India’s map regulations impose restrictions on the cross-border transfer of maps or map data - despite the global shift to cloud-based consumption. I investigate the origins of these arcane regulations to try and figure out how they came about and what can be done to set it right.

While Press Note 3 of 2016, was supposed to liberalise FDI in e-commerce in India, it is filled with contradictory provisions and unclear definitions - particularly regarding the inclusion of service and digital product sales in e-commerce. It is, in fact, a step back and is reflective of the fact that the government’s understanding of technology and its impact is inadequate. Effective regulation in the Network Age requires precise, flexible legislation, understanding network patterns, and a non-linear approach to policy formulation.

Consumption is one of the cornerstones of capitalism and modern society actively encourages it. Planned obsolescence feeds this philosophy by making a placing time limits on technology to make it stop functioning so that replacements can be purchased. If we prioritise access over ownership utilization will increase and products will no longer have to be made obsolete to encourage greater consumption.

The Internet and modern technologies have reduced information asymmetry in markets. With the abundance of data available today, can technology can replace regulations, ensuring data symmetry and achieving “minimum governance?”

There is a transformation in the dissemination of news now that it takes place through social media platforms and smartphones. As a result user-generated content has started to shape modern journalism. As a result there is a shift in the role of social media companies that raises new questions about the protection and support for this new form of citizen journalism.

Bitcoin’s distributed ledger technology offers a solution to the trust issue in online transactions, eliminating the need for intermediaries in e-commerce. This blockchain concept can extend beyond currency, revolutionizing contracts, intellectual property rights, and public records by ensuring tamper-resistant, verifiable transactions. Governments could adopt this technology for more efficient, accountable public services, as seen in Rajasthan’s state-guaranteed land titles, potentially paving the way for blockchain governance.

The University of Oxford’s study revealed that 47% of jobs today could be replaced by computers, including cognitive and evaluative roles. While lawyers have a low risk of displacement, paralegals and legal assistants face a 94% chance of being replaced. The rise of AI in law could disrupt traditional apprenticeship models and requires the legal industry to reorganize before technology claims their livelihood.

The consent-based model of data protection is outdated and ineffective in the modern, interconnected world. We need to shift from focusing on obtaining consent to holding organizations accountable for the data they control. India, lacking a formal privacy law, has a unique opportunity to develop a modern privacy law centered on accountability, which could serve as a model for the rest of the world.

Drones are likely to be flown in urban areas and so instead of being regulated by the DGCA they should be regulated by the police that can address the traffic management and privacy violation issues that are likely to be the consequence of their use.

We need to develop the ethical frameworks within which vehicle manufacturers should operate or else they will ensure that the parameters on which autonomous vehicles are regulated serve their own interests. Autonomous vehicles should not have to comply with laws designed for vehicles are driven by humans.