Feminist reflections on internet policies

Every year, governments, corporations, civil society, academics and technical experts come together from around the world to convene the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and discuss the public policy issues related to the internet as we know it today, and how its future should look like. The annual IGF is organised by the United Nations (UN) in agreement with the host country’s government to convene the gathering.

Conversations about service delivery apps are usually centred around how customers experience these apps, but rarely do these discussions explore and examine the conditions service providers work in. The study by The Centre for Internet & Society analyses one platform, Urban Company, in India for its treatment of domestic workers who register on the app to provide services on the company's behalf.

This two-part series sheds light on how art and creativity play a key role in activism in Pakistan, and provides the country's feminist movement and struggles a prominent visual aesthetics on the internet.

This two-part series sheds light on how art and creativity play a key role in activism in Pakistan, and provides the country's feminist movement and struggles a prominent visual aesthetics on the internet.

As rich white men like Elon Musk own and control online platforms, these spaces are becoming more and more unwelcoming for queer and marginalised people. As individuals who have made and found communities in these spaces, should we leave our place on platforms like Twitter? Dr. Nyx McLean discusses.

Shia Muslims are constantly at risk of being targeted with violence on and offline for their religious belief. And with online gender based violence routinely a problem, when Shia women and queer folks go online, they find themselves at risk of being targeted with abuse from multiple fronts as their two identities combine.

Community networks in quilombolas from Terra Seca/Ribeirão Grande in Brazil have been helping households to connect to the internet while serving individual needs of residents. In the backdrop of the FIRN research exploring the same, the authors discuss how these community-led networks connect communities with technology.

A Google engineer claimed that an AI bot has become sentient. Is that a possibility? Can a program designed and trained by a human develop the ability to feel human-like feelings? Priyadarshini John explores. 

Owing to the constantly increasing threats to their safety, women and LGBT+ folks struggle to have a sense of privacy on the internet in Pakistan. Finstas, or fake Instagram, provides them a safe space for their self-expression. Momina Mindeel explores the serious repercussions of privacy violations, and the 'need' for finstas.

Out of all the topics identified in a mapping exercise, the white paper explores in depth eight topics in order to understand a feminist approach to these subjects, key areas of analysis and boundary pushing by feminist internet research, and opportunities for further research. The topics are access, expression, pleasure, online gender-based violence (GBV), surveillance, data and datafication, artificial intelligence and the digital economy.

The meta-research project formed part of the broader FIRN project and created a feminist space for dialogue to explore the complexities of doing internet research. This was done through the critical exploration of the research methodological processes and ethical practices of the eight FIRN research projects. The aim of the meta-research project was to bring FIRN project partners into conversation with each other through this report.

India recently withdrew its data protection bill, putting the data of over a billion people at risk. The already vulnerable individuals became more susceptible to data misuse, especially those already under threat of being targeted for personal choices or identities. This article explores how lack of data protection puts abortion seekers at risk in a society that rejects abortions.

In Iran, women are protesting to demand bodily autonomy and their right to live, in the wake of the state-backed murder of a 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the morality police. The government is responding by killing more women, attacking protestors and censoring the internet to contain the information.

When conducting feminist research, it is important to acknowledge various intersectionalities, as well as ethics of care, challenges and all the dynamic interconnections in the process. The FIRN partners explore these themes in their research through the years.

When conducting feminist research, it is important to acknowledge various intersectionalities, as well as ethics of care, challenges and all the dynamic interconnections in the process. The FIRN partners explore these themes in their research through the years.

Sex positivity is being rejected by many now given how it is portrayed as something that requires hypersexualised expressions rather than understanding the nuances of what it actually entails. Tiffany Mugo discusses how podcasts are revisiting sex positivity through storytelling.

Young women in South Asia struggle with the society's obsession of fair skin and eurocentric features all their lives, so beauty filters on social media apps have been providing them what many home remedies have failed to offer. But how are these tech solutions impacting their self-esteem? Areej Akhtar discusses.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there are between 20 million and 80 million workers engaged in domestic work in India. Domestic work has traditionally been an informal sector with customers and workers depending on local and community networks to be connected with each other. Over the last few years, digital platforms have gained ground in connecting domestic workers with tech-savvy urban dwellers.

As the world celebrates Pride month every June, in Pakistan, this celebration brings hate and violence to the community. The writer explores how seemingly innocuous expression of queerness and support for the community has opened doors of violence on individuals on the intern

In light of the illegal status of safe abortion, abortion seekers turn to the internet to access credible related information. Shruti Arora discusses how women in India and Poland challenge the abortion ban, and how online resources help them seek authentic information for safe abortion.