ITA-2000 Amendment Bill Introduced..15/12/06..2000
The much awaited ITA-2000 amendment bill specially designed to protect Intermediaries such as baazee.com has been introduced in the Indian Parliament.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Is India Becoming a Criminal Friendly Country?
The extraordinary interest shown by writers like Ms Arundati Roy to save Afzal Guru (Convicted with death penalty for terrorist activity involving an attack on Indian Parliament) raises a doubt if India has become a Criminal Friendly country. How can a group of novelists proclaim that evidence against Afzal Guru is not good enough for legal scrutiny when a court has already examined the same and come to the conclusion that it is good enough for a death sentence? unless these intellectuals respected for their respective achievements in different fields are under the influence of terrorists themselves. ..Or are they responding to threats?. The intellectuals should realize that they are pledging their reputation for a cause which is meant to weaken the country. From the days of independence, it appears that Indians are slowly drifting to a culture of 'Freedom for Criminals' even at the cost of danger to our free existence. Under these circumstances, it is no surprise that when the criminal friendly amendments to ITA-2000 become law, there would be a wide support from intellectuals of all description for "progressive thinking".
Even the Supreme Court in its recent decision has shifted its responsibility to Press Council on publishing of "Obscene" content in print . This can clearly be interpreted as a "License to Publish Obscene content" in print and will soon be quoted in support of "Orkut" and other similar sites who thrive on obscenity.
Politicians have anyway already expressed their views and shown a clear support for all kinds of domestic and international criminals and do not hesitate to make them the ministers.
There appears to be a pattern developing in the Indian society that is becoming more tolerant towards crime and even terrorists. Sociologists need to analyse the long term impact of these early indicators.
Naavi.org expresses its grief and concern over this tendency to make India a law less country. Perhaps Naavi.org is amongst the minority group which is still under the influence of what once was a pride..nationalism and patriotism. Your comments on this "Changing Profile of Indians towards Criminal Friendliness" is welcome.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Trend Micro Predicts Cyber Wars in 2007
Trend Micro, one of the leading IT security companies predict an increase in cyber wars in 2007. They also predict that the Social Networking sites such as Orkut and Myspace would be used for gathering more information for focussed attacks on people. Netizens should therefore be wary of posting their profiles in the Social Networking sites. Use of Internet based telephone calls for committing frauds is also predicted.(121206/2000)
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Orkut Blocking Investigations
An issue had been raised yesterday "Is Orkut a Rogue Site?". A further corroboration towards this conclusion is presented with the reported attitude of Orkut to investigator's enquiries. It is stated that it would take up to one year to get IP address information from Orkut, obviously, more than sufficient for criminals to go scot free. It is time that Orkut is made to respect Indian laws or shut itself out of the Indian market. India does not need a virtual monster which could be a haven for criminals...(121206/1200)
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Orkut needs to be banned
If there is one project which has seriously gone wrong on the Indian Cyber Space, it is Orkut. Every day one controversy or the other appears to be surfacing. After the Indian Flag burning, Defamation of Shivaji, Buddadev Bhattacharya's profiling, it is now the controversy regarding the use of the site to profile Mumbai Underworld dons. An incident has also been brought to our notice by a lady that her picture has been used on a profile which carries on indecent conversations. In all these cases, the management of Orkut has shown no inclination to act to curtail the activity.
It also appears that many of the pages of Orkut commuinities, host pages with malicious codes. Terrorists and criminals appear to have been using the site for promoting their nefarious activities. From all these developments that has been observed so far, it appears that Orkut itself has become a rogue site and is promoting a new culture of "Virtual Underworld". A serious question has to be therefore asked if Orkut can serve any useful purpose to the community and deserves to be blocked by law.
