The Promise of Public Interest Technology: in India and the United States Anthology of Working Papers by New America's U.S.-India Fellows
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July 2019 The Promise of Public Interest Technology: In India and the United States Anthology of Working Papers by New America's U.S.-India Fellows Richard Abisla, Subhodeep Jash, Aditya K. Kaushik, Sylvia Mishra, Ananth Padmanabhan, Pranesh Prakash, Tanvi Ratna, Joshua Simons, Madhulika Srikumar, & Kaliya Young Last edited on August 01, 2019 at 3:20 p.m. EDT newamerica.org/fellows/reports/anthology-working-papers-new-americas-us-india-fellows/ About New America We are dedicated to renewing America by continuing the quest to realize our nation’s highest ideals, honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid technological and social change, and seizing the opportunities those changes create. About the U.S.-India Fellowship The India-United States Fellows Exchange is a collaboration between the Global Studies Program and the Fellows Program at New America. It aims to identify technologists from industry, government, and civil society; analysts of technology from academia and the media; and government regulators from state, local, and national levels to participate in a unique and timely fellowship exchange. This program will bring Fellows from India to the United States, and Fellows from the United States to India, in order to devise novel technology-based solutions to policy challenges. The aim of this program is to enable both countries to better harness technology to improve the lives of their citizens, and to improve and strengthen the bilateral relationship between India and the United States. About Fellows New America’s Fellows Program invests in thinkers— journalists, scholars, filmmakers, and public policy analysts—who generate big, bold ideas that have an impact and spark new conversations about the most pressing issues of our day. About International Security The International Security program aims to provide evidence-based analysis of some of the thorniest questions facing American policymakers and the public. We are focused on South Asia and the Middle East, extremist groups such as ISIS, al Qaeda and allied groups, the proliferation of drones, homeland security, and the activities of U.S. Special Forces and the CIA. 2 Acknowledgments The India-U.S. Fellowship team would like to sincerely thank the Ford Foundation for its vision, trust, and support throughout this process. A sincere thanks to Pradeep Nair and Seema Sharma for their support and enthusiasm both before and during our fellowship. Thank you to our partner in India, the Observer Research Foundation, for hosting our cohort while in New Delhi, and to the Selection Committee for supporting this year’s application process. We would also like to thank a number of New America teams that helped to shape the experience of the 10 Fellows while they were in residence: Blockchain Trust Accelerator; Cybersecurity Initiative; Future of Property Rights; International Security; and Resource Security. Open Technology Institute; Ranking Digital Rights; Political Reform; Public Interest Technology; and Resource Security. Thank you to your staff for making time to meet with the cohort of Fellows throughout the research period, further building out their network, and providing them with thought leadership. Thank you to the wider New America team for supporting our Fellows by attending open events we had with them, joining us on our Fellows Day at New America, and helping answer any questions they had. A huge thank you to Anne-Marie Slaughter, Tyra Mariani, and Anish Goel for their collective support and encouragement throughout the entire fellowship. Thank you to our colleagues supporting events, communications, production, and human resources. You carried us through the process, and we are extremely grateful for the time and effort you have put into supporting the fellowship, convening event, and final papers. A huge thank you for the collaborative effort of a number of our current and former colleagues throughout this process: Catherine York, Emily Schneider, Afua Bruce, Joanne Zalatoris, Maria Elkin, Angela Spidalette, Narmada Variyam, Clarke Reeves, Dee Snyder with Connoisseur Travel, Robin Bradley, Elizabeth Pankova, and Sumaita Mulk. newamerica.org/fellows/reports/anthology-working-papers-new-americas-us-india-fellows/ 3 About the Author(s) nited States Fe Madhulika Srikumar is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at Richard Abisla is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New New America. Srikumar will be working on India-U.S. America. Abisla is currently the Portfolio Manager for data sharing for law enforcement and explore the ellows the Americas at Caravan Studios, a division of underlying privacy standards for access to electronic TechSoup. data in the two countries. w om indu sts of tec Subhodeep Jash is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New