Anshuman Sahoo

"Why do you write?" When reviewing applications of young writers eager to be mentored, I often ask them this single question: "why do you write?". The reason for asking this question is two-fold. First, she who knows her why can endure any how, if Nietzsche is to be believed. Second, one's why is a window to her personality, beliefs, and cognition.  Today morning, I thought of asking that very question to myself. Why do I write? The first response was I write because it moves people to take action. I write because it can impact a change in the society we live in. I write because it matters.  On second thought, I asked myself a follow-up question: would I still write if none of these happened? In a hypothetical world, where people wouldn't be moved by words, where society wouldn't listen to writers, would I still write? Then came out a different answer. An answer that's not relative to the world we live in. An answer that doesn't change whether I

On 24 March 2021, the Competition Commission of India passed an order that came as a shock to most Indian Competition Law enthusiasts. In a suo moto case , the Commission passed a 21-page order directing a probe into the recently updated WhatsApp privacy policy alleging it of abuse of dominance (copy of order available here ). The Commission, inter alia , has recognised the competitive significance of ‘non-price parameters of service like quality, customer service, innovation’ etc, has taken note of the ‘network effects of data’, and has alleged WhatsApp of abusing its dominance by trying to impose ‘unfair terms and conditions upon the users’ in violation of the provisions of the Competition Act. For competition authorities across the globe, privacy has been the elephant in the room since 2012, when the European Commission started recognising the network effects of data on digital platform markets. Since then, various competition authorities have come forward to recognise data privac