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The personal data protection passed by the president on August 11 has placed designers, developers, architects and managers squarely in the driving seat. If it is to be, it is up to us. Find out how.

Reasons to love the bill:
❤️ – the pronouns “her” and “she” have been used for an individual, irrespective of gender.
❤️ – the illustrations or examples are thoughtfully chosen. If you only read the illustrations you will know the important provisions. I’ve brought in some relevant ones into this post.

First a short relevant glossary. For the main glossary or to read the draft bill click here

“Data Fiduciary” means any person who alone or in conjunction with other persons determines the purpose and means of processing of personal data

“Data Principal” means the individual to whom the personal data relates, and where such individual is—
(i) achild,includestheparentsor lawful guardian of such a child; and
(ii) a person with disability, includes their lawful guardian, acting on behalf of such individual;

“Data Processor” means any person who processes personal data on behalf of a Data Fiduciary

“personal data” means any data about an individual who is identifiable by or in relation to such data;

“processing” in relation to personal data means a wholly or partly automated operation or set of operations performed on digital personal data, and may include operations such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation, retrieval, use, alignment or combination, indexing, sharing, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, restriction, erasure or destruction;

“Data Protection Officer” A Data Fiduciary shall publish, in such manner as may be prescribed, the business contact information of a Data Protection Officer, if applicable, or a person who is able to answer on behalf of the Data Fiduciary, the questions, if any, raised by the Data Principal about the processing of her personal data.

The provisions of this Act shall apply to processing within the territory of India of:
(i) personal data collected in digital form; 
(ii) personal data collected in non- digital form subsequently; and and digitised
(b) of digital personal data outside the territory of India, if such processing is in connection with any activity related to offering of goods or services to Data Principals within the territory of India.

As a Data Principle the bill raises many questions which are being discussed on Linked In & Twitter. If you’d like to find out how it affects you as a data owner or principle click here

The following recommendations are for Data Fiduciaries – people who decide to process personal data for users, I guess that makes most of us in the IT industry. Although the legal entity for a data fiduciary is indeed the company for whom data is being processed, but the responsibility falls on the shoulders of Data Processors – Designers, Data Architects, Developers, Product & Project Managers, Leaders and so forth. We who design and operate products with new and exciting ways of using data.

“The provisions of this Act shall apply to processing within the territory of India of:
(i) personal data collected in digital form; 
(ii) personal data collected in non- digital form subsequently; and and digitised
(b) of digital personal data outside the territory of India, if such processing is in connection with any activity related to offering of goods or services to Data Principals within the territory of India.“

So when we design a flow within which data is being asked from a Data Principle or owner like a form or a login screen or a password hint for instance. Or a Bank loan application form, a job application or even a form where the mobile number of an individual is being demanded to complete an operation. When we decide on the input of data, that’s when we come under the act.

But wait does that mean legal liability? No it doesn’t. If you design it right, the laws will be followed, your company will benefit in terms of compliance and avoid penalties which can go as high as 250 Crores! It’s not difficult to do it ethically in the first place. There, I got your attention, its about ethics, about having the interests of your users at heart. It’s also good business.

5. A person may process the personal data of a Data Principal only in accordance with the provisions of this Act and for a lawful purpose—
(a) for which the Data Principal has given her consent; or
(b) in respect of which the Data Principal is deemed to have given her consent.

Consent! What a beautiful word. It implies agreement with what both parties are doing, sharing of data and the receiving of data for a purpose. Respecting the boundaries of consent means keeping in line with the law in any activity. “We have a consent box in the design library!” You think. Keeping at least one item in the design library for a consent box is a best practice indeed and it will be your starting point in compliance. You will need to build multiple consent boxes to comply to what’s coming ahead. Here’s where it gets exciting.

6. (1) Every request to a Data Principal for consent shall be accompanied or preceded by an itemised notice given by the Data Fiduciary to the Data Principal, in clear and plain language, containing a description of personal data sought to be collected by the Data Fiduciary and the purpose of processing of such personal data.

I love the illustration. Contemporary and clear. In our designs, there are many instances in which we collect personal data, remember even a video or a picture is also personal data, so is name, address, phone number, organization, Bank Account number, Aadhar Number, Passport Number and so on. Remember any data that can identify your user has been classified as personal data. The phrase in relation to such data gives a very wide berth to the definition of personal data. It also means medical data, financial data, educational data and other kinds of data which the personal data owner may deem private and violable. Now think about your application, product or design.

How many times in your design do you collect personal data ?

The consent dialogue needs to be a clear and concise, itemised list that in very plain, understandable language makes it clear what data you are collecting, what you are collecting it for and what you will do or not do with it. It needs to have a clear call to action which keeps her informed of what is happening.

*’What you will not do’ is for the comfort of the user, its good design but may also be regulation soon. This is in response to the data sensitivity that is prevalent now. How many people do we know who don’t talk in front of Alexa? Know someone who doesn’t use online banking for the fear of their money being lost? This is also a light pattern, already being used by many platforms and apps that care about their users.

The consent dialogue also needs to publish the name of the Data Fiduciary and the ‘Data Protection Officer‘ appointed by the fiduciary. This Data Protection officer has to be ready to answer any queries posted by the data owner or any regulatory authorities. She also has to address any grievances that may be presented by owners to her.

How would you design your consent dialogue?

(2) Where a Data Principal has given her consent to the processing of her personal data before the commencement of this Act, the Data Fiduciary shall, as soon as it is reasonably practicable, give to the Data Principal an itemised notice in clear and plain language containing a description of personal data of the Data Principal collected by the Data Fiduciary and the purpose for which such personal data has been processed.
“notice” can be a separate document, or an electronic form, or a part of the same document in or through which personal data is sought to be collected, or in such other form as may be prescribed
(3) The Data Fiduciary shall give the Data Principal the option to access the information referred to in sub-sections (1) and (2) in English or any language specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.

If you are as a system processing already collected personal data of your users, you will soon have to give a notice, again itemised in a clear and plain language on the data that you have and the purpose for which you are keeping said data.

This is indeed a huge responsibility for those who are storing data in data lakes. If best practices have been followed and the data is segregated, then your job is easier. Getting additional consent is a compliance burden that can disrupt the flow of your user through any task. It is important where and when this ‘Notice’ is given to your user. Giving the notice is enough if the user has consented to share the data earlier, if your flows have indeed been ‘compliant’ from earlier with ‘Terms & Conditions’ that have been agreed to.

7. (1) Consent of the Data Principal means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of her wishes by which she, by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of her personal data, for the specified purpose and limited to such personal data as is necessary for the specified purpose.

The above is very important for the design of both the form and the underlying machinations of using this data, so data architects and developers and designers need to work together to understand WHAT they will be using the personal data for. The use of the data should be within the means of providing the service that the user has agreed to. Companies are now liable for any extraneous data they collect and use and not complying with the rules can spark litigation. So we need to be extra careful now in asking for information. Only collect what is needed within the lawful bounds of the service you are about to provide to the customer.

Consent once given is not a blanket covering all data transactions between the user and you. This is different in the following cases where it may be considered ‘deemed consent’

• for employers where consent can be deemed more applicable and they have a lesser burden of consent responsibilities.
• Also applicable to the government for distribution of benefits, license and certifications & for use in law enforcement and matters of national security.
• Can also be considered deemed for disaster & epidemic management and for health emergencies.
• The instances where the data owner offers or voluntarily discloses their data to you for a purpose to which you both are agreeable is also deemed as consent. The keyword is offers. Any time when a demand is made such as a labelled mandatory form it does not fall into this category.

(3) Every request for consent under the provisions of this Act shall be presented to the Data Principal in a clear and plain language, along with the contact details of a Data Protection Officer, where applicable, or of any other person authorised by the Data Fiduciary to respond to any communication from the Data Principal for the purposes of exercise of her rights under the provisions of this Act.
(4) Where consent given by the Data Principal is the basis of processing of personal data, she shall have the right to withdraw her consent at any time, with the ease of doing so being comparable to the ease with which such consent was given.
(5) The consequences of the withdrawal referred to in sub-section (4) shall be borne by the Data Principal, and such withdrawal shall not affect the lawfulness of processing of the personal data based on consent before its withdrawal.

This gives new meaning to the word consent management. Now the design of consent management systems both at the backend and the frontend is important. What the user has agreed to, what you can use, what you need to delete, or update should be clear to the user and to the data admin as well as the law, should it be required in an audit or investigation. This job can early on be done by an individual but the ease of use needs to be comparable to taking the consent in the first place. A system or a feature matches that description as well. A threshold value of users, complaints or number of data points may help you make that decision optimally.

(7) The Data Principal may give, manage, review or withdraw her consent to the Data Fiduciary through a Consent Manager.
(8) The Consent Manager referred to in sub- section (7) shall be an entity that is accountable to and acts on behalf of the Data Principal.
(9) Every Consent Manager shall be registered with the Board in such manner and subject to such technical, operational, financial and other conditions as may be prescribed.
(10) Where consent of the Data Principal is the basis of processing of personal data and a question arises in this regard in a proceeding, the Data Fiduciary shall be obliged to prove that it gave notice to the Data Principal and received her consent.

All users are legally entitled to a ways and means to both delete this data or to withdraw their consent for its use. The responsibility for doing this is on the user, but she needs a way to do so.

The word ‘entity’ can be interpreted to mean a ‘Consent Management’ section in your application where this operation can take place. A system to back it up. Chat bots for easy interaction? The decision is yours as a designer.

How would you design a contemporary consent management system?

(7) A Data Fiduciary shall—(a) erase personal data, upon the Data Principal withdrawing her consent or as soon as it is reasonable to assume that the purpose for which such personal data was collected is no longer being served by its retention and retention is no longer necessary for compliance with any law for the time being in force; and (b) cause its Data Processor to erase any personal data that was made available by the Data Fiduciary for processing to such Data Processor, upon completion of such processing.

Consent once withdrawn affects those parties as well with whom you would have shared said personal data. So a bank which has shared data with a investigation officer who works with a vendor will have to instruct the vendor to delete the data, although by law banks themselves are allowed to retain customer data for a period of ten years for any further processing required.

10. (1) The Data Fiduciary shall, before processing any personal data of a child, obtain verifiable parental consent in such manner as may be prescribed.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub- section, the term “parental consent” includes the consent of lawful guardian, where applicable.
(2) A Data Fiduciary shall not undertake such processing of personal data as is likely to cause harm to a child.

As a mother I love this clause, since it makes it illegal to harm a child through any kind of data processing or breach. If there is a law, it may spark the design of better child protection features like the ones snapchat uses today for all digital products and services.

What will you design better on your platform so that children are protected?

The burden of parental consent is a big challenge for sure. This erodes the rights of children and marginal communities like LGBTQI+ who may want to use the internet for their own growth autonomously. But at the same time it does keep kids safe to a certain degree if it is used in a nuanced way. How would you solve this huge challenge?

Revenue is inversely proportional to barriers to entry. How will you integrate parental consent with your flow if you are creating an education platform?

12. (1) The Data Principal shall have the right to obtain from the Data Fiduciary to whom she has previously given consent, or is deemed to have given consent under clause (a) of section 8, for processing of personal data, upon making to it a request in such manner as may be prescribed,—
(a) a summary of the personal data of such Data Principal which is being processed by such Data Fiduciary and the processing activities undertaken by that Data Fiduciary with respect to such personal data;
(b) the identities of any other Data Fiduciaries and Data Processors with whom the personal data has been shared by such Data Fiduciary, along with a description of the personal data so shared; and
(c) such other information, related to the personal data of such Data Principal and its processing, as may be prescribed.

13. (1) A Data Principal shall have the right to correction, completion and updating of her personal data for the processing of which she has previously given consent or is deemed to have given consent under clause (a) of section 8, in accordance with any requirement or procedure under any law for the time being in force.

This data should now be available to each user wether they have consented now or in the past. If they want to see it, modify or withdraw it, that is the right of a data owner. This gives the user the power to find what you are doing with his data whether you are processing or sharing it or using it for any other purposes.

I remember wondering what Alexa had on me that someone could use against me, now I can just ask Alexa and it is legally bound to tell all. Hallelujah!

A note on Consent:

Consent, again a beautiful concept, is no longer a blanket terms and conditions or even a data privacy policy. The consent dialogue and the consent management system is now an integral part of any digital entity you build.

The Consent Dialogue: Consent can no longer be the security blanket of ‘I agree to all terms and conditions’ where all data collected was referred to. Special attention has been paid to the word ‘Itemised’. It appears 4 times in the draft with the terms clear and consise. Each item of course refers to each piece or category of data collected.

The consent dialogue has the legal responsibility of being clear and understood by the consenting user. Although English has been named as the preferred language but consent can and should be in the language that is easiest for the user to understand since the misunderstanding of the terms can spark litigation. For data fiduciaries the cost of non-compliance is high.