If Orkut does not respond positively to clean up its site, it deserves to be banned immediately. At least this would be a lesson for other operators not to indulge in such unethical practices to make money at the cost of the community. We therefore support strong action by Mumbai Police to shut down Orkut with immediate effect.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Nepal Passes Cyber Law
Nepal has passed Electronic Transactions Act 2006 to provide a legal regime for electronic commerce in Nepal. The Act replaces the ordinance of 2005
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Trends in Cyber Security
IBM X Force has predicted the following trends in the Cyber Security situation in 2007
• “Spear phishing” (targeted attacks on online consumers) will evolve beyond simply targeting online banking users, aiming at several other sources including pension sites, investment portfolios and healthcare benefit sites. The next generation of these types of ID theft malware will continue to get smarter and build user profiles for hacked accounts in an attempt to automatically log in to multiple sites with the same stolen credentials.
• Enterprises will start to see that multi-factor authentication is cumbersome and ineffective against threats that are present before and during secure transactions to online banking, and will take an active role in securing employee Web transactions.
• With the growth of behavioural engines, desktop antivirus engines will no longer be categorised as standalone devices, but rather as part of a larger complementary security system.
• The frequency of exploits through Web browsers will increase, driven by commercial malware distributors such as SpyWare.
TRAI Promotes Carbon Credit
In a bid to promote use of environment friendly energy sources by Telcom Companies, TRAI has propsoed to offer a better revenue sharing arrangement and Carbon Credit benefit. This is a significant development as it draws the Carbon Credit system close to ICT industry. Soon this could be a matter of interest to all IT Companies too. It may be recalled that Naavi through Digital Society Foundation has been trying to establish a Carbon Credit Link with farmers in an attempt to bring the benefits of the Digital Society to the rural community. However sufficient response in this direction has not yet been received from other stake holders and the measures announced by TRAI may develop more interest in Carbon Credit system by the ICT industry.TRAI proposes `carbon credits' for telcos .
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Chennai Police Express Helplessness
The accompanying report suggests that Chennai Police has expressed helplessness in preventing hosting of pornographic websites with content produced in Chennai on an industrial scale. Unfortunately, it is not the legal support that is lacking to prevent such anti social activities but a lack of determination and will to take action. If appropriate action is not taken on the ground that there is little local impact of the crime, there will be a day when another Dr Prakash will emerge, threatening resepctable women in Chennai into acting in digital blue movies. From the big screen, sleaze shifts online.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Blogging without Problems
Blogs have become very popular in the Internet and it is estimated that there are more than 60 million blogs in Cyber Space making it as big as the website space. However, often websites are maintained with a little more caution while blogs are maintained casually leading to legal problems. This article in ET explores the Blog space and Naavi's tips to be a responsible blogger. Speak Softly..ET Related article in Naavi.org Article at University of Michigan
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
ITA-2000 Amendments.. Some Changes Expected
The incessant campaign of Naavi.org on the proposed amendments to ITA-2000 might have had some impact on the Government. It is understood that the Government is making some changes from the original draft. However to what extent the Government is willing to retrace its steps curbing the egos involved will be known only when the full draft of the revised amendments is made public. Let's wait and watch.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Life Imprisonment for Pornography publisher in China
It is reported that a person has been convicted for life imprisonment in China for maintaining a pornography website. It is interesting to note that India at the same time is considering diluting the provisions of Section 67 of ITA-2000 by reducing the imprisonment term from 5 years to 2 years and exempting Intermediaries except when he has received the actual knowledge or has conspired or abetted in the crime.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Employee Sells Domain Name Ownership Fraudulently
An employee of a web service company in Ahmedabad is reported to have sold ownership of five websites to a French national by misusing the administrative rights associated with the domain name registration. The accused appears to have tried to extort money from the genuine owners. The websites involved in the fraud were ahmedabad.com, talash.com, talashinfosoft.com, evyapar.com, and allindiagift.com...
