Panel Discussion Alternative Futures: Citizens or Subjects?

The Individual in the Age of Platformisation and AI

How can power imbalances be addressed? How can data sovereignty be achieved in an environment dominated by digital platforms and AI?

In the age of platformisation and artificial intelligence, even the smallest interactions generate vast amounts of data, which are then subject to pervasive extraction and commodification by corporations and states. Researchers Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias term this phenomenon "data colonialism," prompting us to examine how modern data collection mirrors historical colonial practices, impacts individual autonomy, and reinforces existing socio-economic and technological disparities.

Furthermore, state functions—from welfare to policing—are increasingly managed through digital platforms and AI technologies, entangling public-private partnerships in new ways and transforming the exercise of power.

Join us for a discussion on how digital infrastructures and AI are shaping the relationships between citizens, the economy, and the state.

Panelists

© Uthara Ganesh Uthara Ganesh
Uthara is the Head of Public Policy, India and South Asia at Snap Inc. She focuses on developing Snap's relationships with key government agencies in South Asia and shaping regulatory outcomes in areas such as content regulation, data protection and privacy, emerging tech regulation, and competition. Prior to this role, Uthara led Amazon Web Services' (AWS) and Amazon's public policy efforts, supporting advocacy on content regulation, taxation, data governance, and competition issues across Prime Video, Kindle, Alexa, and Cloud businesses. She also served as Public Policy Lead to Rajeev Chandrasekhar from 2014 to 2017 and has worked at the Centre for Policy Research, UNAIDS,  nd GIZ. Uthara was a LAMP Fellow from 2010 to 2011.

© Shivangi Narayan Dr Shivangi Narayan
Shivangi is the author of 'Predictive Policing and the Construction of the Criminal: An Ethnographic Study of Delhi Police' published by Palgrave Macmillan in August 2023. She is a former researcher with the project, Algorithmic Governance and Cultures of Policing - A comparative perspective from Norway, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa (AGOPOL), funded by the Oslo Metropolitan University and Norwegian Research Council. She is one of the three recipients of the Surveillance and Society Network (SSN) Early Career Researcher Awards for her paper 'CCTV and the Criminal City' published in SSN journal in January 2024. Narayan was awarded her PhD in Sociology by the Centre for Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in the year 2021.

© Shashank Mohan Shashank Mohan
Shashank is a Programme Manager at the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi. He is a lawyer and policy professional who has been studying and observing technology laws and policies from India and around the world for over six years. Shashank has worked extensively on subjects of data governance, platform design and regulation, impact of AI technologies on vulnerable groups, media freedom, decisional autonomy, gender diversity, Global South solidarity, and community building in civil society. Shashank believes in open access to knowledge, data justice, gender plurality, and Global South identity. When not working, he enjoys reading crime-fiction.

Moderator

© Disha Verma Disha Verma
Disha Verma is an Associate Policy Counsel at Internet Freedom Foundation. A lawyer by training, Disha worked in health policy with expertise in community health and disease response before transitioning to tech policy. At IFF, she engages with tech deployment and digitalisation in the public sector with a focus on welfare distribution and social security, digital public infrastructure, governance AI, surveillance, policing, and digital transparency.

About Alternative Futures - Discussion Series on Digitalization and Society

Alternative Futures is an initiative that aims to forge connections between civil society institutions in South Asia and Germany, focusing on the use of digital media to promote democratic practices and structures. The project provides a platform for activists, researchers, and experts from digital civil society institutions to exchange concepts, strategies, and insights. The discussion series expands these conversations to a broader audience, bringing together civil society institutions, activists, and experts.

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