participated in the call for inputs by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development, in order to collect information for thematic reports on outlining a vision for the future in “reinvigorating the right to development” and understanding the role of business in realizing the right to development in the context of the 2030…

Shifting macro-level trends are restructuring the conditions under which platforms have operated for long, and are redetermining their actions and choices. Furthermore, a shrinking financial and tightening legislative landscape has created significant roadblocks for the growth-first model that has been key to the rise of Web 2.0. Additionally,…