The WhatsApp hack involving NSO has highlighted the urgent need for a digital surveillance framework in India. While law enforcement agencies demand access to encrypted messages, the incident demonstrates the risks of creating backdoors in communication platforms. Preserving civil liberties and maintaining robust security should be prioritized over short-term safety measures.

There is a significant environmental impact to livestock production. It accounts for 40% of global agricultural output and has significant greenhouse gas emissions. To meet global warming targets, a drastic dietary shift is needed. We need to explore meat substitutes like Impossible Foods’ products, that are a promising and nearly indistinguishable alternative to traditional meat.

The Indian judicial system is in dire need of reform, with cases piling up and delays becoming a norm. While some digital information exists, the system remains largely analog, lacking crucial metrics and insights. Agami, an organization supporting legal innovation, is working to build a repository for legal data sets, aiming to develop a cloud storage system for collecting, storing, and updating legal data. This project is seen as a first step towards using data to understand and address the inefficiencies in the Indian legal system.

There is a tension between data collectors and data subjects regarding ownership and value of their data. WHile traditional ownership concepts have not really succeeded when it comes to data regulation, contained within the idea of either collector-centric or subject-centric data trusts we might find an alternative approach to data governance.

Agile governance, essential for managing rapid technological change and global scale of new technologies, involves systems thinking and design thinking for policy-making. It emphasizes multi-stakeholder participation, regulatory sandboxes for controlled experimentation, and data sharing for efficient regulation. India, with its digital public infrastructure, is well-positioned to lead in this agile governance approach.

Lawyers often struggle to advise innovative tech businesses due to their risk-averse, backward-looking training. They focus on legal risks, ignoring potential upsides. Modern businesses need lawyers who assess risks realistically, understand regulatory reactions, and advise based on future legal landscapes. Legal education needs a paradigm shift towards solution-focused, forward-thinking training.

British colonial India significantly advanced forensic science, driven by a narrative of native deceit. Techniques like graphology and serological analysis were developed as judicial reliance on forensics grew, due to distrust in native testimonies. This legacy persists in India’s criminal justice system, often prioritizing technology over fundamental rights, as seen in recent DNA data bank legislation.

The argument that data localization will boost India’s AI competence is flawed. Simply storing data in-country doesn’t translate to AI development, as data structures are company-specific and insights are often non-transferable. Instead, focusing on building AI infrastructure, incentivizing researchers, and encouraging homegrown AI development with existing data is more effective for fostering AI prowess.

Stripping away anonymity entirely from social media platforms will never ever be useful. Just because a few have taken advantage of online anonymity for nefarious purposes does not mean that everyone else should be denied the many benefits that technology platforms provide.

Competition law is challenged by the unique dynamics of internet platforms, which prioritize growth and customer lock-in over short-term profits. These platforms often operate at a scale that traditional businesses can’t match, and their data advantage allows them to tailor services precisely. While this leads to better user experiences, it also results in a winner-takes-all dynamic, limiting customer choice. Regulating these platforms is complex, as breaking them up might deny consumers the benefits they offer, and traditional competition remedies may not be applicable to the digital market.