What languages would you make your consent dialogue in?

As a designer you have to walk the tightrope between too much consent and too less. Social Sign on does the job of consent taking while sharing data very nicely. When you agree to sign on to another website using Facebook or Linked In, it explains and allows you to pick the kinds of data you will share with the originating website in a clear, concise, yet actionable way. They could also have legally easily embedded it all into a terms and conditions the first time you used the service and be done with it. Can we learn from this best practice?

How will you divide the consent dialogue between forms so that the user can easily understand what they are giving consent for?

The Consent Manager: I can visualize a dashboard where the items of personal data, their periodicity, and controls are present. Any personal data or type of data, like location, health information etc that you are collecting should be available with the reason why you are collecting it. The processes for which it has indeed been used and the names of the parties with whom it has been shared. The user should be able to modify or delete this data or withdraw the consent to allow you or other parties with whom data has been shared to use this data. The design of this section needs to be exceptionally clean and clear. The above functionalities are legal responsibilities and great experiences to give your customer.

As a designer you need to understand the vendor, supplier, ancillary ecosystem to trace and visualize the data path to be able to design this well. There also needs to be a system to alert vendors when they need to delete this data. The law specifies that an entity cannot keep personal data beyond the reasonable usefulness period. The deletion also needs to happen when the user requests for it, preferably automatically.

These and more are all design decisions that you will have to take at some point. The bill is open to interpretation but how minimally or maximally you use these limitations & responsibilities is up to you as a designer and to your stakeholders – product owners, leaders and management. With rising data sensitivity, any activity that you may be doing to comply with data privacy standards is a token of trust for users. Parents for one will rest assured that their wards are safe if they have to consent. How unobtrusively can you make that happen? It’s a truly wicked problem to sink your teeth into. That’s why the ball is in our court. It is up to us.

This is where ethics meets design. Failure to protect the consent rights of your consumers is already on the list of dark patterns. How ethical a designer you are will depend on how well you design your consent dialogues and consent management system. For minimal disruption of business. For the comfort and trust of your users. The protection of children. Will you add to the darkness or will you create better ways of spreading light?

May the force be with you in your journey as a designer of safe, easy to use and compliant applications, interfaces & journeys for your end users.

The new draft Personal Data Protection Bill – Draft 2022 is introducing mandatory user verification as a part of platform and other fiduciary responsibilities. So to access anything, even FB & Instagram, you may have to provide your Aadhar card or other identity proof. Medianama organised a round table on exploring the user verification mandate, which was chaired by researchers, practitioners, technologists and lawyers from across the landscape. Below are my notes from the conference.

(PS: As notes are, this is preserved in all the spelling mistakes and typo glory, please excuse.
The notes are meant to echo was was said as best understood by me as a legal lay person. These are not representative of my beliefs or opinions, although I do agree with most.)

Artefact 1: The wording of the bill is vague and the implementation of it into real life circumstances can be termed as harsh. Where the UK data policy, which also puts protection responsibility on the platforms’ or service providers’ shoulders, asks them to ‘perform risk assessment relating to the content, the service and develop proportionate measures to address data security & anonymity’, the India PDP does not define a structure but provides ‘ritualistic incantations’ to give suo-motto access to any data for the government and government agencies, even withdrawing the right to a copy of the data and rights to erasure for the said data for the data principle or the end user.

It also lands the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of platforms by ensuring verification, protection & deletion of data thereby eroding the premise of safe harbour.

Artefact 2: An example can be seen in the new Cloud Service provider registration and onboarding. It asks disproportionate questions that mimic underwriting for financial services just to verify the identity of the cloud space buyers. The feasibility of asking random hard questions, the scalability of the same questionnaire to all cloud entrants, and the ambiguity of the questions to be asked leaves a person wondering if we are indeed addressing the problem to be resolved, which is to address the buying of cloud space for unlawful purposes.

CNAPs, the real name identification of all mobile callers is also a case in point. The proportionality gap and the absence of correlation with harm is clearly visible. Did we agree to displaying our name everywhere when we signed up with a telco? How will fraud be prevented if IDs are being faked so commonly today?

History of Identity Verification

Artefact 3: The personal nature of data is deeply linked to the context around it. In the pre-digital era, phone numbers & addresses were published in public directory available everywhere. In fact, in 2004 TRAI was about to release a mobile number directory publicly but was apposed by DoT on the grounds of privacy. It would be a billion numbers today!

Today the phone number is secret because it is used in banking and other financial transactions. The ramifications of adding more data availability around it like names or addresses is likely to erode not only privacy but security of the individual. Even adding the name lowers the entry barrier for fraudsters.

Artefact 4: After the 2017 Puttaswamy judgement we officially entered a new era of privacy jurisprudence. The norms that existed earlier have changed. What you have acquiesced to in the past can no longer be established without context today. The foreseeability of harm is now included in the decision making. The question to ask for any decision is ‘What is the differential in privacy that it has achieved?”.

Exploring the mandate

Artefact 5: The removal of data post it being verified is also mandated by the bill. Although from the point of view of recourse, in the case of a mishap it does not make sense to delete it, there seems no mention of how recourse will be taken or given if something like the ‘blue whale challenge’ comes up. There is no mention of aggregation, or anoanomisation of insights from the data. Although the process of deanonomisation is fraught with risk, we can forsee many circumstances in which it may be prudent to be able to use the data for cyber forensics. What will happen when people demand recourse for a cyber crime?

Artefact 6: The verification of children has been made mandatory and ‘verifiable’ permission from a guardian will be needed for all kids below a certain age. Relationship verification on the other hand is not been mentioned which mandates that everyone validate their identity before signing up for services or platforms.

Unlawful & inappropriate content for kids has not been defined as a type of harm by the bill which mentions harm without defining it fully, only alluding to it as ‘harrassment’. In addition the joint parliamentary committee had recommended that the central government can add to the list of harms, which is not mentioned by the bill at all. In face ‘harm’ or ‘significant harm’ is left to interpretation and can be misconstrued.

Risks should be weighed in before verification of identify for kids as the personal data of children requires higher security. Higher standards of privacy like Differential Privacy & the ‘poisoning’ of data, Homographic encryption and Aggregation were available as tools to additionally secure data but are not specified by the bill. There are many ways to ensure that technology can be used to identify the age of children using the principles of ‘Zero Knowledge Proof’ where identify is being withheld but age is being verified.

Artefact 7: Both Ex-Ante and Ex-Post ramifications of data theft should be considered before the government passes the mandate for collection of data for compliance. It is assumed that identity will act as deterrent and mandates disclosure without creating the environment of security and trust. Inceasing data sensitivity in people who attempt to understand it without addressing the reign of fear.

Artefact 8: The bill mandates verification & authentication for everyone but does not provide for portability of data legally. Each different verification and the sharing or personal data with different service providers increases the surface area of risk for a data breach.

The Mechanics of Fraud

Artefact 9-10: Even one ID can give fraudsters up to 5 months of runway & small frauds add up. In fact 2-3 IDs per year are enough to keep a fraudster in business.

With each member earning upto 2 lakh rupees a month, they have access to billions of dollars of investment and a stack that combines human social engineering with the manipulation of tech to ensure that the victim doesn’t even realise they have been scammed.

Studies done by Dwara research have shown that people who even suspect fraud still engage with it because of social pressures and engineering of those pressures around them. Most recently Alok Bajpai, a start-up founder and an influencer has been compromised and the scammer is asking friends and family for money as if he’s asking for it. Of course using the persona he has to create social pressure on those who are being scammed. Because of it being small amounts, it does not create that big a barrier for people to comply.

Artefact 11: IDs, SIM cards and investment is easy to get for the new start-ups of fraud and profit calculation is done on the basis of income and expenditure. IDs are available for 1 paisa per ID or they can be forged as well for a low cost, thus providing the best ROI in the start-up ecosystem.

A 2 people gang caught last year had compromised 305 bank accounts, 10 payment bank accounts, 12 Phone pe wallets and 10 Ola money wallets. They had engineered the scam so that 91 bills of Punjab State Power Corporation were paid by the gang. No one who had been compromised knew about it.

NEGATIVE REINFORCING FEEDBACK LOOP – WILL TIP THE EQUILLIBRIUM AGAIN TOWARDS THE FRAUDSTERS. NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED AT A SYSTEMIC LEVEL

Artefact 12: The ask for more verification is like an ARMS RACE where the people with access to technology and funds are moving faster than regulation can percolate. The political economy of standards ensures that companies have to spend time and money to comply, and by the time they comply, the fraudsters are already ahead and have cracked the code. The common man suffers in this equation because the overloaded authorities don’t have enough time to deal with small time fraud as opposed to big breaches of crores.

Verification & Anonymity

Artefact 13: Anonymity has been the hallmark of the internet where whole generations have interacted fearlessly to engage with science and tech. It is the current default with no user verification and the ability to be anyone by just changing your name and picture. This the platforms allow for which allows people to hide their identity while engaging free speech and interaction with fellow internet users.

Pseudonymity has supported the rise of online communities for minorities and sub minorities who can now use the internet to not only connect to other similar people but also make their opinions and voices heard without the fear of backlash from society. It has supported the use of the internet to leverage it for good of the world. Pseudonymity also has a precedent where it has often been mediated by publishers for authors to publish and reach people under another name with the real name being known only to publishers.

With the new rules for mandatory verification, considerations need to be given to phishing, identity theft and revenge fraud. Is fraud becoming easier with the surface area of breach increasing?

What will happen to service providers we have already verified ourselves with like our banks, education institutions, especially telcos, will they be able to use our verified identities because of this bill? Should the default be opt out, till every user can willfully and knowingly verify themselves for the purpose of sharing. Or opt out of the service altogether.

Artefact 14: Anonymity as an accepted concept as it is defined by David K as ‘The condition of avoiding identification.’ which can be extended in the digital realm as ‘To avoid being identified by using pseudonyms.’ Anonymity can also be defined as ‘The degree of difficulty in deanonomization’ in the new mandate. Infringement and the attempt to deanonomize must be lawful.

Anonymity is both intrinsically a part of privacy as a concept and is necessary for free speech on the internet for everyone. In the case of ‘Me too’ & ‘Glassdoor’ it helps protect the identities of those who are exposing wrong doing, or giving an anonymous reviews. Curbing anonymity will severely hurt the ability of marginalised communities to navigate the internet and to use it for their own good.

Artefact 15: The mandate for user verification raises some questions. Is absolute anonymity not legal anymore? Should everyone be identified with service providers and be anonymous to the world if they want? How is this concept differentially applied to places where the category of data is more sensitive than others?

Artefact 16: Since anonymity is so closely linked to privacy, when doing a differential privacy analysis it is important to understand who the anonymity is against. Is it against the public? the service provider? auditors? regulatory authorities? or the government? This is also important when calculating the harm to privacy through mandatory disproportionate user verification.

Artefact 17: Anonymity is a rights issue. The right to privacy automatically implies anonymity by default unless we are identified because of ‘reasonable restrictions’. The said restrictions should be cognisant of current laws. In fact one of the considerations in imposing such restrictions should be a consideration of ‘stakes by law’. Does it break a currently existing law else where in the constitution is a big question to ask. The internet is an emergent system. One that should shape itself for the current legal landscape to fit into societal norms already established.

Equally important is to understand that by being anonymous are you giving away the right to recourse and redressal if a cyber crime was to happen to you?

The Taxonomy of Trade Off

Artefact 18: We are used to trading off our privacy for security – case can be taken of airport security where your privacy is breached and your person & personal belongings can be seen and analysed by someone who is deciding whether it is safe for you to travel with a hundred other people or not. It gives you a perception of security because you can rest assured that others are subject to the same checks. The airplane is safe.

Cut to today, your personal data is your responsibility. To trade it off, there should be proportionality in the transaction, you should be getting something of the same or similar value in return. It cannot be that you have to trade your DNA to get a bank account.

Artefact 19: The unintended costs of the trade off have to be considered. For example is the CNAPS – real name identification system trading off the autonomy of marginal communities to use numbers that belong to other family members. Kids who use their parents’ phone to study in the rural areas, small businesses run by women where they are using a family members’ ID to get access to phones, victims of domestic abuse who want to keep their identity private for fear of retribution or worse. Their autonomy to run their businesses or study or get peace of mind using whatever means they have is being broken.

Artefact 20: Correlation with harm is a big consideration when any interpretation of the policy is being done and proportionality of harm is being calculated. The standard proportionality test is a legal framework through which it can be calculated.

Proportionality is defined as a 3 pronged framework:

• State AIM or OBJECTIVE: Does it achieve what we want it to achieve?
  (Aadhar: Creation of a unique identification.)
• SUITABILITY or OTHER OPTIONS: Is it the only way to achieve what we want to achieve?
  (Aadhar: All the alternates suggested, do they prove uniqueness of identification)
• NECESSITY or CALCULATION of HARM: In achieving what we want to achieve, are we causing disproportionate harm to the rights of an individual?
  

