sk2268@georgetown.edu

Country: India

Education: LL.M. in International Legal Studies from New York University School of Law; B.A. LL.B. from Symbiosis Law School, Pune, India

 Faculty Advisor: Julie Cohen

Areas of Study: technology law and policy, privacy and surveillance law, digital governance

Smitha is an SJD Candidate at Georgetown Law and Fritz Family Fellow with Georgetown’s Tech & Society Program. Smitha’s primary research interests focus on issues around digital governance, privacy, data protection and surveillance. She also works on questions of emerging technology and law, and the expansion of tech regulation. Her SJD project focuses on regulatory frameworks applicable in the context of growing efforts made by international organizations and multinational corporations to promote digitization of government services (particularly in Global South countries).

Smitha is currently on leave from her position as Assistant Professor of law at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Digital Asia Hub, where she is involved in research related to the governance of digital infrastructure used to deliver public services, and more broadly digital platforms.

Previously, Smitha was a Director at the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University, Delhi, where she led the Centre’s research, policy, and capacity building work in relation to multiple questions related to technology law and policy developments in India. During this time, Smitha has authored and contributed to several papers, reports and opinion pieces on privacy and data protection law and policy. She has authored or contributed to submissions made by the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi in various consultation processes including consultations by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Committee of Experts on the implementation of data protection laws in India, the NITI Aayog, the National Health Authority, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, UN Special Rapporteurs, and the UN High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. Smitha was also invited to depose before the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change on the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019.

SSRN Profile: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1798476

National Law School Profile: https://www.nls.ac.in/faculty/smitha-krishna-prasad/