IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodepp/v10y2025i1p13-25.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Who Owns Data?’: Emerging Debates on Data Ownership, Distribution and Protection in Digital Democracies

Author

Listed:
  • Aakansha Natani

Abstract

Today, in the post-industrial society, the data created by computers and the internet are becoming a new ‘means of production’. With this, there is a new-found realisation on the question of its ownership, distribution and protection. The question of accessibility in this regard is also becoming a crucial issue in democratic political systems. Internet and data have led to epistemological changes such that new rights for citizens are required with an overhaul of democratic processes founded in digital methods. It will definitely have its own challenges, limitations and possibilities. As data protection bills are now being introduced in many countries of the world, it is important to analyse the key theoretical nuances in the data ownership discourse. In this regard, this article attempts to highlight these nuances along with the scope for new public policy frameworks required in the domain of data ownership, distribution and protection.

Suggested Citation

  • Aakansha Natani, 2025. "‘Who Owns Data?’: Emerging Debates on Data Ownership, Distribution and Protection in Digital Democracies," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 10(1), pages 13-25, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:10:y:2025:i:1:p:13-25
    DOI: 10.1177/24551333241257366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/24551333241257366
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/24551333241257366?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:10:y:2025:i:1:p:13-25. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.