The downside of using the proportionality test is that changing any parameter, be it objective or necessity, the whole test can fall apart. The government is free to identify the object, it changes everything else. But it is still a great metric for providing privacy jurisprudence. If the court could select the object instead of the government, it will perhaps select better objectives.

Artefact 21: Reciprocity and consent are deeply related to each other. You download Truecaller because you need to find a name attached to a phone number. Once identity is traded does the reciprocity also determine post verification period of use?

What will happen to the unlawfully collected data before regulation came into place? Reciprocity no longer implies consent after the rules have changed.

Role of Platforms & Service Providers

Artefact 22: In the new Digital India bill the onus of protecting the fundamental right to privacy is shifting to the shoulders of platform owners. Is it empowering users to benefit from their data? Is it burdening the platforms with unclear specifications on what needs to be done to protect it?

FEEDBACK LOOP – AMPLIFICATION AND INSTABILITY

Artefact 23: Anonymity is a spectrum where on one side lies the need to anonymity and the other the need for verification. Where a service or function falls is deeply dependent on context. Platforms today are doing the job of maintaining this balance albeit sub optimally.

The mandate for verification is likely to hit platforms in a negative way & will inhibit new user registrations. Ed-tech providers for instance do not want to verify the children or guardians. It will reduce the propensity of parents to sign up and that affects their bottom line and therefore their ability to provide the services that they do.

Platforms will extend to the metaverse tomorrow where convergence of multiple services is likely to happen. What platforms do today will set the role of metaverse providers tomorrow. And platforms need better guidelines on how to enhance privacy while maintaining the equilibrium they have.

The Ideal World

Artefact 24: There is no standard or universal approach towards privacy, to data and to disclosure. Let each transaction and the parties involved take the decision as to what is the best way for them to verify and secure users and at the same time be able to do business in an optimal way.

Artefact 25: A starting point for understanding the gradation of verification needed for different platforms can be a need based approach. If the need for verification can be matched to the exact requirement being implemented for a platform, it will help implement the verification requirement proportionally. It can can help inform the proportionality debate as well.

The need for each platform should be based on function of the platform. According to the function the gradation of harm, risk to the user, number of users at scale & knowledge of other alternatives should be included in the decision making on where each platform falls on the spectrum between anonymity and verification.

Artefact 4 (contd.): Kids will always push their boundaries and they need to be able to safely do so to learn about themselves and adapt to the world around them whether this includes accessing porn or counselling.

Verification may decrease the number of possibilities available to children not because of their appropriateness but because of the inability of the platform or service provider to be able to comply.

There need to be various different levels and boundaries at every stage and age that determine what is open to them. Not a single age restriction but different boundaries at each age bracket. What’s more parents can be very biased in their permissions, and can be expected to be unduly restrictive in certain cases and permissive in others.

At the policy stage automated policing should be mandated, not just at verification but throughout the time period of engagement, benchmarks for each age should be determined and recourse offered for those services which do not comply with the rules. At the infrastructure level, kids should be recognised using zero knowledge proof tactics, standardised benchmarks should be codified into the infra layer to ensure appropriate moderation & restrictions on content & interactions, anomalies should be reported to parents or authorities.

AI may be used to identify anomalies and build the benchmarks on an ongoing basis. Just as the dangers in the world are continuously increasing, especially with regards to children and their security, the system should also be able to learn and apply those learnings to setting of benchmarks and policing the internet so that it is safe for them to grow and thrive.

Artefact 1(contd.): Although a nuanced discussion may go a long way in understanding the issues but a fair share of activism is needed (from platforms and users) to ensure that the fundamental right to privacy remains sacrosanct and is not eroded by harsh implementation of misconstrued government wordings.

The only answer seems to lie in technology. Platforms & tech providers should share their technological advancements with the state and put in an effort to educate the system on the realm of current and state of the art possibilities. AI, homomorphic encryption, data poisoning, zero knowledge proof and other privacy enhancing technology can be used to integrate the guidelines in a better way if they work together. Mandated verification though loosely worded laws is not the only answer.

Artefact 25: To end with, the plurality of modern platforms is what makes a modern democracy. There needs to be plurality in the governance of the platforms, with as many variations as there are platforms. The context of each, proportionality, correlation with harm, reciprocity and consent should determine the level of user data to be validated, stored, shared and protected.

A trustful atmosphere atmosphere needs to be established with accountability at all levels, the users, the platforms, the regulatory and the government.

A one size fits all approach can not be applied to the scale and breadth of India and its many variations and colours.

My Takeaways:

• Policy research needs that personal initiative and has to be felt as well as logically done.
• The tenets of design thinking can be used in the design of policy. – notes below.
• Policy used to be about systems comprising of people, mostly.
  Today in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution, it comprises of the intersection of the physical, technological as well as biological systems that are interwoven into people’s lives.
• Policy is also about exploring the future, about negating the risks so that the probability of a safe future increases.
• Although this is a framework for human centric policy creation, not all aspects can be left to experimentation to evaluate. It also needs a structured process to evaluate policy from the angle of rights preservation, current laws and other dependencies on it working.

Interesting Links:

Technology and Competition: Why would we need non-standard tools for future policymaking?

Draft e-commerce policy – missing principles of Sound Public Policy

Future for Sustainable Regulations and Policies

Policy is a lot more than just rules, it’s a systemic change that involves many parameters.

Its about people at the core, communities and administration of large populace. About governing behaviour, but also about changing it at scale.

Thoughts:
People are connected, communities are complex interconnected ecosystems. Information flows in intricate patterns.

The flow of this information will affect the way in which policy changes the behaviour of people, just like in any system.

Can this flow be traced so that we can begin to explore possibilities that arise from implementation of policies?

Is there a standard shared understanding of how policy changes behaviour?

(an eye opening book on how policy may not work in the most logical circumstances and what makes it work at the grassroots.)

Policy for this new era should be simple, simple to understand, comply and scale.

Thoughts:
The easiest changes are those that are not felt, those with low cognitive load to the human mind.

• How can we lower the understanding load of policy?
• How can it be naturally understood by people who have to comply with it?
• How can it be easy to comply with so that people don’t have to think of it as a change in their lives?
• Policy has to scale so it has to be adaptable enough to fit into the varied hues of humankind
• It should understand human cognitive realities & use these as leverage points to help it scale organically.

The right policies can prevent and address the reign of fear for citizens and denizens.

Thoughts:
Fears do drive the design of policy today, especially tech policy. The judiciary and the government are currently not trained in technology and work from the point of view of fear.
A vicious cycle of fear and revolt is triggered

How can we integrate hope into it? How can we help policy navigate and shape technology rather than fearing it?

The era of the Anthropocene needs policies that ignite and work with (सच्चा स्वार्थ) the human tendency to put themselves first.

Thoughts:
The planetary systems work at scale because they are selfish systems that have safeguards to retain the balance of life within them. Not necessarily human life.

Capitalism always works because it leverages सच्चा स्वार्थ.

Systems that leverage the selfish nature of both the planet and its people are more likely to work than those who don’t.

The right policies need an expiry date, a time frame within which validity should be questioned.

Thoughts:
How will the expiry be determined?

What are the right parameters to be set so that the tipping point is recognised?

The metrics should be set so that the critical tipping points can be determined. Scale can be a trigger, as can technology, or connected laws and legislation. Can these be built into policies from the outset?

For the right policies to be made, the end outcome should be imagined.
The ideal world will determine the governance of the utopia. The vision should be clear.

Well designed outcomes support rationalised admin action and the application of informed prudence and wisdom to jurisprudence.

Thoughts:
The world can change in any direction. Happy, well adjusted futures should be imagined and integrated, but more importantly the dystopian futures need to be visualised clearly so that they can be prevented. Solve for each fear, design for every hope.

Are the hopes and fears of enough stakeholders taken into account? Is the data statistically significant enough to be democratic? Is the team multidisciplinary enough?

A preferable vision of the world in the 2030s told from the point of view of Sienna, a young girl living at an intersection of the future.

Sienna tales
Sienna Charter

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Sienna journeys to the virtual underground following her dad’s trail. Lets invert the game experience for a second, what is it like being stuck inside? How do you celebrate birthday’s with loved ones, for instance?

episode 1  |  episode 2  |  episode 3  |  episode 4  |  episode 5 | episode 6

As they walked into Sienna’s house, Siddharth opened a bag that he had brought up from the bike’s seemingly bottomless carriage. He brought out 2 small boxes, and opened them. They contained buttons which Sienna recognized as ‘Immersers’ a brand name that was popular for gaming sensors that you stuck on your temple and they allowed you to enter virtual worlds with all your senses.

“Ewww, these mess with your brain. I know my brothers use them, and when they play too long, it gives them brain fog & headaches. Dadu says it serves them right for using them, virtual gaming is the worst thing for your mind.”

“I knew you’d say that..” Siddharth smiled, “But this unfortunately is the only way to meet Ashraf. Ask Shiela to bring us back if we stay too long. She should chaperone this.”

“Shiela, wake us back up by powering off the button in 30 minutes if we’re not back.” Shiela confirmed.

“Whoohoo, please, it may take us 30 minutes to just find Ash, my friend, Ashraf who makes that cloak. That is, if the bugger has not gone to another game world to live. He keeps moving around.”

“Oh, he’s virtual?” asked Sienna. And Siddharth nodded, “He caught The Virus the fifth time it went around, and he was just recovering from pneumonia. So he went up into his favorite game. After that he’s moved around quite a bit and I may have to use your card to get us into different game worlds. I’d use mine, but I only have VirCoins, and they are too valuable to trade for getting into games. They’ll get noticed. I’ll gift you one in return, would that work?”

“Of course not silly, we’re going out there looking for my dad, here give me your wrist, let me authorize you to use the card so that you can get us into those gates without a problem.” She tapped her wrist thrice on his wrist, and then said ‘yes’ to an authorization request that came into her phone. “There, it’s now authorized for you to use it. This is the pact between the boys and me, so I got this secret sequence put in for giving them authorization when they need it. They also use it mostly for games.” She smiled.

“Always the sweet sister!” He fondly tousled her hair, then suddenly caught her from behind and pulled her in for a kiss.

He gently pushed her face away from him and positioned the button on her forehead. “Come sit here on the couch, there’s no way to do this but to do this. Close your eyes, you’ll feel a flash and then see a gate. Wait for me there. Don’t go inside the gate before I come.”

“Ok, come soon.” Sienna said as she lay back on the couch cushion & closed her eyes.

“A couple of seconds after you” He said as he sat down next to her and held her hand, while slapping the button on his forehead.

Another light flashed and Sid appeared next to Sienna. “Ok lets go.”

He opened a door and entered with Sienna trailing after him and all hell broke loose. A car had carshed right on the wall where the door was and they walked through the holo crash while people on the side cheered. This was a race!

Siddharth pulled her into a dark arch and walked in towards the pit rooms in the back. The vroom whoosh faded into the background. He quickly walked across the muted corridor and opened a door called ‘workshop’. Sienna wondered why a digital car would need a workshop.

In the back of an expanse of empty, they saw people in a big glass room, each wall was depicting a vision of the course. Cars were zooming past, the control panel on the right wall was flashing numbers and everyone was shouting. Outside they couldn’t hear a thing.

Sienna blinked again and looked at Siddharth questioning. He asked her to wait with a gesture and walked into the room. Everyone fell silent, one of them whipped around to see if anyone else was there and saw her. His eyes changed and he turned to Siddharth and said something, Siddharth answered and asked her to come in.

As she walked in the guy turned around to face her. He was looking at her face as if he knew her, but seen her for the first time. Blue eyes came to rest on brown and crinkled up to smile. He came forward to meet her.

“Welcome Sienna, your dad said that you’d pop by one of these days.”

Sienna tooken step back “My dad? How did you meet my dad? Is he here? Where did he disappear to?” Then it dawned on her, “Is he virtual too?” she asked with dread…

“No actually, he refused to go virtual…”

Sienna breathed a sigh of relief “Where is he?”

“That unfortunately I do not know, he calls me every now and then, updates me about you. He had called a couple of days ago since he knew my connection with Siddharth. He said you were closer than ever before. Proud papa, he is right now.” He looked at her fondly. “When I saw Siddharth, I knew you were behind him.”

Sienna’s heartbeat raced, Dad was alive, he knew about her & Siddharth, he was snooping on her??!! Is mom with him?? Her chest did a flip flop with each thought. Siddharth came over and held her hand. He asked Ashraf.

“So what’s the next step? There must be a plan in place for when this happens.”

