Democracy, the Right to Know, and Digital Data: Nonviolent Resistance Strategies That Work

Democracy depends not only on the right to vote, but on the right to know: to access information, question power, and participate meaningfully in public life. In the digital age, data has become central to how these rights are exercised — and contested — through nonviolent action and organizing. Digitalization has profoundly reshaped the relationship between citizens, the state, and corporations, creating new possibilities for transparency and resistance, while simultaneously introducing powerful tools for surveillance, control, and repression. This panel brings together perspectives from India, Kenya, and Latin America to explore how data-driven approaches can strengthen democracy and accountability, as well as the challenges they pose. Open data initiatives, digital journalism, social media platforms, and secure communication tools have enabled activists, workers, and citizens to document abuses, mobilize movements, and demand transparency. From exposing corruption through data leaks to organizing labor actions via encrypted messaging, digital tools have lowered barriers to collective action and made it harder for entrenched power to operate unchallenged. For marginalized groups, data visibility has sometimes meant recognition — being counted, acknowledged, and included in decision-making processes that previously ignored them. At the same time, digitalization has introduced new risks. The aggregation and analysis of vast datasets enable unprecedented monitoring of individuals and groups. States and private actors increasingly rely on digital footprints — biometric data, location data, and online behavior — to predict, categorize, and control populations. In workplaces, algorithmic management and surveillance tools track productivity and risk, often through opaque systems that shape hiring, pay, scheduling, and termination decisions. Informal and gig workers may be hyper-visible to platforms yet remain invisible in rights and protections. Digital identity projects further illustrate this tension: centralized databases can increase inclusion and service delivery efficiency, but they also create risks of exclusion, profiling, and coercion. Access to welfare, work, or basic services may depend on digital verification, consolidating power in centralized institutions and limiting citizens’ control over their own data. This panel invites participants to critically examine digitalization as a contested space. Drawing on examples from India, Kenya, and Latin America, it explores how digital tools can either deepen democracy and workers’ rights or entrench inequality and surveillance — depending on how power over data is structured and challenged. Attendees will leave with insights into strategies for leveraging data for anti-corruption, accountability, and nonviolent civic engagement, while mitigating risks to privacy, equity, and democratic participation.