Kaliya Young is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New America, where he focuses on civic engagement that America. Young is one of the world’s leading experts combines technology with active citizenship. on decentralized or self-sovereign identity technology wship e ws from Aditya K. Kaushik is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New n America. Kaushik works as a project scientist at echnology Divecha Centre for Climate Change at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. o better h eral rela Sylvia Mishra is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New tates. America. Mishra will research civilian drones and India and the United States’ potential role in shaping new drone applications, a project with applications in wider public interest issues. Ananth Padmanabhan is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New America and a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. His research interests are in the fields of technology policy, intellectual property rights, and innovation scholarship. Pranesh Prakash is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New America. Prakash will spend his fellowship working on policy and standards relating to the Indian parliament's record-keeping and legislative process. Tanvi Ratna is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New America. Ratna is a policy analyst and engineer, managing blockchain projects with a leading global consulting firm, based in India. Joshua Simons is a 2019 India-U.S. Fellow at New America. Simons, a Sheldon Fellow in Government at Harvard University, is writing about the politics and ethics of machine learning. newamerica.org/fellows/reports/anthology-working-papers-new-americas-us-india-fellows/ 4 Contents Foreword 6 The Development of Smart Water Markets Using Blockchain Technology (Aditya K. Kaushik) 9 Civilian Drones: Privacy Challenges and Potential Resolution (Ananth Padmanabhan) 25 The Privacy Negotiators: The Need for U.S. Tech Companies to Mediate Agreements on Government Access to Data in India (Madhulika Srikumar) 38 Governing Data: Non-Discrimination and Non-Domination in Decision- Making (Joshua Simons) 53 Open Transit Data in India (Richard Abisla) 66 Blockchain Regulation in the United States: Evaluating the overall approach to 80 virtual asset regulation (Tanvi Ratna) Improving India’s Parliamentary Voting and Recordkeeping (Pranesh Prakash) 94 India and the United States: The Time Has Come to Collaborate on Commercial Drones (Sylvia Mishra) 109 Civic Futures 2.0: The Gamification of Civic Engagement in Cities (Subhodeep Jash) 120 Key Differences Between the U.S. Social Security System and India’s Aadhaar System (Kaliya Young) 137 newamerica.org/fellows/reports/anthology-working-papers-new-americas-us-india-fellows/ 5 Foreword New America and the Ford Foundation recognized a unique and timely opportunity to create a fellowship exchange initiative between public interest technology practitioners in India and the United States. The 2019 exchange brought Fellows from India to the United States and sent Fellows to India from the United States with the aim of enabling Fellows from both countries to better harness technology to improve the lives of their citizens. The Fellows were technology practitioners from industry, government, and civil society as well as analysts of technology from academia and the media, and governmental regulators. Too often, technical experts who understand the details of how a technology works lack the expertise or critical distance necessary to effectively evaluate, and thoughtfully shape, the policy impact of their work. Developing a better understanding of technology’s impact is a precondition for formulating effective and just public policy. Each Fellow we selected possessed unique experience and expertise, which enabled them to devise novel technological solutions to public problems, and to analyze the effects of technology and of technology policy in new ways over the course of their eight-week research program. Our first batch of applicants were diverse in talent, experience, education, and physical location. 27 percent of our applicants were female, 95 percent had a degree beyond a Bachelor’s or equivalent, and 62 percent of applicants came from India. Most candidates put forward potential projects in technology policy, privacy, blockchain, future of work, and biometrics. Through a robust selection process, our final cohort consisted of 10 Fellows, four women and six men, and seven were from India and three were U.S.-based. We had a series of goals for this cohort: 1. To increase knowledge and awareness of technology policy challenges and effective technological solutions to social problems in India and the United States 2. To increase knowledge and awareness in India and the United States of both the successes and failures of initiatives to apply data science to public problems 3. To increase awareness within