Since IFF began operating as a staffed organisation in 2018, we have grown exponentially in work and impact. A large part of this is due to the support from communities like FOSS United, who resonate with our goals and mission. In the last year IFF, in its efforts towards building a free and open internet for all, has filed over 300 RTIs with various government agencies, has participated in 12 government consultations, and has over 15 active cases in its docket. We have also created infographics, videos and helped advance a conversation around democratic rights at the intersection of digitsation.
A lot of this work relies on our community roots and volunteers. For instance, we have launched two different projects; Digital Patrakar Defence Clinic, which provides pro-bono legal support to journalists and digital creators in India and Project Panoptic, which tracks the use of Facial Recognition Technologies by government agencies. Both the online platforms were built by IFF’s excellent group of volunteers who share the same values of fostering privacy and digital rights. The first was completed within 2 months, and the other took about 3 months.
Things have been a little more challenging for our main website over at internetfreedom.in. We’ve outgrown the current infrastructure. The present simple ghost theme that we have grown to love, also presents limits. This is particularly true for our goals of greater civic engagement so more people can more easily learn and engage in conversations of digital rights. In order to advance our mission of digital liberties, we need to build a platform that is able to support IFF’s growth and is accessible to the masses. One that is built with open source.
We believe that many in the FOSS United community share IFF’s values, and we’d like to request members of India’s largest Open-source community to work with us in a collaborative effort towards helping IFF advance its mission. We are looking for a project manager, web developers, designers and illustrators to help us build better and in a true community based fashion. If this sounds like something that interests you, please reach out to us at apar@internetfreedom.in or ashlesh@internetfreedom.in with details about how you can help, and we’ll get on a call with you pronto.
We have received tremendous support and feedback from the FOSS United community. Also, if there are any wider questions or suggestions, or ways in which IFF can better support free and open software or access to knowledge please do reach out. I am always happy to listen and factor community feedback.