“Yes, he should be calling or coming soon. We should wait for him. None of your connections above can be used for this, so you cannot meet outside, you have to wait here. Come join the fun meanwhile. “

He turned around to the screens and they came alive again. Just then, a beep sounded, and the screen said “Samaira calling” with a beautiful woman’s face there.

“Uh oh” went up the chorus around the room and all the other buys blinked out quickly while Ashraf answered. Samaira came alive on screen.

“Hello Papa, how’re you doing? Sunny came by for his birthday, lets cut his cake and then you can get back to racing.” She said patiently but a little sarcastically. “He said that you haven’t spoken to him yet. Big race huh?”

“No Sammy, I remembered in the morning, sent flowers. I didn’t call him because I knew he’d be partying with friends.” Ash clarified with the same crinkle of ice blue eyes.

“Yes mom, I was nearby and planned to drop in on you & I had asked not to be disturbed this morning.” Sauntered in a boy who looked just like him.

“You’ll find my note and chrysanthemums on the table, Sunny, when you reach home. Happy Birthday Son. Also in the note is something that you’ll like.” He said conspiratorially.

“I love you dad! You didn’t have to but thank you.” They both fisted. Samaira entered the room with the cake, and everyone sang Happy Birthday.

Sienna looked on at the family scene and said to Sid in a wistful tone, “You know I wouldn’t mind having Dad & Mom virtual also. I’ve missed them both crazily on all my birthdays. I’ve always kept a picture next to my cake. Its not complete otherwise.” Her voice bleary, her eyes wet, she turned around so that Sid couldn’t see. Swiftly she got pulled into a hug again in the workshop silence.

She was a mass of emotions right now, and her questions were driving her crazy. He kissed her forehead and she hit it against his shoulders. What a day!! Everything seems to work out with this wonderful man. Her heart was flip flopping as she thought of meeting both her parents.

“Sienna!!” Abhishek’s voice boomed, and both of them whipped around to see Abhishek and Namitha. Together!!

Sienna ran forward and hugged them. Abhishek was crying and Namitha kept saying sorry. Sienna was touching Namithas face and looking wondrously at her. Just then Sid said hi and reminded her that her virtual deadline is up and they will be pulled back according to her instructions.

Abhishek & Namitha nodded and Namitha quickly set up a time to meet again in the same place in 24 hours. Sienna was ready to come back now but Abhishek said no. They were to meet tomorrow, same time. “Safer for you .”

Just then they blinked out and woke up on the sofa in Siennas apartment. Sienna crumbled in Sids arms for a while and they sat silently on the sofa. Sid sighed, and looked at Sienna. She had a beautific smile on her face.

“A penny for your thoughts…”

“How did my parents stay away from me for so long? They love me, and apparently have kept a watch. How? Under Dadu’s strict eyes, its not possible. Perhaps over here it may be better, but how? My building is strictly privacy safe, no data is ever shared with anyone, we all have a key to the chain for data to be shared. It cannot be. Its Priva certified, and they are known for their counter snooping which reveals all leaks in real time. They actually get a bonus with every leak. There have been none since the drone virus.” She stood up and started pacing around.

Surekha walked in with a tray of tea and snacks, both their stomachs rumbled after a long time and they sat down to eat.

As she munched Sienna asked Surekha in hindi, her native language, “चची, मेरी मम्मी से कब बात हुई लास्ट आपकी?” ‘Aunt, when did you talk to mother last?’

“कल जब आप मिले थे” ‘Yesterday, when you met her.’

Surekha looked up with alarm in her eyes as she realized what just happened. “बेटा माफ़ करना, माँ तो हम नमिता की भी हैं। जब वो तुम्हारे साथ प्रेग्नेंट थी, तो उसने हमारी जान बचायी। दमा है हमें, और वायरस के टाइम पर, हम नए नए उनकी मालिश कर रहे थे, और हमारी सांस फूलने लगी, तब इसने अपना इनहेलर दिया, और मास्क उतरने दिया। तब से हमारी पहली बेटी वही हैं।”
‘During the virus attack, Namitha was pregnant with you, she ignored social distancing rules and shared her inhaler with me and saved my life. Ever since then, she’s my daughter. My first daughter.’

She looked at Sienna with love & apology folding her hands. When she was born, Surekha took care of her like her own. A fact that Sienna felt. She never felt alone with Surekha was with her. It was like she was being watched over, even when mom was gone and then dad disappeared. She owed Surekha her sanity, realizing that she got up to hug her.

“मुझे सिर्फ ये शिकायत है की आपने मुझे बताया नहीं” ‘I’m just mad that you didn’t tell me.’

“कल नमिता से पूछ लेना बेटा, मैंने तो बहुत कहा, उसने माना नहीं। वो कहती थी की अपने आप पता चल जायेगा तुम्हें जिस दिन टाइम आएगा” ‘I asked her many times, but Namitha never agreed with me to tell you. She used to say, let her find out for herself.’

“And you did Sienna, now is the right time for you to find out. Tomorrow. Lets wait to hear it from them. Siddharth said and got up from the table picking up his plate and cup, Surekha rushed to get it from him and asked him to sit while she cleared the table.

Sienna collapsed on the sofa. “I’m pretty mixed up right now, this is hard to take. You want to take a nap?”

“No, I have to head now. See you tomorrow sunshine…I’ll call you tonight?”

Sienna got up “Thank you Sid. You being around has really helped unravel things. Why didn’t I meet you earlier?” Her eyes twinkling, she kissed him goodbye.

episode 1  |  episode 2  |  episode 3  |  episode 4  |  episode 5 | episode 6

The Sienna Framework > Framework Applications

Medical | Professional | Education | Location | Financial

Surveillance | Online Browsing Behavior | Online Content

Disclaimer: 
I’m writing this from a data owner's point of view - Me and as far as I can see, from my very limited but human centered understanding and perspective. I'm a dreamer & designer, not a government policy writer. I am not an economics expert, but I understand the impact of system policy design on outcomes and I can recognize patterns that lead to revenue creation and value maximization.   
In the creation of this, I have imagined the outcome or the 'to be' state and worked backwards to policy. Something that I do everyday as a part of system design. This is my construct of the 'data perfect' world.  Where the worth of data is measured in its unique ability to provide the right insight to the right stakeholder who needs it, seamlessly. Where services deemed essential by human rights like electricity, water, education, critical care etc are not refused to marginal groups. The monetization of the data an individual creates can be an alternate means to pay for basics also in this new data driven economy. 
The Design Principles for these policies are the 10 principles of Fair Trade by the WFTO.  Please read on if you are interested in a data owner's perspective. If not, fair warming, its long and winding, as is our data trail. May take time to get through or digest. If you get through to the end, please feel free to come back or suggest updates that you feel would make it better. In order to be designed right, this has to remain a collaborative work rather than one person's ideas and perspective. 

“An Individual owns the right to his data. Therefore, if at all the data of an individual is used, it must be with his/ her express consent.”

Draft National e-Commerce Policy
India’s Data for India’s Development

This is a quote from India’s new draft e-commerce policy. To me this is the foundation of all data privacy rights, policies and debate. If any data about me is being used, accessed or traded, I should be the sole rights giver on that.

Although government policy recognizes my sovereignty over my own data, but today hundreds of eCommerce providers, facebook, google etc etc are using my data to personalize my marketing messages, offers, products and what have you, without offering me any chance of control. On the flip side, it is absolutely necessary to do that, without that data I will be inundated with generalized messaging. My echo chamber will be amplified so much that 2 years from now I may even lose mental stability because of the ocean of irrelevant spam. In fact, we will soon reach a point where ‘Information Inundation’ may become an accepted disease like ‘Internet Bullying’ or ‘Social Media Addiction’.

What can we do to stop ‘Information Inundation’ as well as ensure that the data I produce is being used ethically and to my advantage? I believe that a detailed comprehensive policy be one that breaks down my data into optimized parts like Medical, Professional, Financial, Buying behavior, Consumption behavior, Location tracking, Social graph & relationships etc and comes up with grouped rules and access rights should be able to handle this. I’m calling this ‘The Sienna Framework’ because its the basis on which a brand new future is to be visualized. The overarching principles to this policy should be. :

By slicing the data, we can build enough context around it to identify stakeholders, usage, access, monetization etc. We can build a digital utopia of sorts. One that would help us become a more peaceful, organized and profit making nation.

monetization privileges:

The right stakeholders should be able to monetize this data on fair trade principles. The monetization should be done in a way that translates some of the value directly to the user who is creating this data. The natural stakeholders for each kind of data should be able to monetize all, and use the data as an alternate means of minimum payment. Their access to the data will not be revoked till the actual payment to the stakeholder is done.

Monetization will always be pre-facto. Post-facto monetization should not be allowed. So to a certain extent, it is up to the user to make sure that their data is secure and no one can access it. Just like their gold, or savings.

access rights

During access, there are two policies which govern the interactions, Read Data Type policy and Mandatory Trail policy. 

Read data type: The type of data available to a stakeholder i.e. open data, all aspects of which can be queried including original form, or pull data, which will be delivered as an insight tailored to the query. There will be predetermined queries with an open pipe of answers. There may even need to be a charter to define what kind of queries and insights are various parties allowed to consume.

Mandatory trail: Whosoever accesses the data will have to leave a trail saying what the access was for and what is the insight that was driven from this data. The writing back of this inference will be tested on a public interface through digital means. Automatic reconciliation of the mandatory write process is an all encompassing policy that governs all buckets and stakeholders. Anywhere where the impact of the inferences used is not publicly available, the data writer is mandated to prove that the inference was drawn if asked to do so. The customer, that is me, will always have the right to see this trail and to be able to refuse access to any entity. Again pre-facto and not post-facto.

‘Time of association‘ will determine access and write period.

Storage, management and mining 

Since the common man can hardly be expected to understand or have the resources to be able to store, manage and mine their own data, authorized intermediary platforms are a viable business model to help users take care of their data. Each intermediary should come up with their own charter for data sharing. It is up to them to take the ROI call to the extent of monetization and value sharing to the user, the actual owner of the data. A viable business model as proven today for aggregators and platforms doing most of the data generation, utilization and management.

Aside on platforms: Platforms should not lose their business model as it is running currently but make it more transparent. Visibly share value with the customer. It makes sense to publish the total storage and bandwidth being utilized by the customer, to bill them and negate the bill to visualize the value that they are getting. Perhaps a visualization of how their sphere of influence has grown through the usage of the platform is also a good idea. There is indeed value being shared today and users are unaware of it. This contributes towards the feeling of being invaded.

note on taxes

It is elementary that when the flow of data is seamless and value creating, the government should ideally get a piece of the pie. Taxes are both an accelerator and a barrier to early stage entrepreneurship in a country. While taxation of data monetization will benefit the country’s economy no end, intelligent and scale related taxes will form a framework of encouragement for those who are innovating in the entrepreneurship of data. And real, varied, geographically spread, scaled playing with business models will be needed to make sure we gain from the data we create as a nation.

The Consent framework

The consent provided by the user or any other entity for this data exchange has to be in the form of a charter, authentication and the vehicle(s) on which the charter has to be given. This contract charter has to be overseen by the court.

• The Data Charter, a detailed overview of the conditions of data exchange, including what the recipient is allowed to use, in what form. What he has access to, and access has to be necessarily seamless, and what he cannot access, which should necessarily be hidden. The charter should be mandatory legally to deliver and acknowledge by both parties. The delivery can also be a succinct version of it, not a summary, but a brief on what it entails as outcomes.
• It also contains a seamless way of identifying me, a data security framework. This has to be put together differently for different industries, maintained and controlled by authority, perhaps the government, because it involves the security of the nation.
• The delivery mechanism of the charter has to be through a securely maintained ledger that can be audited at any time. A ‘Smart-er Contract’ that incorporates multi-level biometric authentication to determine who I am.

authentication

Single or even 3-factor biometric authentication has become necessarily flawed because of the advent of 3D printing and the commoditization of augmented reality. As computing gets faster and more ubiquitous with quantum, we may have to go with multi (100s)-factor biometric authentication which incorporates ubiquitous biomarkers emanated by an individual, some of which we are still discovering. Individuals can be recognized and organizations will be recognized as molecules made up of multiple individuals. Once authenticated, the tokens owned by the entity will give it access to data that it has the right to see, own, analyze and manage.

