Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

Welcome back to Tech x Policy! 

We seem to be firmly in layoff season now. Rumours swirl of Google following Meta in making mass job cuts. Even Apple, whose trillion-dollar fortress was one of the few left unbreached this earnings season, had laid off about 100 contractors in August.

And then there’s Elon’s Twitter antics. The fact that the bird app is still standing after over 60% layoffs may provide ammo to activist investors wanting more Big Tech job cuts. If said bird app doesn’t spontaneously combust by the next earnings season, that is.

But even as macroeconomics crushes once-untouchable behemoths and private equity hoards dry powder, government regulations are also actively changing the landscape. 

In India, the revised Digital Personal Data Protection Bill is pitting activists and policymakers in fierce debates, yet again (surprise, surprise). Enough and more is being said about how it’s different from the previous bill, and about dilutions and government overreach. 

But what does the bill really change for the user? And how will it shape user experience going ahead? 

That’s what my colleague Vanita is tackling today. 

Let’s dive in!

A short users’ guide to the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill

By Vanita Bhatnagar 

I don’t think it’s news to anyone at this point that this is a bill that has been in the works for a long time. In fact, this is its fourth iteration, and it’s open for public feedback until 17 December. After which the government hopes to introduce it to the Parliament in the upcoming Budget session in February next year. 

Soumyajit mentioned dilutions of privacy in the introduction and the criticism the government is taking here has been pretty heated, to be frank. Especially because activists believe many of the previously proposed protections have been diluted and the current verison gives the government outsize powers.

Here’s New Delhi-based advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation: 

And here’s some more:

There are many great, insightful breakdowns of these problems already, so I’m not going to delve into that anymore.