Centre for Internet and Society

We are undertaking a mixed methods study to better understand how practices to improve digital safety and access are evolving in the digital financial services sector: https://lnkd.in/gDwSAaSv Through this project, our researchers Amrita Sengupta (she/her), Chiara Furtado, Garima A., Nishkala S., Sneha PP, and Yesha Tshering Paul are attempting to understand how financial service providers develop and design services for underserved groups (including women, PwDs, the elderly, gender and sexual minorities and regional language users). Come talk to us! We invite financial service providers, developers and designers of fintech platforms to participate in expert interviews and help inform the study. If you have experiences or insights to share, or if you're interested in learning more about our study, please sign up here so our team can contact you for next steps: https://lnkd.in/gUKdd79N

We’ve partnered with MediaNama for their discussion on ‘Governing the AI Ecosystem’, on July 11 in Delhi. Check out their detailed agenda and list of key questions as they discuss the approach India should adopt for said regulation, and how India can develop a conducive environment for AI development and deployment: https://lnkd.in/gd4HwsVF To register: https://lnkd.in/gDhG62Jz

Last month, Nishkala S. was part of a workshop hosted by Digital Futures Lab and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung on #GenerativeAI and #Labour in India. She participated in foresight methodologies to explore the impact of generative AI on work(ers) and labour rights. The workshop was a first step towards building an agenda for strategising labour futures in economies witnessing the rise of emerging technologies. Workshop activities unpacked economic and social applications of generative AI that could drive composite harms for workers. The workshop also held promise towards envisioning pathways for grassroots-led collective action to resist and reject potential loss of livelihoods from ‘people-last’ policies of generative AI. Nishkala highlighted that while conversations on the impact of generative AI on jobs are important, there is a pressing need to centre future conversations around informal workers, an overwhelming majority of workers in the Indian economy. CIS’ labour research hopes to contribute to these conversations. See more of our related work around gig workers’ experiences with automated decision-making here: https://lnkd.in/gd4yCDc9

Excited to share a book chapter I had written for Panorama's issue on E-health Development in Asia and Europe, is out now. In my chapter - "Privacy, Policy and Preparedness and the Road Towards India's Digital Health Ecosystem" I expand on these three P's which pose both a challenge to and an opportunity for strengthening India's digital health ecosystem. Link to the issue with great insights and writing about E-health from Asia and Europe: https://lnkd.in/gijCwtmp

As part of our research analysing #Stalkerware in India, Divyank Katira studied a child-monitoring app being developed by the government and examined whether it is an effective way to enact parental controls. The post highlights how monitoring apps are often repurposed for digital stalking and how they often play a role in intimate partner violence. Divyank also evaluated the effectiveness of antivirus tools in detecting such apps, and described how we collected technical evidence to help improve such detection. Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/gsJuhwmJ

We recently submitted comments to the Draft Digital Competition Bill, 2024, published by the Committee on Digital Competition Law, Ministry of Corporate Affairs earlier this year. Read the comments, drafted by Abhineet Nayyar, Isha Suri, and pallavi bedi here: https://lnkd.in/ehmkXNzb

The Centre for Internet and Society is undertaking a mixed methods study to better understand user awareness, perceptions and experiences of digital financial risks and harms: https://lnkd.in/gDwSAaSv Through this project, supported by Google.org, researchers Amrita Sengupta (she/her), Chiara Furtado, Garima A., Nishkala S., Sneha PP, and Yesha Tshering Paul examine the landscape of potential risks and harms posed by digital financial services, and the disproportionate risk that information asymmetry and barriers to access pose for users, especially women, PwDs, the elderly, gender and sexual minorities and regional language users whose experiences do not always factor into the design of financial systems and platforms. If you work with LGBTQIA+ people to improve access to financial services or help address the impact of digital/online financial fraud and scams, we would love to hear from you. Whether you have experiences or insights to share, or if you would just like to learn more about our study, we welcome your participation. Please sign up here so our team can contact you: https://lnkd.in/gUKdd79N

Excited to share the Centre for Internet and Society’s comments to the Draft Digital Competition Bill, 2024 released by the Ministry Of Corporate Affairs earlier this year. The comments can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/gqSnnPF7 I would also like to thank my co-authors Abhineet Nayyar and pallavi bedi for their extensive efforts in putting this together. Look forward to your comments and feedback! Competition Commission Of India #antitrust #competition #digitalmarkets #digitalcompetitionbill #exante #expost

Our mixed methods study to better understand digital financial risks, and the evolution of practices to improve digital safety and fraud reduction is looking for insights from experts working on digital financial risks, harms, and safety across a variety of digital financial services, social media, and communication platforms. https://lnkd.in/gDwSAaSv Our researchers, Amrita Sengupta (she/her), Chiara Furtado, Garima A., Nishkala S., Sneha PP and Yesha Tshering Paul are seeking to understand multi-stakeholder perspectives around identifying, investigating, and addressing digital financial risks and harms faced by various user groups, with a particular emphasis on marginalised user groups. Come talk to us: We would love to hear from representatives of social media platforms, matrimonial or online dating platforms who would like to help inform the study. If you have experiences or insights to share, or if you're interested in learning more about our study, please sign up here and our team will reach out to you: https://lnkd.in/gUKdd79N

New Publication 📑! Our report "Online Gender Based Violence on Short Form Video Platforms," by Divyansha Sehgal and Lakshmi Nambiar, and reviewed by Amrita Sengupta (she/her), and Divyank Katira, examines how seriously short-form video platforms in India take #GenderBasedViolence on their platforms and how they can protect their users. The report explores how short-form video platforms in India address #oGBV by analysing their terms of service, community guidelines (CG), and reporting workflows. The guidelines of the platforms included in the study demonstrated minimal recognition of the gendered effects of potential behaviours related to oGBV, and only emphasises the urgent need for all stakeholders to recognise the negative effect of oGBV on users and the overall quality of public discourse. Read the report for more detailed findings and recommendations: https://lnkd.in/gb9XU4MM