Executive Summary

Crowdsuit

Project Crowdsuit is the very first crowd sourced litigation initiative in Kerala. The basic of idea of the initiative stems from the factthat collective mobilization against an unfair incident or practice can lead to greater change as opposed to one person fighting againstthe same. In the rudimentary stage, we focus on digital violence, and collect victims to the same through crowdsourcing and create a platform online for these victims to interact with lawyers or collectively mobilize against a crime.

Project Crowdsuit of WBIP works in collaboration with project Stop Digital Violence at its current stage. We provide our services in the following ways:

1. For victims to digital violence inclusive of harassment online, to voice their concerns and experiences- We collate similar cases like these, draft a letter to our network of lawyers who take the case up legally. We provide a platform for women who are unaware of the legal procedures or simply do not have the means to physically go to a court and materialise the justice they deserve, to do it by the means of an app or a website, and we will find them a lawyer to further the case. We charge the victims who can afford to pay and provide them with a lawyer who can take the case up legally. If the victim cannot afford it, we note the victim’s case, collect similar ones and then appeal to the law. We will also push the governmentto coerce the accused, if found guilty, to issue a penalty which will drive the further growth of the project and also help fund victims who could not afford our service.

2. As far as consumer protection is concerned, we aim to collect data from unsatisfied customers and directly approach the court against the company with data as a proof of consumer dissatisfaction. The court will then take necessary action against the firm accused. We will receive our revenue as a percentage of the amount reimbursed by the accused to the victim.

The origin behind the idea of Crowdsuit is the brainchild of Ben Kinney from Chicago, USA who adopted this plan of crowdsourcing data to fight for injustice against mobile phone companies that charge unnecessary fees from customers. We have incorporated this into a social cause for women whilst also keeping the main theme of consumer protection intact.

Issues such as consumer complaints or digital harassment is not something that most people would wantto take the trouble of appealing to the court for and that is where we step in,. Our main revenue source would be a percentage of the reimbursements given to the consumer by the company when we succeed in the case. In the harassment and justice arena, our main source of revenue would be through private investors and in app advertisements and only if we succeed in punishing the perpetrators, a small fee is charged from the victim.

Through project Crowdsuit, we aim to encourage people to fight for their rights and we will help them along the way.