Ex Machina
Since 2016, I have written a weekly column in the Mint on the intersection between law, technology and society. My articles have covered a range of issues and for that duration of time have served as a record of the way in which technology policy has evolved in the country. The entire archive of all my Ex Machina articles are available on this page.
2026
2025
December
- 31 The Next 25 Years...
- 24 Training is not Copying
- 17 Reverse Robin Hood
- 10 Engineering for Outcomes
- 03 New Forensics
November
- 26 The Opportunity Downstream
- 19 A 3-Step DPDP Compliance Guide
- 12 AI Governance Guidelines
- 05 Steering Humans
October
September
August
- 27 Nanny State
- 20 FREE-AI
- 13 A Driverless Future
- 06 Full Circle
July
- 30 Mobile Number Validation
- 23 Writing for Readers
- 16 Legal Evolution
- 09 Rare Disease Platform
- 02 Tragedy of the Commons
June
May
April
March
February
January
2024
December
November
- 27 AI Liability
- 20 Tech Solutions for Use Limitation
- 13 A Tidal Wave of Disruption
- 06 Networked Privacy
October
- 30 AI Optimisation
- 23 The Ban Reflex
- 16 Acquiring Genetic Data
- 09 Homo Privaticus
- 02 Data Transfer Interoperability
September
August
July
- 31 Open AI Innovation
- 17 DPI for Competition
- 17 Are We Willing to Change
- 10 Digitally Accessible
- 03 Time Limited Arguments
June
May
April
March
February
January
2023
December
November
October
September
August
- 23 Proof of Humanness
- 16 We've Got Work To Do
- 08 The Business End of the DPDP Act
- 02 Studying Human Infection
July
June
May
- 31 Rule Makers
- 24 In-Built Bias
- 17 Ill-Advised Advisory
- 10 Moderating Systems
- 03 Digital Gender Inclusion
April
March
February
January
2022
December
November
- 30 Data Breach
- 23 Digital Personal Data Protection
- 16 Federated Social Media
- 09 Data Governance - The DPI Way
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
- 29 Neutral Global Infrastructure
- 22 Full Circle
- 15 Virtually Mine
- 08 Global Data Stability
- 01 Different Strokes
February
January
2021
December
- 28 Centralise or Federate
- 21 Light at the End of the Tunnel
- 15 Smart Regulation
- 07 Crypto Regulation
- 01 Phages and Precision Medicine
November
October
September
- 29 The Future of Title
- 23 Unpacking the Retail Stack
- 15 The App Store Tax
- 07 A Technolegal Approach to Data Transfers
- 01 Striking a Balance
August
- 25 The Dark Cloud over India's Micro-Entrepreneurs
- 18 The Metaverse Opportunity
- 11 To Forget or Not to Forget...
- 04 Encoding Privacy Principles
July
June
May
April
March
- 30 Overlap
- 23 The Subscription Economy
- 16 The CBDC Alternative
- 16 Radical Map Reforms
- 09 Age Gating
- 02 Traceability is Antithetical to Liberty
February
January
2020
December
- 30 Retrospective
- 23 Derived KYC
- 16 The Great Unbundling of WiFi
- 09 Tools For Thought
- 02 Subscribing to Things
November
- 25 The Bright Side of Life
- 17 Next Generation Map Technologies
- 10 Contract as Code
- 03 Bring Back Interoperability
October
September
- 30 The Cost of Orphan Drugs
- 22 Agile Tech Regulations
- 08 Consent to Port
- 02 We Don't Need Large Datasets
August
- 26 New Umbrella Entities are not a good idea
- 19 The Beckn Protocol
- 12 The mission to put health records at doctors fingertips
- 05 How to make online payments bustle with competition
July
- 29 Data localization could soon be the worldwide reality
- 22 India’s 21st century dilemma of global non-alignment
- 15 Why community data trustees should also be regulated
- 08 The untold story behind the evolution of privacy rights
- 01 An education model that best suits the realities we face
June
- 24 Algorithmic collusion is a possibility to watch out for
- 17 Immunity passports might be inevitable as we go along
- 10 A Golden Opportunity for Judicial Reform
- 09 Online Dispute Resolution
- 03 Shield online platforms for content moderation to work
May
- 27 An opportunity lost for an internet we could all rely on
- 20 How the covid pandemic could reshape life in our cities
- 13 Aarogya Setu and the value of syndromic surveillance
- 06 Tech-enabled oversight could put innovation at threat
April
- 29 The Jio-Facebook deal and our need for a privacy law
- 22 Mobility datasets could help India exit the lockdown
- 15 The need to strengthen India’s internet infrastructure
- 08 The privacy features that are built into Aarogya Setu
- 01 The corona crisis must not make us shut the world out
March
- 25 Liberties yielded in this crisis could set a new normal
- 18 What the top court’s order means for virtual currencies
- 03 Platform technologies could deliver a vaccine quickly
February
- 26 The trade-off between privacy and content traceability
- 19 The Centre could yet ride to the telecom sector’s rescue
- 12 Let’s update the notion of ownership to the digital age
- 05 Prepare for a world of quantum haves and have-nots
January
2019
December
- 25 The rise of TikTok and regulatory eyebrows in the US
- 18 The value of scepticism in the age of deep-fake videos
- 11 We must guard against the casual disregard of science
- 11 Not All It Could Be
- 04 The trouble with using DNA matches to nab criminals
November
- 20 A blueprint for an effective data protection authority
- 13 Why our attempt to escape online outrage might fail
- 06 Why it’s not okay to compromise privacy for security
October
- 23 The case for meat options that taste like the real thing
- 16 Store data efficiently to get insights for justice reforms
- 09 We may need a whole new approach to data protection
- 02 Agility should characterize the future of governance
September
- 25 Adaptive legal advice for shape-shifting businesses
- 11 Forensic DNA technology and the miasma of distrust
- 04 It’s better to use incentives than diktats to develop AI