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
ISP Service Comes under Consumer Rights Scanner
In a landmark judgment in a consumer forum in Delhi, the broad band service of Sify has been held as a "Service" for the purpose of Consumer Protection Act and compensation has been ordered for deficiency of service.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Another Landmark Judgment in USA on "Digital News Publication"
In a case (Barrett v. Rosenthal ) under Communication Decency Act, The Supreme court in California has held that "Re-posting of defamatory information" cannot be sued. The implications of some of the interpretations drawn under this case could be far reaching. This reflects on the liability of an intermediary for publishing of information which could amount to defamation. But since the instant case arose out of a posting in a news group, it may actually affect interpretation of liability in case of news group and blog postings. It is however necessary to observe that the judge did make a reference that the case should be seen in the context of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act and concluded that "Any further expansion of liability must await Congressional action".
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
ITA-2000 shakes up Chartered Accountant Aspirants
The students who took up this year's CA examination were reportedly rattled by the paper which contained 25 marks of questions on Information Technology Act 2000. While one can sympathize with the students who had apparently skipped the chapter and therefore have spoiled their chances of success in the examination, we do appreciate the fact that the examiners gave the right weightage to ITA-2000 that deserved in a CA examination. With all accounting having been computerized, digital signatures having been made mandatory for submission of certain returns, audits being conducted under the Computerized environment, it is inevitable that the study of ITA-2000 was essential for a CA and the examiners have brought in the focus which was required
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Pune Police Take action against Orkut
After the Indian flag burning and Buddhadev's impersonation, it was Shivaji bashing which finally has caught up with Orkut. It has been reported that a derogatory remark was posted in a community with about 100 members on October 29th. A complaint was lodged by National Students Union of India workers and Pune Police are investigating. It is further reported that a case has been booked under Section 67 of ITA-2000 and Sections 292 and 295 of IPC. Police have also tried to shut down Cyber Cafes where people were found surfing the site according to a news paper report.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Mobiles To Be Jammed near Prisons
Haryana police have issued instructions to mobile operators to install signal jammers in the Prisons to prevent use of mobiles by prisoners. While the intention is good, mobile operators are questioning the need for jamming since they claim that the jammers may immobilize mobiles in the surrounding areas too. They claim that it is lot easier to control the physical movement of mobiles into the prison rather than using jamming devices. While there is truth in their claim also, it is difficult to believe that either it is impossible to localize jamming or to install a monitoring device instead of jamming so that if the prison area cannot be isolated for jamming at least the Police can monitor all calls in the zone as an intelligent measure. Hopefully a mutually acceptable solution will be found so that prisoners do not continue to do their criminal business sitting inside the prisons.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Phishing Attack on SBI Customers
A phishing attack has been noticed on the customers of State Bank of India. It is reported that the cloned website has since been blocked. As is common in such attacks, the customers of the Bank were sent an e-mail inviting them to visit the website and enter their log in IDs and passwords. The enclosed report suggests that Cert-In has observed phishing attempts on other Indian Banks but is keeping the information under wraps. SBI has also not placed any alerts on its website.
The suppression of information from the customers is not conducive to educating of the customers and could be a cause for more customers falling prey. Naavi.org urges that both CERT-In and SBI should take steps to keep the potential victims informed so that they can exercise caution.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Two Day Orientation Programme in Hubli for Police
Cyber Law College and G K Law College, Hubli conducted a two day orientation programme in Hubli for Police Officers on Cyber Crimes.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Separate Law For Credit Card Frauds?
It is reported that Indian Payment Card Risk Council (IPCRC) an association of 16 prominent banks issuing credit cards in the country have pressed for separate separate ‘Card Crime Legislation’. Report in HT.
It is necessary however to debate whether any new law is in fact required since the IPC and ITA-2000 already have enough provision for every kind of frauds involving Credit card. It must be recognized that the Credit Card is an "Electronic Document" and "Card Data" is "Information Residing Inside a Computer". Creating fake cards, making changes in information on the card or on the data base amounts to Section 66 offence under ITA-2000. Fraud itself is covered under IPC. Online misuse of card is also covered under Section 43 of ITA-2000. Additionally, frauds such as Lebanese loop or skimming in which credit cards are involved are also covered under Sections 66 and Section 43 of ITA-2000 (Unless they are changed through amendments)
Before a new law is passed IPCRC must explore if there are any specific problems that are not addressed by the present laws.
