The Silent Watcher: How Rule 23 of the DPDP Rules, 2025 Shifts Power from You to the State
India’s new Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) framework promised to bring order to the Wild West of the internet. It promised to give citizens control over their digital lives. However, buried within the fine print of the DPDP Rules, 2025, lies Rule 23—a provision that legal experts and privacy advocates are calling one of the most controversial shifts in the history of Indian privacy law.
While the Act is supposed to protect your data from misuse by companies, Rule 23 fundamentally shifts the balance of power, creating a scenario where the citizen becomes transparent to the State, while the State becomes opaque to the citizen.
Here is a deep dive into Rule 23 and what it means for the "Common Man."