New Delhi, April 12 -- When I came of age in the late 2000s, the world was caught in the grips of a techno-utopian fever dream. The internet was going to usher us into a brave new future, one of full data transparency, empowered citizens and flattened hierarchies. Social media was going to lead to a new wave of democratisation, as old autocratic regimes crumbled under the assault of citizen journalism and digitally-networked activists. Tech firm CEOs were treated as rockstars-disruptors, innovators, cyber-prophets of the upcoming digital Golden Era.

Twenty years later, that dream has curdled into a dystopian nightmare. The digital economy turned out to be the ultimate panopticon, trapping us in a spider-web of pervasive surveillance. The...