I agree with the Sienna Framework

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Framework Applications

In a perfect world, only certain parties should have access to my data to read, write, monetize etc according to their classification and the classification of data type. I’ll go through each type one by one and apply the policy structure outlined above:

Medical Data:

• Access: There are levels of authorization needed for each kind of medical data. For example: Full access will be granted to certain entities on a permission basis at a personal level like HIPAA certified guardians, currently treating doctors or hospitals. Pharmaceuticals (or any other entity like a government certified body holding a clinical trial) will have access to identity sanitized, aggregate data like treatments and all outcomes, events, diagnostics, progress, regress, lifestyle data from medical devices etc.
• Usage: Hospitals, paramedics, registered health workers will be able to access critical medical data like allergies, medication, existing diseases, risk factors etc free. Without full access, they have the right to refuse services.
• Mandatory write policy: If data is read, services have to be rendered with a trail to prove them, even if it is emergency triage or an emergency consultation. All services rendered, outcomes etc have to be mandatorily recorded with measured periodicity while access lies with them. In fact, all medical data relevant to a certain disease being treated by a hospital, gathered from medical devices also has to be mandatorily routed through the hospital.
• Monetization: The access to pharmaceuticals has to be granted by hospitals and clinics where the patient is being treated on and can be monetized by the hospital. In essence data becomes a kind of currency and minimum service assurance, and can be monetized if the user is unable to pay for a service. When payment is made, the data will be erased from the system. Any insights taken from it meanwhile are recorded on the user’s trail. The pharmaceutical will have access to the same data (i.e. only that set, blood pressure recordings lets say) recorded by any medical entity throughout treatment duration even if it is lifelong, even if the patient is no longer treated by that hospital. Data itself cannot be stored at a hospital after payment has been made to the service provider. All access rights withdrawn. Pharmaceuticals can store insights forever and can trade with other pharmaceuticals if they wish directly or through a government regulated agency. Pharmaceuticals or agencies holding clinical trials may also get permission directly from the customer, but offering something in return is mandatory, like a subsidized medical device e.g. This policy will also enable free digital clinics from pharmaceuticals in the future.
  • Medicine needs a flexible policy that allows data mining and extraction for various clinical research purposes. Permissions will need to be built into hospital admission forms and clinic prescriptions for this. Below is just a sample of what can be achieved if medical data and artifacts can be recycled in a sustainable way. https://youtu.be/jt63mnDKMR4

Professional Data:

• Usage: Only employers, financial institutions and government law enforcing bodies should have access.
• Access: Access will be granted on a permission basis from me or with a court order. Without access, they have the right to refuse employment, consultation opportunity or benefits. In order to get access to data about any competency, the reader has to prove that they are an employer working in that industry. Evaluation has to be done for certain skill sets and competencies by a company who employs people of that competency.
• Mandatory write policy: If data is read, writing the result of this engagement has to be mandatory. Which means if a company has evaluated you, even through automatic or third party means, they have to write what they found. Skill sets and competencies from other industries remain untouched by this evaluation. Employers are also allowed to add conduct, relevant behavioral aspects etc after a certain period of employment. Evaluations have to be mandatorily updated during the period of employment every year automatically through digital means.
• Monetization: Employers are allowed to monetize that information by giving access to financial institutions for the ‘time of association’. Access rights are revoked for the employer when employment ends and data has to be deleted. In keeping the digital offshore work economy in mind, this is to apply internationally to any country or jurisdiction as well. If an international entity wishes to employ Indians, they follow the laws to access the data. Financial institutions can store the sanitized insights forever and can even trade with other financial institutions if they wish directly or through a government regulated agency.

Education Data

The role of learning is growing in our lives, and education is coming from all kinds of ubiquitous places like mobile devices and online tutorials. The person who learn will eventually use those learnings and gain skills which apply to employability. So this data is cross-referenced to the previous data set as well.

• Usage: Employers will have access to this data and can read or write into it with my permission for a ‘period of association’. Also educational entities have the right to access historical data on a structured query basis only and can write new skills, add weightage to old ones etc for the ‘time of association’
• Access: Employers and education institutes are given blanket access by me. They have the right to denial of services without access rights. Beyond this group, to any open entity, I have the right to open data access and monetize it.
• Mandatory write policy: Writing on the trail periodically is necessary for educational institutes, employers will write on the professional skill ratings generated by new education in the professional trail. They have the option to update the education as and when new skills are learnt.
• Monetization: Education institutes have the right to monetize this data. They are also creators of this repository as the foundation of learning. They can register individuals online and start their online repositories or profiles. In fact this is a mandatory process. Employers can buy that data from them to evaluate and sift through. If hired, a small fee has to be paid to the educational institute. This is for first time hires only. This ensures that education is elevated from a service product to a shared partnership in progress and ensures job readiness. With educational institutes having some skin in the game and being remunerated for creating an able workforce, they will be stakeholders in progress of the workforce and not just enablers.
  At all times subsequent success data and profiles will be available to educational organizations to query at any time for internal and external usage in communication.

(We have enough data to begin that process for the people registered online professionally today. LinkedIn, Naukri, National Skills Registry and other such sources collated together is a good place to start. They have enough structured data to enable this at a pretty large scale. The snowball effect will come into play once this is connected to educational institutes including online certification agencies.)

Location Data

This data is fairly unique considering many many services would need to access this for multifarious reasons and in its potential for mis-use by various entities including anti-nationals or terrorist organizations. It has to be used the right way. The audience for this data should be determined on a facet and query basis.

• Usage: It needs to be used by law agencies for alibi creation & location triangulation, mapping and traffic monitoring, population management, also to financial organizations, insurance companies at specific times etc. Each would have their own set of authorized query interfaces that they can plug into. For example financial organizations should be able to triangulate the truth like residence & job stability, spending habits like mall visits etc. They would not be able to query the data on an ‘open’ basis in terms of numbers or facts. Only use it for authorized validation. Mapping and traffic monitoring agencies would be able to get aggregate anonymized insights like coordinates, speed, direction etc.
• Access: This data should be accessed on an implicit permission, explicit permission and automatic court ordered access for law agencies like police etc.
• Monetization: Permissions can be monetized by the user from authorized parties but they can be connected with services like insurance etc. as well like the NASCH Mandate today. The services that get it deemed ‘Necessary to function’ like Insurance, Credit etc can deny service on the basis of access permissions. But all others will have to ask explicit permission to get access which can be monetized through an automatic gateway. All transaction taxes apply.
• Mandatory write policy: When location data is accessed, the inference drawn from it has to be written back into the log. The writing back of this inference will be tested on a public interface through digital means. Automatic reconciliation of the mandatory write policy is an all encompassing policy that governs all facets.

Surveillance Data

This is again a unique kind of data that will be crowdsourced to a large extent. The government cannot install cameras at every 5 feet across the country. But individuals, businesses, organizations like banks, supermarkets etc install security cameras. The information in these cameras should ideally in collated in one single repository or data lake. This has to be corroborated with biometric & sensor recognition data, again this needs to be done by different parties and collated in one place. Automatic security insights like suspicious or dangerous behavior continued across locations etc will be running on it constantly in real time. This is a resource hungry service and will have to be monetized separately by the investor in the data servers even if it is the government.

• Usage: Security companies, law enforcement agencies, and business will require this data constantly. Each face and activity recorded on this data will be written into the trail of individual users. The actual video, audio, image and authentication data is collated in one place with a data owner.
• Access: Access to this data will be given by the owner of the data lake. The monetization can be done by this party specifically because the onus of collating this data and paying for expensive infrastructure to read & store this multimedia data is borne by this party. The repository owner can decide to remunerate people on this data on an insight basis if he needs to. So a store owner, who owns a good source of video data that contains behavioral insights can sell his data stream to this data lake. Data which reveals many insights can become more monetizable. All insights, monetization and actions taken from the data have to be written back into its trail. The charter for these insights will be a living document. Authorization for insights will be given on the basis of that charter. Tight guidelines will govern the addition of new insights to this charter. Pricing will be demand led. New insights will be expensive and common existing data streams will be cheap.
• Mandatory write policy: For this data, there is none. It is mandatory to write any insights including criminal and anti-national behavior on the data trail of individual users. But the accessor can also leave it alone if no insights are found. Every access is notified to the users in the form of an instance written on their trail with any insights that are formed.

Online browsing behavior:

This is unique in the sense that has the potential to be mis-used at a personal level by companies as well as cyber criminals. In this I include governments using it to change public opinion and conduct separatist operations. It is also my biggest filter in the echo chamber of the internet. It has to be exposed at a granular level but the form of access may change from push to pull. Let me explain.

• Usage & Monetization: Any entity who wants to serve me with advertisements, promotions, cross-selling, recommendations etc including e-commerce entities can have paid access to that data, or they have to go through a gateway installed at a personal level who sends internet interaction data including iOT data from sensors in my house to tailor the information flowing in on a pull basis. The gateway has to tell you what got consumed, watched, actioned on as well. A one stop shop for all online behavioral data exchange.
  So, a simple command to your voice assistant – “Show me a good raincoat..” lets say – contains my needs & preferences when it is communicated to an online raincoat catalogue that I can buy from. It will also have to contain the form in which I require my answer – text, image, video holographic, virtual etc as determined by my interaction portal. Whether I buy the raincoat or not and what I do with it has to be fed back into the system where it was bought from.
• Data Location: This is a special caveat which is especially meant for the data trail laid by internal household activities and consumption, conversation, action, internal positioning etc. As the internet grows more ubiquitous, the number of portals through which we access the online world increases exponentially. And the data that they are recording is what puts us on edge today in terms of comfort. It is highly private data. By this caveat, this data belongs only to the household and the ownership of this data should only lie with a certain household. By this virtue, this data can lie on-premises for households who can afford to install hardware in their location or by private cloud space. They can also afford to charge a premium for this data. Else this data would lie on a public infrastructure secured by permissions from me. No other entity has the right to store this data, neither the insights that they have taken from it.
• Mandatory write policy: The insights gleaned from data exposed in a pull interaction have to be written back into the log. The insights written by an entity during pull also have to be queried in a pull interaction from me the next time. Advertising entities do not have the right to store my data. For more efficient transactions, the dialogue with this gateway needs to be structured and set. This I agree, is a resource hungry activity, and needs to be subsidized, but the long term ROI in terms of action, consumption and conversion will speak for itself economically.
• Access: Like location data, this access can also come bundled with certain services like media & entertainment etc. It works on authenticated explicit permission given for subscription services & implicit permissions that are a part of pull services. Permissions are granular for facets of data as well as read rights. The periodicity, number and types of access will be determined through a charter for usage. Extra permissions have to be authenticated by me. e.g. suppose you want to query if I have diabetes or not, which usually does not fall under your access charter, explicit permission will have to be taken from me to show me relevant information.

Online Content:

This is the richest and most heaviest data set on the planet. It is also the cultural output of our generation. One that should be used for usage in unbiased history writing for generations to come. It is telling of the social interactions, mores and behaviors of the current time. It will also catalogue the progress of the human race over many parameters and is rich with human insight and cultural significance. It includes news shared, discussed and consumed by people which allows to read the ongoing mindset in communities and may be useful for large scale population assessments of many things.

It is the most resource hungry data set that can exist and in resource usage and monetization stands besides enterprise computer vision generated data. Its capacity for capriciousness and therefore the need for moderation, both automatic and augmented is very high. The sheer volume of data in its multimedia avatar, fortified with hundreds of data points, is expensive. So content platforms today have a triad of responsibilities and rights. The responsibility of hosting it in its entirety with the attached data points, and the responsibility of moderation which goes much beyond just moral policing for violence and porn. Concept proliferation itself has the power to topple governments and change regimes. Concept propagation, measurement and policing should also come under that bucket. I think most of the platforms agree with that. With these two great responsibilities also comes the power to monetize user behavior. One that keeps them profitable today.