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Virtual Adultery.. a problem of the times
This article in TOI indicates a growing tendency of the current generation to lead a virtual life different from the physical life and do things which they are constrained not to do because of the norms of the society. No where this crossing of boundaries more evident than in the relationship with the opposite sex. While Cyber Sociologists have to take up this issue for further study, it would be of interest if courts start admitting "Virtual Adultery" as reasons for marital divorce. If "Virtual Property" can be a point of dispute, it is obvious that "Virtual adultery" can also be a point of marital dispute.
Naavi
Vijayashankar
www.naavi.org
CBI to Investigate "Morphing" allegation
CBI has started an interesting investigation on alleged morphing of a photograph published in a book. While the use of the country's highest investigating agency for a case of low priority indicates a political hand behind the order, the investigation is likely to be academically interesting.
From the reports the brief appears to be not only to confirm morphing of the photo but also to prove that Mrs Najma Hepthulla, a political rival of the ruling Congress Party had any hand in it. Since the end objective of the investigation appears to be to establish the role of Mrs Hepthulla, like the infamous Justice Bannerjee Committee which came to the conclusion that the Godhra train was burnt by the Karsevaks themselves, CBI may be able to find the conclusive finger print of Mrs Hepthulla in the morphed picture. If so, it will in deed be a remarkable investigation !. If CBI is unable to prove the link of Mrs Hepthulla to the morphing, it would be one great waste of public resource for political vendetta.
Does CBI has the forensic capability to identify "morphing" and "finger print of the user"?.. only time will tell.
Naavi
Vijayashankar
www.naavi.org
When Virtual Reality Hurts
India is a land where Shankara's Advaita philosophy was born. One of the main elements of this philosophy is that the world is "Maya".. "non existent in reality but experienced in imagination". The philosophy says that we experience pains and pleasures through imagination/hallucination. We do get a vindication of this theory in dreams and when we look at persons whom we consider "mad", who live in their own hallucinations all through the day.
Now, "Virtual Reality" is trying to create yet another avenue for people to experience what they imagine to be true. This explains why a game participant went to court claiming that his "Virtual Property" has been illegally confiscated by the "Virtual Government" (Refer "Learn to Unlearn", the first principle of "Cyber Jurisprudence). The creation of websites such as Hell.com to give the experience of how the experience at hell could be, (For a price) is a pointer in that direction. Many of the games which promote killing, violence and other aspects of life which is considered wrong is also an indicator of this mindset.
Where does this tendency lead to?.. is an interesting subject to explore.
Naavi
Vijayashankar
www.naavi.org
Is Computer Virus a Work of Art?
Certain developments in the digital society highlight the different sociological standards that seems to prevail in the Digital Society. When we discuss Cyber Crimes and the behavioural aspects of Netizens, Naavi.org has been discussing a concept of "Technology Intoxication". When some technology wizards claim "Virus" as work of art, (Refer http://0100101110101101.org/projects.html ) a further doubt arises whether we are dealing with "Technology Intoxication" (which is a temporary state of mind) or "Technology induced derangement of mind" (permanent state of mind). How do we prevent our young generations degenerating into such state of mind? How do we rehabilitate some body from that state of mind?.. are some of the issues that "Cyber Behaviour Scientists" will have to discuss in future.
Naavi
Vijayashankar
www.naavi.org
Social Networking Websites to be barred from US Schools?
