[Varad Tiwari is a second-year student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur. In this piece, the author examines the evolving legal landscape of data de-identification following the EDPS v. SRB judgment. Specifically, the piece argues for a “pragmatic” approach to pseudonymization, suggesting that the status of data as “personal” should depend on the specific perspective…
Flawed Labelling Mandates: Critiquing the Proposed IT Amendment
[Ashar Nezami and Yash Agarwal are second-year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) students at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. In this piece, the authors analyze the proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, specifically the introduction of Rule 2(wa) and new due diligence mandates for Synthetically…
Digital Sovereignty or Digital Surveillance? Examining Sanchar Saathi Under India’s DPDP Act
[Akshat Pal and Samya Rahul are second-year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) students at National Law University, Jodhpur. This article examines the Sanchar Saathi app’s mandatory pre-installation directive and argues that its technical design, when combined with broad state exemptions under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, enables mass surveillance that undermines constitutional privacy protections established in Puttaswamy. The author contends that…
Web 2.0 Solutions for Web 3.0 Problems: Intermediary Liability and the Deepfake Crisis in India
[Divisha Dalal & Rajdeep Dutta are postgraduate students at the University of Bristol. This article argues that India’s intermediary liability framework under Section 79 of the IT Act and the Draft Amendments to the IT Rules represent outdated Web 2.0 solutions inadequate for addressing Web 3.0 deepfake threats, as they rely on reactive “actual knowledge” standards rather…
Algorithmic Manipulation Of Political Information: Assuring Accountability Through Listener Centric Approach
[Nandini Sharma is a fourth-year student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab. This article argues that India’s legal framework fails to hold political actors accountable for deliberately manipulating algorithms to spread disinformation, instead placing disproportionate liability on platforms. The author proposes a listener-centric approach to freedom of expression that recognizes citizens’ rights to…
Securing Digital Evidence In India: A Case For Integrating Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts
[Sarah Unhelkar is a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at NLU Jodhpur. She is interested in Tech Law and Gender Studies. In this piece she argues that blockchain-based smart contracts are time and cost-efficient than the statutorily (BSA and IT Act) mandated Certificates, to verify the Chain of Custody. This is especially because smart contracts can…
India’s Soft Law Approach: Strategic Choice or Potential Oversight?
[Vrinda is a Third-Year Law student at the National Forensic Sciences University Gandhinagar. Thier areas of interest include Technology and Cyber Policy along with AI Governance.] INTRODUCTION The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) constituted a drafting committee in July 2025 to develop an AI governance framework for India. The framework is guided by two objectives: first, to…
Rights Without Courts: India’s Troubling DPDPA Model
[Adarsh Philip Roy is a PG student at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS), Kolkata.] The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA) establishes a framework for the collection, storage, processing, and ultimately the protection of personal data. On closer examination, however, this seemingly progressive law carries a controversial twist. Unlike other global data protection laws,…
Where Does AI Training Infringe, and Do Model Weights Count? Lessons emerging from Getty Images v. Stability AI
[This piece is co-authored by Siddhant Singh and Gurmehar Bedi, who are third-year students pursuing a B.A.LLB at National Law University, Jodhpur. In this piece the authors analyse the decision of Getty Images vs. Stability AI to deal with aspects of copyright in a technological context vis-à-vis safeguarding creative labour, and determining what the ruling’s…
Zero Days and Zero Rights? Legal Vacuum In India’s Cyber Incident Reporting Regime
[This article has been co-authored by Aayushman Verma and Amal Singh Patel, who hold an MS in Cyber Law & Information Security from the National Law Institute University, Bhopal. It examines India’s cyber incident reporting regime under CERT-In’s 2022 Directions, arguing that while it imposes strict six-hour reporting deadlines on companies, it fails to create…