How this website works, in plain language
This website belongs to Digital Citizens of India, a people’s collective of Indian citizens working together on digital literacy, online safety, digital rights and a constructive voice in India’s digital public life. By using this website, you agree to the points below.
The collective, in brief
Digital Citizens of India is a coming together of citizens, not a company or any formal body. It does not need registration, offices or a bank account to do its work. It never touches money: it does not collect fees, take donations or handle payments of any kind. The full picture is in our charter.
A few words used on this page
- The collective means Digital Citizens of India.
- This website means digitalcitizens.in and every page on it.
- You means anyone reading this website, whether or not they have joined the collective.
- Digital Citizen means a person who has joined the collective, as described below.
Who can join, and how
Any Indian citizen of eighteen years or above may join, under their real name as it appears on their voter ID. Each person joins only once. The joining form asks for your name, state and district, contact details, languages and skills, and a copy of your voter ID, which a trained volunteer verifies. If the volunteer is not satisfied for any reason, the joining simply does not go ahead. The full steps are in our charter, and how the details are handled is on our Privacy Policy.
Using this website
- The playbooks, stories, the charter and every other page here are shared to help citizens, freely and without charge.
- You are welcome to read, share and point others to this website.
- Please do not copy whole pages elsewhere and present them as your own. A credit and a link back is enough.
- Please do not give false or misleading information anywhere on this website, including on the joining form.
- Please do not use this website in a way that could damage it, overload it, or stop others from using it, and do not try to get around any part of it that is not meant to be public.
- Please do not scrape or copy this website to build a rival list of Digital Citizens or their details.
- Some pages link out to government portals and other outside websites, for example cybercrime.gov.in and sancharsaathi.gov.in. Those websites are run by others, and their own terms apply once you leave this website.
Playbooks and guidance
The step by step playbooks on this website give general guidance drawn from official sources, written for a common citizen. They are not professional legal, financial or technical advice for your particular situation. For anything serious, always go to the official channel named in the playbook, such as 1930, the national cybercrime portal, sancharsaathi.gov.in or your bank. See our Disclaimer for more on this.
If you send us something
If you fill the joining form, send a story, or write to us, you confirm that what you share is true and is yours to share. We may lightly edit anything before it is published, for length, clarity or the writing style the collective follows, without changing its meaning. We may choose not to publish something, without needing to give a reason.
Stories shared here
Stories on this website are individual accounts, shared with the person’s knowledge. They describe one citizen’s experience and are not a promise of the same outcome for anyone else.
The mark and the writing on this website
The writing on this website may be read and shared freely, with credit, for non commercial use. The collective’s mark and brand assets follow the separate brand usage rules described in the charter, and are not for commercial use by anyone.
Taking part
Anyone taking part in the collective, online or in person, is expected to be truthful, courteous and to keep the spirit of the charter. If someone does not, the Conduct Circle may ask them to stop taking part. This is not a punishment, and it is done quietly and fairly, following the charter. Digital Citizens of India stays above party politics: this website and its pages do not speak for or against any party or candidate.
Limits of our responsibility
This website and the collective’s guidance are offered in good faith, by volunteers, free of charge. We try our best to keep this website accurate and working. To the extent the law allows, the collective is not responsible for any loss that comes from using this website or from following its guidance, beyond what the law requires of a free, volunteer effort. Nothing on this page takes away any right you have under Indian law that cannot be given up. See our Disclaimer for more on the limits of the guidance itself.
If your actions cause a problem
If you break these terms, or use this website in a way that causes a loss to the collective or to someone else, that responsibility is yours, not the collective’s.
If you are not happy about something
If anything on this website concerns you, write to complaints @ digitalcitizens .in. We try our best that every complaint gets a reply within seven days, and anything under complaint may be taken down at once while it is looked at. More on this is on our Openness page.
If one part of these terms does not apply
If any point on this page turns out not to apply in a particular case, the rest of this page still stands.
Indian law
These terms are written to fit the laws of India, and any disagreement about them is worked out under Indian law.
Changes to these terms
These terms may be updated as the collective grows. The latest version will always be here on this page. This page, together with our Privacy Policy and our charter, covers our full understanding with you about using this website.