In what is termed as an attempt to protect Children from the ill effects of the Internet, US is getting ready to pass a law titled "Deleting Online Predators Act" (DOPA). The effect of the act is to bar certain websites from being accessed from Schools and Public Libraries receiving Government funding. The sites which would be affected would be those sites which are allowing building of online communities and exchanging personal profiles. In particular web content including "commercial Web sites that let users create Web pages or profiles or offer communication with other users via forums, chat rooms, e-mail or instant messaging." would be the target of the legislation. ..More
naavi
Vijayashankar
http://www.naavi.org
Indian Pseudo Cyber Security Activists..all set to play a fraud on the society
Two new legislations being contemplated in USA indicate the raise of new thoughts in Cyber Space regulations which will in due course contribute to the cumulative knowledge of "Cyber Jurisprudence". The first is the raising demand for "Mandatory Monitoring of ISPs".
While the countries with stringent records of Privacy Protection and Freedom of Speech are reconciling to the fact that in the emerging terror stricken world there is a need for new "Jurisprudence" where "Curbing of some freedom" is essential for protection of democracy, it is strange that in India there is an attempt to provide a better shield to the Intermediaries made possible by the Indian Pseudo Cyber Security Activists who are projecting the amendments as beneficial to the society. It is therefore with pain that we must say that the attempt is a fraud on the Indian society....More
Naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Are Hyderabad Police partners in an illegal activity?
A Times of India Report states that it is common in Hyderabad for people to approach private so called "IT Security" companies to investigate cyber crimes. Not withstanding the success stories narrated in the report, it needs to be recognized that this trend of private investigation is dangerous and equivalent to private "dadagiri".
It is also objectionable that such companies should call themselves "IT Security Companies" or "Ethical Hacking" Companies, since they are actually "Private detective agencies" using the same tools which the criminals use such as password stealing etc.
If the TOI report is true, then these IT Security companies must be having access to the IP addresses of Internet users from the ISPs which is a privacy invasion.
Unless Government of India comes out with a legislation that allows existence of private detectives and empowers them to gather information from the ISPs and to undertake "Hacking for investigation", these activities have to be dubbed as illegal.
While I welcome the views of the e2Labs founder that private sector should assist the Police in Cyber Crime investigation, they have to be careful in not taking law into their own hands. This is precisely what seems to be happening in Hyderabad. It will not be long before some of these ethical hackers or the companies they are engaged in turn into e-extortionists themselves.
I demand that Hyderabad Police take necessary legal action on such companies based on the report. If not, public will only assume that the Police are hand in glove with the private operators and deliberately flunking investigations so that public may use the services of the private operators. Such a situation also makes public to assume that the Police are getting their mamool from these companies for diverting business to them where as in reality it may just be their inability to handle such investigations... TOI Article
naavi
http://www.naavi.org
Are Hyderabad Police, partners in an illegal activity?
A Times of India Report states that it is common in Hyderabad for people to approach private so called "IT Security" companies to investigate cyber crimes. Not withstanding the success stories narrated in the report, it needs to be recognized that this trend of private investigation is dangerous and equivalent to private "dadagiri".
It is also objectionable that such companies should call themselves "IT Security Companies" or "Ethical Hacking" Companies, since they are actually "Private detective agencies" using the same tools which the criminals use such as password stealing etc.
If the TOI report is true, then these IT Security companies must be having access to the IP addresses of Internet users from the ISPs which is a privacy invasion.
Unless Government of India comes out with a legislation that allows existence of private detectives and empowers them to gather information from the ISPs and to undertake "Hacking for investigation", these activities have to be dubbed as illegal.
While I welcome the views of the e2Labs founder that private sector should assist the Police in Cyber Crime investigation, they have to be careful in not taking law into their own hands. This is precisely what seems to be happening in Hyderabad. It will not be long before some of these ethical hackers or the companies they are engaged in turn into e-extortionists themselves.
I demand that Hyderabad Police take necessary legal action on such companies based on the report. If not, public will only assume that the Police are hand in glove with the private operators and deliberately flunking investigations so that public may use the services of the private operators. Such a situation also makes public to assume that the Police are getting their mamool from these companies for diverting business to them where as in reality it may just be their inability to handle such investigations... TOI Article
Naavi
( vijayashankar )
Are Hyderabad Police, partners in an illegal activity?
