Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF)
For the last 16 years, the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has actively pursued research and practice at the intersection of technology and social change. DEF’s work addresses both the frontlines of information poverty as well as national policy processes.Through rigorous research and learning, DEF has institutionalized access to information and social services and galvanized local economic cluster development in over 300 communities through flagship programs such as Digital Cluster Development, SoochnaSeva (or “Information Service”), Community Information Resource Centre, and Smart Village. Apart from programmatic interventions, DEF’s research team has been actively researching the rights impacts of leveraging technology as a means of State control. In addition, it has explored the psycho-social impacts of network shutdowns through in-depth interviews with individuals from states most impacted; implications of the Aadhaar national biometric project on digital and social exclusion; the role of privacy in India in the age of big data; trends in religion-based hate speech among others; and the state of both online and offline freedom of expression in India. | Site Link