• Usage: This data can and is used to perpetrate concepts as well as measure population response on them through the use of social means. Whenever an entity is disseminating information, this data is needed to prevent it from being spam. This data also needs to be policed closely by many parties for signs of war, unrest, crime, unlawful concept propagation etc.
• Access: It should be available to the entity which is helping produce and propagate it i.e. Facebook, Google, Instagram and government law enforcement bodies for security purposes. The army should have access to it for monitoring purposes, the police should have access as well as management and moderation responsibility of this data. Moderation has to be enabled by the platforms and carried out by law enforcement. The buck stops with law enforcement for keeping us safe.
• Monetization: The user owns all of this data, it cannot be monetized without him earning a piece of it. The data keeper i.e. the entity that has been the place for its creation, has to be transparent about the monetization it does on the data. Else this data has to be kept only under the user’s gateway if a gateway is indeed available. The ‘Data location’ caveat applies to this data as well. If the user wants, they can keep the data privately and use it as a gateway for pull interactions. This is obviously an expensive procedure and the expense will be borne by the user. Ensuring insulation should not be illegal, and may be needed for copyright and privacy purposes, but it has to be expensive enough to be considered a luxury.

concept caveats for online content

• For pornographic and specialized material like BDSM and other marginal content has to be mandatorily kept with the user and each access authenticated biometrically at a personal level – direct to consumer. This data, if it does not violate any human rights laws, can be kept hidden from anyone including law making agencies. Whether or not it violates any laws has to be determined digitally through computer vision and not visually. If kept with a repository, monetization is mandatorily shared, else the user has all rights to monetize this data as long as any and all signs of individual faces have been altered by computer generated anonymized faces. Pornographic material that is not linked to a source will be illegal & not allowed dissemination. Pornography which contains animals or children will not be allowed upload. Violent pornography will be stored separately and accessed only by those who are certified BDSM practitioners. The rules of BDSM will be taught separately and a certification issued for those who want to access BDSM content or practice it in their lives. The cues and entry points to this can be proliferated carefully to the adult population but not the content itself.
• Religious content similarly can only be accessed by people of a certain religion and access rights. It cannot be used to propagate any concepts across the population. Sub religions can be propagated within certain religious or secular groups, but they will not be allowed to propagate in groups of other religions. New religions, sects and followings, since they are not in the list of ‘Organized religion’ can be propagated to all. Once they achieve a certain critical mass and are recognized as ‘Organized Religion’, they have to be mandatorily hidden.
  Content propagated within religious groups also will be policed for racial and religious slurs. It will be illegal to talk derogatorily about any other religion except your own. It will be illegal to propagate, visualize or talk about violence to other communities. This will be done automatically by computer vision and NLP and any content of this type will not be allowed upload or dissemination. Religious communities can carry on sharing, creating, showing off religious messaging within the privacy their own groups, thereby protecting any marginal religious activity from moral policing or screening by other religions. These groups should be sufficiently large enough for all kinds of social interactions to happen, hence the need for a critical mass to be accepted as a ‘Religion’. Academically, all entities will be able to query the database about anything from traditions, rituals etc, but will be shown anonymized content for those specific queries. This will be a pull function only.

• Branded content also has to be segregated from user generated content, today it is blurring the boundaries and being accepted as ‘native’. Branded content will contain the source and the responsibility of storage and access lies with the brand. They and only they can monetize this data for anything. All branded content is free for the user populace to consume but has to be bought by other entities for propagation. Although this is not user owned or generated content but it still has significance to be stored against the user trail as well. For measuring brand recall, and brand value generated over long periods of time. The production of branded content will become a science and brands need all the data they can get to ensure no spam or wastage of resources is incurred in the process, sadly as with physical advertising today with the piles of plastic single use material that is generated for branding.

Financial Data:

The most sensitive and varied data set we have is financial data. Secure transactions on block chain will enable all financial data to be stored securely for posterity. Due to the sensitivity of this data, it’s ownership cannot reside anywhere but with me. Just like my money. BUT:

• Co-Ownership: The data also belongs to the financial institutions who help make the transactions I make. It also belongs in part to the merchants and manufacturers of the products I buy, rent, loan or otherwise utilize using the money I have.
• Mandatory write policy. If they do business with me, it is mandated by law that they share it with me and write back into my profile the things that I do not have a trail of in transactions like internal credit assessments etc. But because it is co-ownership, if they are to record and store the transactions as another source of truth to my copy, they can provide the service to reconcile and raise an alarm when my copy does not match. It may be offered as a premium service as well through the data exchange. A personal security net, a financial service of the future.
• Access: For the period of my association with them, they will also be mandated to share this data with the government security agencies. Both financial organizations and I will be able to monetize this data by giving the right kind of access to the right stakeholders.
• Monetization: Private, but authorized, security agencies though will have to buy access to this data from financial institutions directly, not from me. Various different financial organizations will be able to trade this data with each other through a ‘data exchange’ that enables the trade, takes a cut and allows exchanges. They can also meaningfully analyze the data and create immediately consumable insight packages which can be monetized seamlessly. Exchanges like CIBIL already exist.
• This data exchange will also be allowed to provide measured faceted access to aggregate data through a pull function to brands & product companies etc. The brands will mandatorily have to use it for messaging on a permission basis from the user. But the rest of the analytics suite including AI can be run on it as a part of the usage charter. The manufacturers of products can access aggregate distribution as well as consumption data on a query basis from this exchange as well if they do not have it already.

This data includes purchase data which is part of the post of consumption data, since it has more value in that data set, I’ll define how we can aggregate it in that post. All guidelines around financial data apply to purchase data as well. Consumption data is also a co-owned data set with merchants and the government.

preface to Consumption Behavior:

This data set will be the measurement stick for everything from advertising effectiveness to distribution efficiency. It will also be the cues to responsible production in the future. It needs its own piece but I will give a glimpse of what this data set has to do.

This data is cross-referenced to the online browsing data set as well. Today when we look at consumption behavior to determine what to serve to whom, we have a very myopic view. Physical retail consumption is being tracked only in the physical world, online for online. i.e. if I have left a shirt in the cart online, I may still see it advertised weeks after I’ve bought it offline. This spam needs a filter. Also this will cause inefficiencies in the supply chain. For a sustainable world, zero wastage should be our motto. Having access to the right kind of data will enable it for us.
Consumption is another post by itself due to the complexity of the detailing required. It will take immense infrastructure and foresight for it to work. It is also ambitious for us to be able to accomplish even laying down the infrastructure for it in the next couple of years. The permeation of the devices needed is still a few years to come. Meanwhile the policies that we start with today should also be flexible enough to enable growth in that area as well as easily handle that data. It should take me some time and a lot of study to work this out.
Consumption is also a trail of carbon footprint which will be taxed in the future to accelerate the change from plastic to sustainable options. Soon, this tax will be used for clean-up of by products and keeping the environment safe from conspicuous consumption as is happening with plastic today. To that point, this tax should be purely consumption driven for anything non-bio degradable including by-product of manufacturing or waste from consumption. Sensors that we have in our homes can also be mandated to measure & observe the life-cycle of a product. So they can in an ideal situation be feeding back the data onto the trail of the product. Even when I discard that raincoat and the landfill in which it is lying will tell me where it is. Landfills will have to be mandatorily automated for trash segregation soon. This tax goes only when the by-product has been utilized and fed back into the chain or has bio-degraded. This has to be known eventually from sensors which recognize each product from the context they are in. This applies to all packaging, and non-biodegradable products. Consumables i.e. bio-degradable products end their journey when they are consumed. The definition of FMCG will change if FMCG product contains packaging that is non-biodegradable.

(Bio-degradable packaging is already being experimented with and it is in our best interest for these experiments to be taken ahead and incorporated into mass packaging practices)

P.S. This is a series of 3 posts on data policy in India from a user’s perspective. ‘Consumption Data‘ which is really a continuation along these lines but more detailed and flexible. And how could we leave behind ‘Enterprise Data‘? iOT sensors and digitization will be generating huge amounts of data in the coming years. My third post will be about the data that businesses and individual value creators generate through automation and enterprise human operations. Just like the personal data trail, products also leave a data trail and which should be used, aggregated, insighted and monetized. Wait for ‘Enterprise data‘ to get the lowdown on that.

“Location of the computing facilities like data centres and server farms within the country will not only give a fillip to computing in India but will also lead to local job creation. …In the future, economic activity is likely to follow data. It is hence vital that we retain control of data to ensure job creation within India. Cloud computing should become an economic activity in India. Data analytics in the era of industry 4.0 should become a major job creator.”

Draft National e-Commerce Policy
India’s Data for India’s Development

This is a myth.

Humungous data centers employ less <5 people and create a huge carbon footprint. Keeping data centers in India is extremely unlikely to compensate for automation in the back-office processing sector. It is highly likely to create a bigger cost in electricity & emissions.

Microsofts Chandrasekhar S at #policynext Medianama’s policy panel on data protection and privacy

The truth is no matter where data lies, if we put in enough gateways that create value, create a trail that ensures security and privacy, we can create jobs & value for Indians regardless. Geographical location is not a deterrent to access control. 

*The ideas expressed above are purely my personal beliefs and represent in no way IBM’s beliefs as a company.

In  a world where humans can turn to gasses at the flip of a button and where invisibility cloaks exist, Sienna tries to find the truth about her father. Falling in love with a con man, getting deep into the underground of the future, and coming to a shaky truce with Dadu on the way. Read on to know how it unfolds.

episode 1  |  episode 2  |  episode 3  | episode 4  |   episode 5

Although it was late, Sienna sent the diary to Siddharth with a note. She wanted him to read it and comment on her father’s treatment. As an afterthought she also sent his voiceprint with it so he could hear it from him directly.

“Tonight its late. I’ll call him the morning.” She thought to herself as she did it. She also remembered that Surekha was at Dadu’s. She’ll have to call him to send her back in the morning. Perhaps he’ll send one of the boys to help her home. Meanwhile she would fend for herself. She walked up to the fridge and opened it and stood there thinking and scanning.

“There’s some left over porridge from the morning if you’re interested. What would you like to eat?” The fridge prompted.

“Hmmm. Do you have some eggs? I’m craving a handmade omelette tonight…”

“I’ll order up from the community pantry, it will take 5 minutes to reach. Would you like some chopped up capsicum in it or would a normal onion tomato mixture do?” Shiela piped in.

“Capsicum and some chunks of barbecued chicken, if available.”

“I think they did barbecue some chicken this evening, I saw it in my menu update today. I’ll order some. Anything else? Some Mango Shake?”

“Ohh man, Shiela you know me so well now. Yes, Mango shake. Possible?”

“Well, its not mango season yet, but we do have some Ratnagiri variety that were harvested this morning. Let me order some before they head to storage. Mangoes don’t get taken by the Outreach program much, especially not exotic varieties.”

“OK. Thank you Shiela!” Said Sienna curtly, not in the mood to ask why. She knew exotic fruits moved less and were more available for internal use. Perhaps because one piece of fruit cost the same in social credits as a full day’s worth of groceries. But today she was not in the frame of mind to think about that. The seasons did not exist outside any more, at least no semblance to traditional seasons remained, nonetheless Sheila had strict instructions to be sustainable & season led in her nutrition. She had just complied to instructions, thats all.

“Please tell me when it arrives and is washed and chopped, I’ll come and put it together.”

Sienna stepped out into her balcony and breathed deep. She also fished out a rolled smoke from her rolling machine and smoked as she waited for the food to come up. Shiela chirped ready before her smoke was over, but she was staring out into the lights on the horizon thinking of the treatment her dad had received. This was early years in genetic medicine and these things were commonplace. The personalized trade off of emotional and mental side effects hadn’t started yet. They were still being observed quite randomly. Today they’d have been able to fix his madness by reverting the genetic rewrite. They’d have a ‘before treatment’ copy taken, printed and kept ready as is mandatory by law passed only a couple of years ago. She felt horrible about it. Stubbing out the smoke, she went in to make her omelette.

As she was eating, the doorbell rang. She chuckled. Dadu must have sent Surekha home at this hour so that she could have a home made meal in the morning. He was really big on home and hand made. She looked at the plate in her lap, so was she actually!

“Siddharth is here, should I beep him in?”

“Huh? Yes of course!!” Startled, Sienna got up and started towards the door.

It slid open momentarily and he stepped in. His hair was still tousled, as if he’d put on the helmet without combing it. He enveloped her in a big bear hug. She looked up at him quizzically. He met her gaze with a gentle look, eyes half shut with sadness. It was then she realized, he had heard the diary. He empathized. She hid her face into his chest and shuddered a sigh. His arms became tighter and he gently picked up her chin to graze his lips across hers. Gently, deliberately, fleetingly. Her heart did a flip flop and her pulse quickened. Her father was the last thing on her mind as she met his lips with hers and claimed the kiss. He grinned as he kissed her, pulling her close, playing the same game. In moments it became too fast for both of them. It was a flurry of lips, limbs, tongues and passion. He carried her for the second time to her bedroom and closed the door behind them.

They were sitting in the balcony with her in his lap when the sun came up. Sleep deprived, but still talking, the discussion was around her dad. What if they could find him and get him fixed. He queried her about the details of his disappearance. But she knew nothing about it. All she knew was that he was around one day and the next day when she went to call him from the outhouse, he was gone. She had raised a ruckus, and called everyone but no one could find him.

During that time, the new disappearance weapon which would eliminate all traces of the human form had just come out in the market. Killing in moments and decomposing into gasses that dispersed long before someone could detect anything, self destructing after the job was done in the same manner. Some assumed he had used it and committed suicide. Death was instant and painless, but the person disappeared completely. Some said he had wandered off into the open areas and had been abducted for ransom. But no ransom note had come, and the detectives were not able to trace any evidence of him even walking out of the cottage. So they had to assume that he was gone. No one knew, alive or dead. Just like Namitha, Abhishek also disappeared into thin air.

Siddharth was scratching his chin. Sienna reached out and said “Let me do that.” She loved scratching below the chin. It was a habit left over from her dog, Whisper, a German Shepard. Men’s beards gave her comfort and were incredibly intimate.

