Nikhil Pahwa Profile picture
Founder @medianama | @tedfellow @Asia21Leaders | cofounder savetheinternet ex @internetfreedom / Mere yaar patang udaya kar. Kat jaye toh gham na khaya kar
Sep 25, 2018 6 tweets 4 min read
Aadhaar verdict tomorrow. I'm so nervous now.

Whatever the verdict, remember that there are many people who have been party to pushing back against this abomination.

First and foremost, we must thank Usha ramanathan for her leadership. She has led this pushback. Also thank the great folks at @no2uid , @gautambhatia88 @prasanna_s @Kritika12 @SFLCin who kept us updated & pushed back when all seemed lost. Many of you also supported @SpeakForMe campaign, and many of us who participated in it should remember we should speak up when it matters
Aug 8, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
2018=crazy year in internet policy. Wondering whether Indian govt is fit to govern, re Internet:
1. A terrible data protection bill with an opaque process
2. draft e-commerce policy that will kill investment in India. Opaque process
3. Nearly 100 internet shutdowns. 79 last year. 4. Knee-jerk data localisation from RBI
5. Threats to citizens regarding Aadhaar (tax filing, banks, mobile,DIN number)
6. Data leakages+unauthorised access of Aadhaar data
7.Threats to amend section 79 to remove safe harbour for platforms = destroys how internet works
Jul 11, 2018 7 tweets 4 min read
Thread:

I'm told that Telecom Commission has accepted @TRAI 's recommendations on #NetNeutrality. Thank you TRAI& @rssharma3 for giving India the strongest Net Neutrality regulations in the world,covering both throttling of Internet access & prevention of discriminatory pricing As per the @trai recommendations, ISP and Telco license conditions will be amended to enforce net neutrality principles. This means that if the telecom operators violate net neutrality, then they will be violating their license conditions, risking license cancellation
Mar 19, 2018 14 tweets 3 min read
It's important for us in India to track what happened with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook for multiple reasons. Here's how I'm thinking about it.

If data is the new oil, then it just caught fire and is polluting democracies. Firstly, we need to realise that making personal data public has severe consequences. Both for individuals as well as for democracies. Harvesting this data and using it is no longer complex.