Digital Rights in DPIs — Limitations and Lessons for Equitable Futures

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Speaker: Abhineet Nayyar

Type: Talk

Expertise: Some familiarity with the topic

Event: Devcon

Date: Nov 2026

Over the last two decades, Digital Public Infrastructures have become central to most policy debates, especially in Global South countries that have come to use them for a variety of purposes. But like any data-driven platform that mediates between two sides of a transaction, DPIs are just as vulnerable to digital rights violations, more so, in fact, given their scale, state backing, and multi-channel deployment. This talk is precisely about identifying, understanding, and navigating these violations in the political and economic context of our time. I attempt to historicize the functioning of these techno-legal ecosystems and convey how their most essential features — data sharing, digital service delivery, and private sector integration — risk excluding, marginalizing, and exploiting the same communities they aim to support. The goal is not to abandon the utility of these innovations, but to reflect on their purpose, design, and use, and move towards futures rooted in principles of openness, equity, and fairness.