“Mmmmm…if you keep distracting me like this, I’ll not be able to say that I can tell if he really used ‘Sublimate’. Thats the famous weapon that you talk of. It’s still around and tightly regulated for only incineration of highly contagious corpses.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. He held her tighter. “Yes, that will help.” She said in a wet voice. “How will you do it?”.

“Some years ago, the police was looking for a solution to the ‘Sublimate Murders.’ Highly influential people were taken that way. The key was to detect if these people had really disappeared or had the substance been used. So they came to me. I used a handheld microscopic spectrometer that was sensitive to the reflection of light against sublimate gas molecules stuck to the area that came in contact with it. They took my POC and got it manufactured for police use. I still earn royalties from it. And I have one that they gifted to me. Its a cool 3D printed piece that has an AR panel that lets you look through it and be guided to the right spot.”

“Lets go today and see the cottage area. But its been a decade, will anything be left?”

“Is the upholstery the same? Have the walls been painted?”

“Actually, I asked Dadu to leave it as it is. I go there when I’m feeling low. I even sleep in his bed. Everything gets maintained and Ramu keeps track of it. Can we go today?”

“After I head home and get some sleep. I have another hour. Do you want me to put you to sleep?”

“Shiela, will you find out from Ramu if I can get the old linen? And good night till I wake up in the morning.”

“Sure” Shiela blinked out.

She got up and pulled him inside, “An hour, did you say?”, and smiled a wicked smile. He laughed and followed.

It was early evening when they entered the cottage. He took out his gadget and put it on the floor, then he drew out a small ball from his bag, he opened his fist and it unfurled into a mini drone. It flew off his hand and bobbed in front of his face, at talking distance.

“Hi Sid, whats up?” It said in a pixie sounding, high pitched voice.

“Scan everything for ‘Sublimate”. Use this scanner. When ID’d take a holo and project please. If found in multiple places, take multiple shots. Scan completely in a radius of 3 meters around the house including the house before you return. Buzz us when you find the first. OK?”

“Yes Boss!” and it picked up the scanner and flew away.

Sienna smiled widely at that. She also scanned the horizon for Dadu, Ramu was not resident here in the cottage, thats the way Dad preferred it, and she continued to honor his wishes. But he would have been alerted for their entry into the estate, and once Dadu saw what happened, he will be coming around shortly. Sure enough, his voice boomed through the communicator.

“Hi Beta, I see that you have a guest with you. Dadu would love to see you when you are done. But if I may ask, what are you doing?”

“Dadu, This is Siddharth. He invented a microscopic spectrometer and is betting that he can find traces of Sublimate if it was used on Dad. So we are just doing some scanning here to see if there are any traces left.”

“Ah, this is the same spectrometer used by the police right? Its become process for them to test for Sublimate with every disappearance. Its called ‘Spectra’ by the way. Is this the same?”

Siddharth piped up, “Yes Sir, the very same. Have you scanned for it earlier?”

“Yes, I had one done as soon as it came out a couple of years ago. I’m sending through the linen also, which was scanned as well. There were no traces earlier. But you can try again. I never did trust Inspector Radhe, he sometimes just comes up for his tip money coining any reason for a visit that he can think of.”

“OK, the pixie drone is at it, let him finish, and we’ll know.”

“Meanwhile Sienna beta, please come and meet Dadu, I’ll ask for some refreshments now”

“Cheese Toast. Cheese Toast. Cheese Toast.”

Dadu’s laugh boomed across the channel. Sienna smiled and they walked out of the cottage into the grounds. Across the landscaped gardens was the main house.

“Dude, your Dadu is pretty hot shit. He has police guys coming up for tips. And he knew about ‘Spectra’ already. Spectra is the brand that is used by the police. For the piece I have, you have to 3D print it from the blueprints. Its next gen, and still in development. Its designed for long post facto use and its scan pattern takes into account things like plant growth over time, it scans into several layers of soil for earlier deposits and does a molecular level of spectrum scanning that catches even a single molecule stuck to cloth or wood.”

Sienna linked her hands in his and said “I’m in good hands, I know. Dadu should know that as well. He’s got access to police databases and I bet you he’s gonna be ‘in the know’ when you walk into the door at the house. What do we want to say?”

“Hmmm, lets take it as it comes. I took you on, didn’t I? He’s your Dadu….”

“Ohkay…” Sienna said doubtfully as she entered the house.

Dadu was waiting for them in the public lounge, which Sienna naturally walked into by force of habit because the classification of guests and access rights wouldn’t give Siddharth the right to enter the rest of the house. The estate was kept under several levels of security and any exception was made by Dadu alone. After Dad’s disappearance, he’d become extremely strict about that, suspecting that he slipped through the holes in the security system.

“Hello Siddarth. I must congratulate you on getting as far as this room in my house. It was only because of Sienna that you could do that. I know who you are, and I’m asking you very categorically, what is your business with Sienna?”

“Dadu, we’re friends!” Sienna interjected blushing red with embarrassment at the direct attack that he made on her guest.

“I second that Sir. We met by chance at a bar, I’m interested in her work using music. It is a medium that I have not played with before. The police lock-up is an arrangement so that they can keep an eye on me and my experiments. Its more like parole, when I want it or need it. I keep low and thats the way they like it also.”

“But you are a criminal!! How dare you come near my grand-daughter? How dare you enter my house? I’d have called security on you if you were not Sienna’s guest. She is mad enough at me already.” He locked her gaze with hers apologetically and turned around to bore into his eyes. “Keep your hands off her else I will have to incarcerated for good, I’m telling you.” His voice got louder as he spoke to him.

Siddharth cringed, and turned to Sienna. “I will leave now Sienna, I’m going back to the cottage to collect my tools, then I will go. I have no wish to trespass on anyone’s home. If I had wanted to do that, I’d have slipped in and out without your knowing sir.”

Sienna got up and blocked his path. Putting her finger on her lips, she hushed him. She turned around to face Abhijit vehemently with fire in her eyes. He cringed. “If this is my home Dadu, I will call whoever I like here. If it is not, I will also leave now with Siddharth and come back only when invited. Would you like that?” She crossed her arms around her chest and glared at him.

Abhijit’s face was red with anger and his eyes were blaring. There was anger and helplessness in them. Ramu interjected “Sienna please be careful, Dadu’s pulse is rocketing and BP is high right now. Stroke alert!”

Sid shouted at Ramu to tell him where the blood thinners were. A medic robot rushed in with the medicines and mixed some with water quickly. Dadu sat down on the nearest sofa. Sienna sunk to the floor next to his feet, crying, her head bent, her hands on his knees. Sidharth held the glass to his lips as he drank. He noticed who was holding the glass and took the glass from him angrily, which made Sienna cry harder. Sid reached out and squeezed her shoulder.  He bent down and she turned around and buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed. He stroked her back and kissed her head, hushing her. Thats when he looked up to meet Abhijit’s eyes. He had been looking at them all along, and his eyes were softening slowly, filling up with tears. One rolled down his cheek as he opened his arms, calling them in. He sobbed as he apologized again and again, holding Sienna close to him, and burying his lips in her hair.

“I’m sorry bachha, I just want you safe. I didn’t realize the connection you two have. Siddharth, I’m sorry. Please don’t break this trust, but somehow my heart says, you’re a good person. And so does Sienna. So, Truce?”

Siddharth smiled, and reached out to grab his hand and shake it, beaming widely. They heard a beep and Sid spoke to his band.

“Report please.”

“Beaming now.” The high pitched pixie drone chirped.

Siddharth held his arm out and projected in the middle of the room. The pixie bobbed up and down while it said. “Bad news first boss. No Sublimate traces found. I’ve scanned in a perimeter of 5 meters when I could not find anything in 3 meters.”

An audible sigh of relief went up in the room.

“Oh I see thats good news. OK, but what I did find were traces of a meta material called WMD. It seems that its around 5-6 years old. Found at multiple spots on the grounds as well as in the coat closet.”

“Can you project?”

“Yes, see that red bunch of leaves on the tree? Around 5 years ago, this would’ve been at the height of the human head, thereabouts. If the prospect was a tall person, its possible that it comes from him.”

“Yes, yes he was tall. But what does this mean?”

“Well, it means that your dad is still alive. Meta materials can make you invisible to cameras and people. I use a meta-cloak to cloak my bike sometimes when its parked near the prison.”

“Meta Materials are illegal and can be sensed by other sensors, Siddharth. I got a scan done when Abhishek disappeared. They didn’t find any.” Abhijit interjected.

“May have been missed….Who did the scan?”

“Inspector Radhe’s squad.”

“That explains it. Long time ago, the police switched to drones as a way of investigating sites instead of human beings. Drones are trained to find even the minutest of proofs because of augmented vision.”

“Yes, this was done manually when he disappeared. I never got it done again.”

“The coat closet had a corner that had the cover of the cloak. Nothing else contained any traces. Only the cover.”

Dadu and Sienna turned to each other and hugged. Sienna turned to Siddharth and said “Now all I have to do is find him. Will you help me?”

“I can do more than that. I think I know the hacker who makes the cloak. There are only two and the other one is in Norway.”

Sienna’s eyes lit up! “Who?”

“I have to contact him through underground routes. Lets go to your place and we will start the process. It may take time. The conversations with these tech smugglers are even more cloaked than the cloak itself.”

Dadu’s laugh boomed in the room. “OK. I’ll sit tight. You guys go ahead and do this. Remain in touch and call out for help if you need any. Good luck kids! Go find my son.”

episode 1  |  episode 2  |  episode 3  | episode 4  |   episode 5

———————————————-

Thank you Anindo Ghosh for your mentorship & editing. Anindo is an ace writer who’s working extensively in the Bollywood underground to mentor scriptwriters on writing for the web. He is also a futurist who believes in technology and the role it will play in socio-economic status and attitudes of the coming generations.

Sienna finds out about her parents, their relationship and life before she was born. She also finds out the roots of her healing patterns. How does virtual reality affect the cognitive diseases which are a side effect of climate change and pollution. Also economic realities and the constant struggle of the human race as it continues across the landscape of the future.  

episode 1  |  episode 2  |  episode 3  | episode 4 |  episode 5

It was 10:00 AM by the time Shiela tried for the first time to wake Sienna up. She made the walls more transparent. The room lit up with a gentle glow and slowly brightened, in a minute or so. A trick she had mastered over her last year with Sienna. And sure enough, her eyes twitched and she put up her hand to cover them. “What time is it Shiela?” She groaned.

“Dadu’s discharge has been ordered. He should be home in 40 minutes or so.”

“Uh oh!” As she remembered slowly she wasn’t wearing her night dress like she usually did. An old sweatshirt of her dads. A fact Shiela had chosen not to comment on. Sienna mentally thanked the manufacturer of the home assistant for that bit of sensitive programming.

The night flashed by on the canvas of her mind. She covered her eyes and groaned.

“You don’t have a headache Sienna. And you don’t have a hangover. Should I dim the wall?”

“Yes, please do. What did Surekha make?”

“She has prepared for an aloo parantha and yoghurt. Do you want to have that or should I just ask her to give you porridge?”

“Yes. Tell her to make some for me before I leave. And ask her to get ready, we’re going to Dadus.”

“I suggest you rush into the shower, while it cooks.”

Sienna quickly had some breakfast and rushed out with Surekha in tow. They rode into the estate compound at the same time as Dadu’s car and he waved to her, grinning!

Sienna grinned back. Being back home felt good. But… Immediately she felt the stupor of the night wash away from her mind by a wave of foreboding. She put it on the shelf to come back to later. Surekha was with her, that meant Dadu would ask her to stay over. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she liked her new life. She had moved out to start a new one and she did. Choosing to even forgo taking Ramu, their voice assistant who already knew her, with her. It was an option that Dadu gave her but she refused. Too much history. She wanted to do it all over again. Write a new story with her life. She got herself a new assistant, and they were starting to be friends. Shiela was next gen, she could also do fashion alterations and perform no-invasive early medical tests to determine whether she needed to go to the doctor. She could 3D print from blue prints and give fashion advice. Train Surekha to do her braids, when she wanted them. Surekha was of course honor bound to her by her mom. She could not stay but she left an angel in her place. It was not even a question that Surekha would go with her. It was because of her that Sienna chose to stay at the building where she was. There were livable quarters behind their tower inside the protective cover for non robotic house help. An unheard of thing, in these days of house help robots.

Sienna was also eager to get her hands on her Dad’s diary. She wanted to understand why a man, the center of whose existence she was, would leave her behind and disappear. Even when he was deep in his madness, he left his cottage to go for walks with her. And only when she was old enough to get ready & go to school herself, did he stop getting up to help transport her there. It happened around the time she turned 9. Now that she looked back.