A Times of India Report states that it is common in Hyderabad for people to approach private so called "IT Security" companies to investigate cyber crimes. Not withstanding the success stories narrated in the report, it needs to be recognized that this trend of private investigation is dangerous and equivalent to private "dadagiri".
It is also objectionable that such companies should call themselves "IT Security Companies" or "Ethical Hacking" Companies, since they are actually "Private detective agencies" using the same tools which the criminals use such as password stealing etc.
If the TOI report is true, then these IT Security companies must be having access to the IP addresses of Internet users from the ISPs which is a privacy invasion.
Unless Government of India comes out with a legislation that allows existence of private detectives and empowers them to gather information from the ISPs and to undertake "Hacking for investigation", these activities have to be dubbed as illegal.
While I welcome the views of the e2Labs founder that private sector should assist the Police in Cyber Crime investigation, they have to be careful in not taking law into their own hands. This is precisely what seems to be happening in Hyderabad. It will not be long before some of these ethical hackers or the companies they are engaged in turn into e-extortionists themselves.
I demand that Hyderabad Police take necessary legal action on such companies based on the report. If not, public will only assume that the Police are hand in glove with the private operators and deliberately flunking investigations so that public may use the services of the private operators. Such a situation also makes public to assume that the Police are getting their mamool from these companies for diverting business to them where as in reality it may just be their inability to handle such investigations... TOI Article
Naavi
( vijayashankar )
Nasscom is failing in its duty
Nasscom is the national association of software companies in India. For many aspects, Government considers Nasscom as the representative of the IT industry. Also when any reforms are meant for the ICT sector, the opinion of Nasscom becomes a key input. Nasscom Chairman is often taken into confidence when important decisions that affect the Cyber Regulations in the country.
In our considered opinion, the Government of India is making a serious mistake in allowing for the amendments to ITA-2000 go through without further major debate on the final version which will be tabled in the Parliament.
Nasscom headed by Mr Kiran Karnik. Nasscom has already taken a public stand on the issue saying in a press release that “Nasscom welcomes the Amendments”
It is our request that Mr Kiran Karnik should take personal interest in making the final draft meant for approval of the parliament available for a prolonged debate in the public domain before any action is taken....More
"Learn to Unlearn", the first principle of "Cyber Jurisprudence".
An interesting legal development in USA involving a law suit in physical space over a dispute of a virtual property has attracted attention of Cyber Law specialists. A case has been filed by a Pennsylvania resident Marc Bragg against San Francisco-based Internet game company Linden Lab and its president and CEO for alleged conversion, fraud, unjust enrichment and breach of contract and for allegedly violating several California laws.
The origin of the conflict is through an online game "Second Life" run by Linden Lab. In this game the players can buy, sell, lease land and other assets through a currency created in the game called "Lindens". Lindens can also be bought in exchange of physical currency such as US Dollars.
In the Game, there was an piece of land owned by Linden Lab which was vacant (in the context of the game). This piece was put up for auction by Mr Bragg in the game's auction space which earned him lindens worth US $ 2000/-.
Linden Lab now says that the piece of land had not yet been released by the company for auction and hence Mr Bragg had no "ownership title" (i.e. virtual ownership) on the land. It says that Mr Bragg's auction is illegal and therefore has seized his land (virtual) and the balance in his account worth US $ 2000/-.
This case will throw up interesting discussions on the nature of virtual property and transactions in which virtual acquisitions are in dispute.
It is clear however that the virtual acquisitions had the requisites of a "Property" since they had a value, could be owned, transferred or otherwise dealt with. If the value of the property was entirely in the virtual currency such as "lindens', then the dispute would have been entirely in the virtual space and fit for a "Virtual Court" to decide. But in the instance case, the convertibility of lindens to dollars creates a distinct link to the physical world and hence the dispute spills over to the physical space.