August
- 28 End-to-end encryption must be retained at all cost
- 21 The competition law and data advantage conundrum
- 14 The popularity and regulation of competitive eSports
- 07 A new framework for consent to ensure data privacy
July
- 31 We need a cost-benefit analysis of data localization
- 24 UPI is world-class and it’s time to take it international
- 17 A three-point plan to improve tech policy formulation
- 10 Creative destruction and the global music industry
- 03 A rethink of the grid design to shape our energy future
June
- 26 The perilous consequences of automation dependency
- 19 Rising machine intelligence is a double-edged sword
- 12 The government and Big Tech need to meet halfway
- 05 The needle in the digital haystack
May
- 29 Why shutting down the internet is no longer an option
- 14 The chilling consequences of the Internet of Things
April
- 24 How capitalism evolved to drop its defence of privacy
- 17 Machines can err but humans aren’t infallible either
- 10 It’s time to frame rules for our artificial companions
- 03 Get set for a blend of reality and its augmented version
March
- 27 How digital trust systems can guard against false data
- 20 Of digital competition and data transfer principles
- 13 The dilemma of trying out new cures for malaria
- 06 The need for an online dispute resolution mechanism
February
- 27 India's draft e-commerce policy is more a miss than a hit
- 20 Technology is making us less open to divergent views
- 13 For the digital world, customer is truly king
- 06 Policy advocacy is really an exercise in compromise
January
2018
December
- 26 When privacy, the word of the year, came into its own
- 19 Getting the Earth out of the Anthropocene period
- 12 Manufacturing drugs on demand
- 05 The downside of gene editing
November
- 28 The use of technology in providing healthcare
- 21 The challenge of detecting fake content
- 14 Using artificial intelligence more effectively
- 07 Genetic matchmaking can improve medical outcomes
October
- 24 Ensuring that the vulnerable benefit from Aadhaar
- 17 Technological restrictions in the new drone policy
- 10 Restoring the original vision of the internet
- 03 The Aadhaar verdict: everybody lost
September
- 26 The risk of planetary geoengineering
- 19 Optimizing the flow of road traffic
- 12 When parents damage their children’s digital privacy
- 05 Leveraging new technologies for development
August
- 21 Disruption and innovation in the legal industry
- 18 Limiting the government’s ability to violate privacy
- 15 Autonomous transportation at scale is here
- 08 The lady with the lamp and data-driven medicine
- 01 Balancing Big Data and privacy
July
- 31 The Achilles heel of the draft personal data Bill
- 30 Complexity will be the privacy law’s undoing
- 25 A creeping expansion of TRAI’s authority
- 11 Easing the regulatory burden on the Internet of Things
- 04 The need for innovation in the legal sector
June
- 27 India should make clear laws on data collection
- 20 History shows us how to deal with news echo chambers
- 13 Elon Musk wants to colonise Mars but Earth needs to write its constitution first
- 06 The unintended consequences of Europe’s GDPR
May
- 23 Will humans be part of the wars of the future?
- 16 How connected devices will change our lives
- 09 Artificial Intelligence and the Law of the Horse
- 02 A game of Chinese whispers in the Aadhaar case
April
- 25 The futility of prohibiting bitcoin trade
- 18 Internet was designed to understand and track us
- 11 A new direction for data privacy in healthcare
- 04 India need not adopt the onerous European General Data Protection Regulation
March
- 28 Do away with consent to strengthen data privacy
- 21 Will technology be able to disrupt the legal industry?
- 14 Does right to life include advance directives?
- 07 Genetic diseases should be covered by insurance
February
- 28 Battery harmonization will help electric vehicles
- 21 The backfire effect and the menace of fake news
- 14 Decentralised Urban Management
- 07 Where have all the polymaths gone?
January
2017
December
- 20 Bitcoin and the law of centralization
- 13 Data subject first
- 06 Unintended consequences of autonomous transportation
November
October
September
- 27 The psychology of hate
- 20 False confidence
- 13 Intermediating supply and demand
- 06 Drones to the rescue
August
- 30 Privacy and household finance
- 26 The Good and the Bad of the Privacy Ruling
- 23 Breaking Down Data Silos
- 19 Needed: A Fact Rank Algorithm to Flag Fake News
- 16 The robots are taking our jobs
- 12 A New Hope for Personal Privacy
- 02 Augmented Reality
July
June
May
- 31 Perfect Price Discrimination
- 24 When Algorithms Learn to Recognise You
- 17 Aadhaar: The Fine Balance between Identity and Anonymity
- 10 The Myth of the Average Man
- 03 The Morality of Technology
April
- 26 The Ethics of Persuasion
- 20 The Great Manure Crisis of 1894
- 12 The End of Life
- 06 The Movement of Ideas
March
February
January
2016
December
November
- 23 Cutting the Code with CRISPR
- 16 Its Time for Coveillance
- 09 The New Imperialists
- 02 The Rise of the Machines
October
September
- 28 A Database of our Maladies
- 21 Algorithmic Oversight
- 15 The Artist and his Audience
- 09 Data is a Capital Asset
- 01 Can we do without Cash
August
- 24 The Evolution of Identity
- 17 Where Did Our Map Regulations Come From
- 10 Lazy Legislation
- 03 From Ownership to Access
July
- 27 Using Tech to Ensure Data Symmetry
- 20 The New News
- 13 Blockchain Governance
- 06 The Demise of the Artisanal Lawyer
June
- 29 Consent is Dead
- 22 Drones Should be Regulated by City Traffic Laws not Aviation Regulations
- 16 The Ethics of Automation
- 08 Trusting the Sharing Economy