Book

Description

DHAMMA CONSTITUTIONALISM A New Theory of Privacy and Power in the Algorithmic Age Can human freedom survive in a world where algorithms can predict, influence and increasingly control human behaviour? The digital revolution has fundamentally transformed the architecture of power. Through artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, surveillance technologies and data-driven platforms, individuals are continuously monitored, classified and influenced. Traditional conceptions of privacy, founded primarily upon individual rights, consent and protection against intrusion, are increasingly inadequate to address these emerging forms of informational power. Dhamma Constitutionalism advances a new constitutional theory that reimagines privacy as more than an individual fundamental right. It conceptualises privacy as a structural constitutional restraint on the accumulation and exercise of informational power, reinforced by ethical obligations of non-intrusion and moral restraint. Drawing upon Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's constitutional morality and the ethical philosophy of Gautama Buddha, the book develops an original synthesis of constitutional principles and Dhamma. It examines the limitations of contemporary privacy jurisprudence, critically analyses the GDPR and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and engages with surveillance capitalism, algorithmic governance, predictive artificial intelligence and cognitive privacy. At its core, the work proposes a shift from consent to substantive autonomy, from reactive protection to preventive constitutional restraint, and from individual privacy rights to structural accountability. This book offers a new perspective on constitutionalism in the digital age, challenging scholars, judges, policymakers and technology institutions to reconsider the relationship between law, ethics, privacy and power. Privacy is not merely the right to be left alone; it is the constitutional condition of human freedom in the age of algorithms.