Эксперт по цифровому равенству предупреждает о рисках строительства дата-центров для местных сообществ Индии

This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West. When Osama Manzar started the nonprofit Digital Empowerment Foundation in 2002, just 1.2% of India’s population was online. Now, more than 70% is. But Manzar’s mission statement – helping poor and rural communities come out of the digital dark to access information, literacy, and livelihoods – still holds. In the age of artificial intelligence, Manzar senses the risk of another extractive technology, with the benefits and control concentrated among powerful actors both at the algorithmic level and in terms of land and water. As protests erupt from India to Malaysia to Chile, Manzar – who has served on several Indian government and international policy committees dealing with internet access, digital inclusion, and infrastructure – not only questions how and where the data centers are being built, but also why. Especially when they’re on track to consume water equivalent to that of 1.3 billion people’s annual domestic needs, and require electricity matching the energy demand of 650 million people by 2030. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. A recording of the live Rest of World event is available here. What is the role of local communities in how data center development is happening? In the US, people have come out to ask the government to ban data centres or shut some. In India, we are looking at a government that is viewing data centers as a developmental activity. We need to ask whether it is really development. You are coming to us to seek our land, our climate, and our space. You need to consult us. You need to consider the community. If you’re taking my land, what are you giving back? I am not even a stakeholder in your data centre. You are giving me the promise of creating a lot of jobs. In this case, corporations are not even sure that the local community can be employed in a data centre, as it is an automated system. Could you talk about the awareness and ability of affected communities to fight back? The government, usually a representative of the people, is shaking hands with data centre companies without consulting with their own people. We are already seeing a lot of campaigning happening in the Visakhapatnam area where Google is building a data center. You are giving tax exemption, you are giving land at a very low cost – there are so many questionable approaches taken by the government. At the moment, there’s not much awareness until construction or clearance activity starts. “Data centre” is not a term understood by people. People are kept in the dark, and suddenly there is activity in the neighborhood. The reaction could be harsh. How do you compare the reaction to data centers with other kinds of industrialisation? Factories employ a lot of people. Even if land is taken, there are lots of jobs that are created. In the case of data centres, we are seeing that even the people involved in data creation are getting replaced by AI. Even the artisans are putting a camera on their head and creating data, which will replace them tomorrow. How do you think the voices of local communities can be included in this conversation? At a village council level, at a district level, there are people’s representatives available. Locals can be divided into landowners, tillers, agriculturists, and women’s groups. I haven’t heard that any of the groups have been consulted. In fact, in Telangana, where Microsoft is building a data centre hub, we found out that some of the acquired land has been under dispute. Some owners are wondering how they can take back their land. This happens many times when the government is creating sovereign infrastructure like roads or rails, but this is not a sovereign act. These data centers are owned by private entities. What does “responsible” data centre development look like? Can we not have hyperlocal, multi-distributed data centres? I am happy to have a data centre if it’s for the local people. Some people can have a farming need, governance need, business need – this local area needs its own decentralised data centres. Maybe you can divide the country into 250,000 village-level council data centres, or you can have district-level data centers serving their districts only. Developing countries should not become data waste centres, serving the elite of the world. If you are coming to my neighborhood, first serve us. And if you’re not serving us, go to the place where you will serve them. Can data centers using renewable energy and less water from natural sources help alleviate the pressure on local communities? Companies can say that they will not use groundwater or they will extract water from moisture. But that’s their personal problem for which they are going to innovate. It’s for their benefit in terms of efficiency. At the moment, they are taking land. But what are they giving to the community for the pollution they will create, for the noise they will make? Also, the promises they are making are not on paper. What is being taken as guaranteed is that the existence of a data centre is not negotiable. “Now, let’s discuss energy efficiency, let’s discuss the efficiency of it, let’s choose a location which is not bothering anyone” – but nobody is asking about the existence of the data centre itself. That question needs to be asked because it is directly related to the community. Ananya Bhattacharya is a reporter for Rest of World covering South Asia's tech scene. She is based in Mumbai, India. This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West. We welcome your comments at [email protected].