Centre for Internet & Society

The Centre for Internet and Society’s comments and feedback to the: Digital Personal Data Protection Rules 2025

by Pallavi Bedi, Vipul Kharbanda, Shweta Mohandas, Anubha Sinha and Isha Suri

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted its comments and feedback to the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules 2025 initiated by the Indian government.

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The Centre for Internet and Society’s comments and recommendations to the: Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development

by Shweta Mohandas, Amrita Sengupta and Anubha Sinha

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted its comments and recommendations on the Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development.

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Do We Need a Separate Health Data Law in India?

by Pallavi Bedi and Shweta Mohandas

This report discusses the current definitions of health data including international efforts, the report then proceeds to share some key themes that were discussed at three roundtables we conducted in May, August, and October 2024. Participants included experts from diverse stakeholder groups, including civil society organisations, lawyers, medical professionals, and academicians. In this report, we collate the various responses to two main aspects, which were the focus of the roundtables:

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Digital Rights and ISP Accountability in India: An Analysis of Policies and Practices

by Anubha Sinha, Yesha Tshering Paul, and Sherina Poyyail

This report presents a comprehensive evaluation of India's four largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs)—Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea (Vi), and BSNL—examining their commitment to digital rights and transparency.

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Privacy Policy Framework for Indian Mental Health Apps

by Chakshu Sang and Shweta Mohandas

This report analyses the privacy policies of mental health apps in India and provides recommendations for making the policies not only legally compliant but also user-centric

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AI for Healthcare: Understanding Data Supply Chain and Auditability in India

by Amrita Sengupta (PI), Shweta Mohandas (Co-PI), (In alphabetical order) Abhineet Nayyar, Chetna VM, Puthiya Purayil Sneha, Yatharth

This report aims to understand the prevalence and use of AI auditing practices in the healthcare sector. By mapping the data supply chain underlying AI technologies, the study aims to unpack i) how AI systems are developed and deployed to achieve healthcare outcomes and, ii) how AI audits are perceived and implemented by key stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem.

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Online Censorship: Perspectives From Content Creators and Comparative Law on Section 69A of the Information Technology Act

by Divyansha Sehgal, Gurshabad Grover

This study presents a comparative analysis of Indian censorship law and experiences of people who have had their online content censored.

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Draft Circular on Digital Lending – Transparency in Aggregation of Loan Products from Multiple Lenders

by Garima Agrawal

CIS is grateful for the opportunity to submit comments on the “Draft Circular on Digital Lending: Transparency in Aggregation of Loan Products from Multiple Lenders” to the Reserve Bank of India. We welcome the opportunity provided to comment on the guidelines, and we hope that the final guidelines will consider the interests of all the stakeholders to ensure that it protects the privacy and digital rights of all consumers, including marginalised and vulnerable users, while encouraging innovation and improved service delivery in the fintech ecosystem. Our comments look at two concerns addressed by the draft guidelines, i.e. reducing information asymmetry and market fairness. In addition to this we share comments around a third concern that requires additional scrutiny, i.e. data privacy and security.

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Legal Advocacy Manual

by Radhika, Shruti Trikanad and Torsha Sarkar

The Legal Advocacy Manual summarizes the key legal and constitutional questions and jurisprudence related to laws that affect the right to freedom of expression and privacy online, including internet shutdowns, content takedown, online surveillance and device seizure.

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