“If you don’t see me in half a decade, just wait a little longer”– India’s data protection bill (circa 2018) On 9th August, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 was finally passed in the Parliament. We’ve waited for over half a decade, broken up with several versions of the bill – and several reportsRead more
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Some like cats, some like dogs, some like both. But nobody likes being tracked through their pet’s TikTok account. Recently, it was revealed that a few ByteDance employees tracked a cat’s TikTok account to find the IP address of its owner – who is a reporter for the Financial Times covering TikTok. The failed trackingRead more
“Should we fire up this bad boy”- Television’s Homi Bhabha to Television’s Vikram Sarabhai at India’s first ever rocket launch (Rocket Boys, 2022) Back in the 60s, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai – the pioneer of India’s space program, argued against Indians staying out of space. While India is a developing nation, he believed that if weRead more
What does India’s Information Technology Act have in common with Daft Punk? They both love techno, they’re both 20+ years old, and they will probably get replaced by a GenAlpha successor. In this edition, we analyze the probable skeleton of the Digital India Act. We also bring to you – short explainers (mini-splainers) on cloudRead more
A video clip of Jerry Seinfeld’s cameo in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction has over 1.4 million views on YouTube. A confused and terrified Seinfeld takes aim and fails, while Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta stand side by side pointing their guns at the comedian as the show’s recognizable theme song plays. The clip isn’tRead more
Recently, the Indian government integrated its homegrown AI language tool –Bhashini with ChatGPT. So, we decided to do it too. This month’s introductory opener is brought to you by internet’s most popular AI chatbot! “Welcome to the latest issue of our tech policy newsletter! This edition explores budget takeaways for tech, online gaming regulation, theRead more
“I just feel like the whole session was rushed…. there was no back lighting, or emotional direction” That’s television’s David Rose (from Schitt’s Creek), on not being able to choose the picture on his driver’s license. Rushed and inadequate is also what some people have called the new digital personal data protection bill. But isRead more
The festive season is upon us, and the government has gifted us tech policy consultations aplenty! In this edition, we take a look at what is happening in telecom, e-commerce, healthtech and online gaming. While some of these developments might be onto something, others feel like the notorious urge to touch wet paint. Let’s getRead more
Milton Friedman said, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results”. In this edition, we discuss the proposed Digital India Act, spectrum allocation, and other evolving policy pieces on data, OTT apps, online content, gaming and competition. Let’s go! On the anvil: a digital lawRead more
Here’s a 5-minute lowdown of what’s happened since the last time we spoke to you. Et tu, Twitter? Legally blown: Earlier in July, Twitter challenged the content takedown orders issued to it by the IT Ministry in the High Court of Karnataka. The case has been admitted by the High Court and will be nextRead more