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
March
February
January
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