It was those silent walks, that grated her soul. The silence was heavy with thousands of things left unsaid. If she knew it was some of their last time together, she’d live it all over again. She’d just talk and talk and tell him of all her dreams. Of her ideals and her misgivings. Of her gratitude, that he was around. She missed her mom desperately and clung to him more because of her absence. But she kept silent because she knew he was under medication. That it was difficult for him to talk coherently. Just held his hand and softly hummed once in a while. His hand tightened around her fingers after a while when she did. And she would stop and glance at him. His eyes were always wet, like he’d been in the sun too long. She was barely 10 and she didn’t realize what that meant. She just thought her dad was very sad.

Her mental reverie was broken by as the car stopped behind Dadu’s and the doors opened. Surekha needed help to get out so she slid out of her seat and went around to help her alight. Dadu came around and greeted her as she touched his feet. He blessed her and told her he missed her aloo ke paranthe. She immediately rushed off to the kitchen, saying that she’ll go make some for him. Dadu laughed.

“Let her deal with your badi mumma. She’s getting bajre ki khasta rotis made!”

Sienna linked her hands with Dadu and walked in. He headed straight for his study. With a gesture from him the door opened, he went inside and got out the diary. It took a full of 30 seconds but felt like an eternity that she stood outside this door. Even when she was little, he’d shoo her out when he wanted to smoke. Or talk business, and she stood at this very spot, trying to hear what was going on inside. She’d try for some time and then wander of into the house to find other things to do.

Sienna was lost in her reverie as he walked out with a bundle tied with a thread. Her dad also had a digital diary that he gave her, but this one was all analog. Pages and pages of meticulously hand written accounts of his travels and his work. She gingerly took it into her hands.

“Go into the study, although I’ve preserved these pages, but you should be inside when you handle this. Even here the air is too toxic for ancient paper like this.”

She silently walked into the study and shut the door behind her. After a while badi mummy called from outside for breakfast, but she did not respond. She found accounts of the little girl, the god’s child he met on his journey. Her name was Anna. Abhishek Sirkar, the son of the Sirkar family scion and forward thinker, had fallen in love with a little girl with severe autism.

Although he never named the disease. He found the meaning of joy in her eyes, the freedom of doves in her frank unadulterated laughter. He also found that she did better when she spent time with him painting. He let her play around with his colors, but her motor skills were very patchy so she dropped the paint a lot. Her parents realized that after spending time with him, she relaxed and was able to accomplish much more than she was earlier. They thought it was his love for her that did it. Sienna felt herself bristle with envy. That her dad could love some other child except her.

Anna grew more and more attached to him. So much so that she would throw wild tantrums when he was not there. He had to go back again and again, but he also found solace in her simple love. Anna’s mother realized that she grew more patient and her fits grew less frequent when he was around. They would return with a vengeance when he was not there.

So he would travel there often, sitting in the lawn and painting with her around while she played with some colors. She chose subtle shades like pink, sky blue and mint. He let her paint over some old canvases. As her motor skills improved, she’d paint wild patterns. Each more elaborate than the other. He spoke with her parents every night after she went to sleep. She was getting better and was very proud of her work. Normally she had voice tremors and stutters as well but when she was painting, she sang. In the most beautiful, untainted voice that he had ever heard. Her parents were also very proud of her success but wanted to find a way to handle her without him. After all, how long could he stay?

Meanwhile he met Sienna’s mom, Namitha, in a cafe in Milan. They grew closer and fell in love over the next year or so. She came to visit him often while he was at Anna’s place. Around this time Anna’s brother was born. He was also diagnosed with the same disorder. A birth defect which was prevalent as the environment got more and more toxic, Anna assumed, as the case was today. The parents were devastated and completely focussed on Abel, the new baby. Anna grew attached to Namitha as well. It was Namitha who realized that her patterns were directly related to her symptoms. She labelled each canvas with the symptom that it helped with.

“So it was mom and not dad who labelled them.And Anna and not dad who made them” She read further…

Namitha also realized that it was no longer Abhishek or her that Anna was attached to. It was the canvasses and painting. When he went back to India, as he had to once in a while, she stayed with her and let her paint. Soon their garage in suburban Rome was full of canvasses and Anna improved considerably. One time when Abhishek returned from his trip to India, he brought with him news of Indian Marijuana extract effecting her symptoms, especially social interactions. He had brought some with him, smuggled into his suitcase. It wasn’t allowed to cross borders with the extract. Since it was illegal in India at that time.

The effect of the extract on Anna was nothing short of miraculous. She was now nearly normal in her grades and she went to school regularly. Made friends and looked forward to it. Hardly keeping away now that she could interact and learn a bit more normally. Abhishek started to prepare her for his departure. But it was Namitha that he couldn’t let go of. They decided to get married. The whole family came for the wedding and then travelled up to a village in the hills called Malana, to get the extract from there.

The diary ended Anna’s interaction with Abhishek around that time. He was settling in with his new wife in the outhouse at the farm. He did not work so he couldn’t afford his own house. He thought they could be happy there. After all, at the farm they hardly needed anything. Food, water and nature’s abundance of fruits were available aplenty. The vegetable farms grew much more than they could consume, and it was distributed amongst the poor. The energy was free, as it was generated on the farm. They even supplied to the main grid in return for a tax rebate of the same magnitude.

But this reliance on the family for anything else, including clothes, canvasses and colors, rankled her. Namitha could not live with that. With taking money from Abhijit every time they needed anything. They started fighting. A lot. At least 10 pages worth. She skimmed over them. Amongst multiple fights, Anna found an account of a beautiful afternoon they spent together while he painted Namitha. Sienna still had that painting. It was done in various shades of brown. Earth tones that ranged from light ephemeral beige to burnt Sienna. Burnt Sienna was Abhishek’s favorite color. He had named her after it. Sienna, the color of bark, of dark wood and of bright mineral rich mud. Sienna was a color that lended itself to so much and blended with so many to form interesting color pairs. He pointed out in the diary.

The account of painting ranged from erotic to poetic. His love for Namitha was clearly apparent as she read on. The painting was also called ‘Sienna’. She had often wondered why, because it was a painting of her mother. A sensual portrait of the woman clad in a sheath that blended her in with the forest background. Vines & leaves covered her body. A toe peeked through, painted green. The only other color on the canvas. It spoke visually.

The next entry was ecstatic, mom was pregnant. With her! Sienna realized that she was conceived that very afternoon. And Abhishek had never told her about it. Only presented the painting to her in the middle of his madness.

After she was born, the diary tapered off. Often just used for rants against his life. How he could not get out of his family’s shadow until he earned enough money. How he showed in multiple galleries both on and off the cloud, but he hardly sold anything. How Namitha was growing harder and harder as time went by. Constantly irritated and unable to take care of Sienna.

Until, one day, on the 12th of May, year unknown, it said. “She’s gone. She even left the little one. I’m sorry…So sorry. But Sienna is mine, she’s here, for me take care of. My well Anna. She will return one day…”

Sienna felt her heart burst. Her eyes were wet from the moment she opened the book but now she was crying loudly. The same tears she cried whenever she missed Namitha. She was missing both of them terribly at this moment. She lay down on the sofa and clutched a cushion to her chest. As if it would suddenly come alive and become Namitha or at least Abhishek. And she cried. Badi mummy knocked at the door but she didn’t open. As the sky darkened behind her in the window, she drifted off to sleep.

It was her rumbling stomach that woke her up. Ramu was chuckling in his old fashioned robotic voice. He’d never been upgraded. In fact he lived only at the estate, served the family now for 8 years, learnt about them and only them and the estate over time. He had been patched recently by Pratish so he now had a personality. He was from the old times, when personal voice assistants could in very rare cases reside on premises instead of the cloud for very very high security. Her dadu had gotten it done, and was so proud of it that he had never gotten him upgraded. Any breach of his personality could be a breach of their close family and business secrets. He could not even be replaced because learning about the family would surely set off many of the inbuilt alarms that modern voice assistants had. But he knew each family member. Their daily rhythms, their routines and their bodies, even their guests and their personalities and eccentricities. He could not do many of the things that many newer versions automatically could. Except that he had cognitively learnt about the family over time. Who gets up when, who needs food, who needs music, who needs medicines at what times. Because of invisible hand, the family functioned smoothly, went to work, kids did their homework etc etc. All the other voice assistants, although much newer versions that each family member had separately, were tethered to him as children and had to listen to him. Although they had access to the cloud which he did not.

He was chuckling, “Hi Sienna, you’ve only had breakfast, and its 9:00 PM. That’s your stomach telling you to wake up. Dadu has asked for you so many times. I’ve told him multiple times that you’re sleeping soundly. But now he’s getting worried. Please get up and eat something. Surekha has made mutton for Dadu today and he’s on the table, waiting. Only you are missing. Come out quickly.”

She knew Dadu liked everyone on the table, all 19 of them, or however many were in the house, else he’d get angry. He’s always insisted on the family eating together even if they don’t stay together or even talk throughout the day. They would amicably have dinner. There would be no arguments on the table, only news shared from their days.

She got up quickly and joined them. She ate heartily and even had some kheer which badi mumma had made for her. Yummy and reminiscent of her growing years.

“So, what did you find out about your Dad Sienna?”

“Well, I found out that he was not autistic. His color preferences said so. Burnt Sienna, the color that he named me after, was his favorite color. It is completely out of the range of colors that the autism spectrum responds to.”

Dadu sighed, as if a big weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “And..what else? I couldn’t bear to read the diary since it was all about his art. I had skimmed through it.”

“I found the painting I had been named after.”

“Ah, the nude of Namitha!”

“Its not a nude..” She felt a pang for her dad and mom. She wanted to protect the memory of that relationship. To hide it from his prying know it all eyes “I’m taking the diary. For help in my work.”

“Are you going back today? Stay over one night with Dadu, won’t you? Plus I won’t let you take it out of the room for very long.”

Sienna’s heart sank. She hadn’t read all of it yet. She didn’t know the reason for Abhishek’s madness. Although she could take a guess. The pressures of taking care of her alone, without the means to earn, could have tipped him over. But she wanted to know for sure.

“I’ll digitize it.” She said curtly and got up. “I’m done.”

“Didi, we want to go to Attitude tonight. ‘Barb Wire’ is playing. Can you get us in?” ‘Barb Wire’ was a band that was named after a popular turn of the century movie.

Sienna sighed. “If I can digitize the diary fast enough….” Purposefully walking to the study. The door slid open for her and shut fast behind her.

By the time they had eaten their dinner, she was ready to go. She borrowed some earrings and make-up from Ranjana, her cousin and hopped on Pratish’s bike.

“Let Dadu worry, I’m not staying tonight.” The tone of his voice when he spoke of her mom had pissed her off. How can he talk so derisively about a woman who was decent in her heart. And her mother.

She let the boys into the discotheque but she didn’t want to stay so she asked Pratish to drop her home. She was eager to read on..

As soon as she got home, she fed the diary to her holo projector. The system already had a voice print of her dad. She liked to talk to him sometimes, even though she knew it was fake. It comforted her. She asked it to read the diary aloud.

Abhishek had gotten deeper and deeper into despair as time went by and Namitha did not come back. He didn’t think it was such a big deal about the money. He would eventually be able to earn. But as time went by and no takers for any of his paintings came forward, he started to get angry. One day Manesh, his elder brother came to him with a proposition. Sirkar Inc. would buy all his paintings for their offices. They wanted to invest in art. But somehow that made Abhishek even angrier. This was just the kind of thing that Namitha was angry about. Taking from his family.

At this time, dadu also tried to get some treatment for him. Counseling did not help. CASPR had just released their insurance. Everyone in the family got insured after some genetic treatment or the other. Manesh chachu had hair again, badi mummy grew new teeth. He asked them for a fix for his angst. The treatment he received was created for burn out syndrome. The kind stressed people get, He had some of the same symptoms. Depression and mania alternated with him. He went from frantically painting to not even getting out of bed. As the treatment had an effect, it also had side effects. He found that he was losing the ability to paint the way he liked. The quality of his work fell, he had lost the edge. He immediately tried to stop the effects of the treatment but the damage was done. It had already worked on his system and rewritten his genetic make up. The diary ended with slashes and single words. Namitha was a cry that was repeated many times.

But Namitha did not hear. She had disappeared. Gone back to Italy, some said. Some said she’d gone to find her parents, whom she had left when she was 18. She was a serial escapist and had escaped from a life that was dependent on the Sarkar family. That was that. She had left Surekha and abhishek to take care of Sienna. She left because she wanted to come back when she herself was able and get her. But she never was.

The diary ended…

Sienna’s heart bled for the second time that day.

episode 1  |  episode 2  |  episode 3  | episode 4  |  episode 5

———————————————-

Thank you Anindo Ghosh for your mentorship & editing. Anindo is an ace writer who’s working extensively in the Bollywood underground to mentor scriptwriters on writing for the web. He is also a futurist who believes in technology and the role it will play in socio-economic status and attitudes of the coming generations.