Similar problems will arise in the future in several other transactions on the virtual space and we should keep ourselves mentally prepared for accepting new concepts of virtual property and laws relating to virtual property. The initial attempt is of course to extend the known physical society concepts to the virtual space while in due course we need to develop separate Cyber Jurisprudence to deal with such disputes.
For example, if the Bragg's case is to be decided in India according to physical laws, the nature of the property being "Land", the transfer should be subject to "Transfer of Property Act" and "Registration Act". Transfer of Property Act does not however recognize "virtual land" as an immovable property and therefore the transaction would not be valid under its provisions. If however, the piece of "Virtual Land" is considered a "unit of property" created out of the contractual agreement between the player and the gaming company as well as one player with another player, while it enables application of the concepts of "Contract Laws", it conflicts with the basic requirement of "Meeting of the Minds" in contracts. The reason is that in this case, the parties dealt with the "unit of property" as an "Immovable Property" and not as any thing else. If the buyer and the seller thought and acted as if thy were buying and selling a piece of land, it would be in appropriate to adjudicate on the dispute ignoring this basic thought behind the transaction and considering it as some thing else. They had the psychological satisfaction of using it as land, perhaps constructed buildings over it, rented it out and experienced all the pleasures and pains of ownership of an immovable property. In fact some characteristics of this virtual property give it an "Intellectual Property Character" since the way the property is used is a "Creation in the minds of an imaginative player".
It would therefore be neither appropriate to treat the dispute as a "Transfer of Property Dispute" or a "Contractual Property Dispute". The IPR laws such as copyright could be closest to the property but still does not meet the "Meeting of Minds" test.
It is for this reason that Naavi.org has been advocating that Cyber Laws have to be drafted "By the Netizens" and "For the Netizens" for it to have some meaning. We need a fresh thinking on most of the disputes and we should "Learn to Unlearn" our physical society concepts. This is the first principle in the development of "Cyber Jurisprudence".
Naavi
Vijayashankar
http://www.naavi.org
e-Extortions..Punishable in India under Information Technology Act
There is a raging debate in India about cyber crimes and the legislative environment. Media is full of reports that the Government of India is “Tightening the Laws” to protect the industry against Cyber Crimes such as data theft which are frequently reported in the country. These reports refer to the proposed amendments to ITA-2000 based on a report that was submitted last year by a committee constituted for the purpose. In the midst of these orchestrated campaign that the proposed amendments to ITA-2000 will meet the needs of data security in India, there is also a concern whether crimes such as e-extortions which are surfacing today are adequately dealt with in Indian law.
It is however pleasantly surprising that even the or crimes such as e-Extortions where a person causes the files in a computer to be encrypted and demands a ransom to release the files is adequately covered in Indian law as it exists today.
It is of course another thing that if the Government has its way and gets through the amendments, then the new law will not be able to take care of the e-Extortion as effectively as the present law does.
e-Extortions requires a person to enter another computer system without authority and then cause the performance of the system to degrade or lock up. The value of the data in the computer gets diminished and the utility of the system gets reduced.
These offences are covered under the existing laws with a possible imprisonment of 3 years and a liability to the victim upto Rs 10 million.
The problem of course is in the “Criminal Friendly” amendments proposed by the Government that unless it is proved that a person had acted “dishonestly”or “fraudulently” and without permission, no offence would be recognized. While in some cases of e-extortions may be fulfilling the above criteria, if an e-extortionist uses a Trojan or a virus to gain access to the victim’s computer which spreads in the wild and reaches the victim’s computer through some other computer, it would be difficult to prove conclusively that the beneficiary of the e-extortion is directly responsible for the crime.
Further, the imprisonment term could be either 1 or two years reduced from the present three years. Today Police can immediately arrest a person indulging in such crimes in any public space, under the new amendments it is proposed that the Police will not have any powers to arrest and wait for a warrant from a court.
Looking back at the time Information Technology Act 2000 was drafted, crimes such as e-Extortion could not even be envisaged. It must therefore be appreciated that either by accident or design, the law was intelligently drafted so as to cover futuristic crimes.
Naavi
(Vijayashankar)
http://www.naavi.org
What the MCIT Rejected
To appreciate the folly of the Government in suggesting amendments to ITA-2000 with an ulterior objective settling scores with the Police, it is necessary to also take a look at the suggestions made by Naavi.org which of course were not to the liking of the so called "Expert" committee. Had some of these suggestions been considered, the amendments would have been meaningful. Perhaps MCIT has no vision beyond consulting Nasscom where there appears to be a serious dearth of ideas. (These suggestions were made before the expert committee finalized its views). Suggestions
Nasscom is failing in its duty
Nasscom is the national association of software companies in India. For many aspects, Government considers Nasscom as the representative of the IT industry. Also when any reforms are meant for the ICT sector, the opinion of Nasscom becomes a key input. Nasscom Chairman is often taken into confidence when important decisions that affect the Cyber Regulations in the country.
In our considered opinion, the Government of India is making a serious mistake in allowing for the amendments to ITA-2000 go through without further major debate on the final version which will be tabled in the Parliament.
Nasscom headed by Mr Kiran Karnik. Nasscom has already taken a public stand on the issue saying in a press release that “Nasscom welcomes the Amendments”
It is our request that Mr Kiran Karnik should take personal interest in making the final draft meant for approval of the parliament available for a prolonged debate in the public domain before any action is taken....More
Misconceptions on ITA-2000 Amendments..Continue
A few days back, we had brought to the notice of the public, an article in Times of India which had tried to build a case for the early passage of the proposed amendments arguing that it would benefit the handling of Cyber Crimes. We had at that time pointed out that this was a misconception and the proposed amended act will actually dilute the current act. Now an article has appeared in Indian Express which expresses similar sentiments.
It is our considered opinion that the proposed amendments, if not substantially modified will be a fraud on the digital society in India. The worst suffers would be IT Companies and Women. Journalists need to understand the implications of the amendments before hailing the amendments based on the views of persons with vested interests. In this process, they are becoming pawns in the hands of these interests and would be responsible for the fraud on the community if the proposed amendments follow the expert committee's recommendations. ..Detailed Article
You be the judge....Are the new provisions are "Tightening of the Laws" or "Criminal Friendly".
During the last week, there have been umpteen number of press reports and blog reports in India and abroad that India is "Tightening its Cyber Laws", "Data Theft will now have stringent punishment" etc. These reports were based on a PIB press release which the media reproduced blindly.
Naavi.org has become the rare minority which has tried to clarify that if what we are talking are the amendments proposed by the "Expert Committee" which gave its report in 2005, the Government of India is committing a fraud on the public by calling the amendments "Beneficial to the community". The entire media is making a fool of itself by believing the Government propaganda and carrying reports under individual journalist's byline towing the Government line.
I hope that this Diwali, the festival of lights would remove the darkness surrounding the Cyber Law Awareness in our country and bring better understanding of the needs of the Digital Society....More
Judicial Revolution on cards
With details of 30 million cases in more than 17000 courts in India to be made available on line with magistrates using digital signatures to sign orders etc, the Indian judicial system is set for a revolution that can bring unprecedented changes in India. This will be a boon to the litigants who often are kept in the dark about the developments of a case for which they are now dependent on their advocates. Similarly, many times even copies of judgements do not reach the litigants. The current move will therefore be one of the most important e-governance developments undertaken in India which can reach the common man. More
Is there a difference in "Creating an Object of Information" and "Publishing the Object"?
Continuing the discussion on Bloggers Beware, Naavi presents the next article in the series of articles on various issues that concern Bloggers. ...Details
