Cyber Laws In India

Cyber laws in India are very important part of legal framework world over. India also has a cyber law in the form of information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000). With growing emphasis upon e-commerce and e-governance in India, cyber law in India has become very important.

However, we have no dedicated e-commerce laws in India and e-governance laws in India. With the proposed draft electronic delivery of services bill 2011 (EDS Bill 2011), some efforts in the direction of strengthening e-governance have been taken by Indian government. However, till now we have no mandatory e-governance rights in India under the cyber law of India.

The cyber law of India has many unique and interesting aspects. Internet intermediary liability in India, cyber due diligence in India, cyber due diligence for Indian companies, social media due diligence in India, etc are some of them. With the passing of the information technology amendment act 2008 (IT Act 2008), the liability of websites, social media platforms, blogging sites, etc has increased a lot. Domain name protection in India is another issue that may become a part of cyber law in the near future.

A lot of cyber crimes, cyber contraventions, intellectual property rights (IPRs) violations, etc are committed due to lack of awareness about Indian cyber law. However, many cyber crimes and IPRs violations are deliberately committed and they deserve to be taken seriously.

There are very low cyber crimes convictions in India. This is because the cyber crime investigations in India are not proper due to lack of cyber law and cyber forensics knowledge. There is an urgent need to ensure cyber skills development in India so that cyber crimes can be prosecuted successfully.

Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is managing the exclusive techno legal centre for cyber laws in India. PTLB is the exclusive techno legal e-learning institution of India. It is providing various techno legal e-learning courses in India and cyber law education and training is one of them.

Online cyber law education in India needs to be strengthened further. Online cyber law courses in India can fill the gap in our educational system that is largely academic in nature. Such online courses can not only provide practical trainings and skills development but they can also remove the distance barriers.

A special emphasis must be given to legal lifelong learning in India that is presently missing. Continuing professional legal education in India needs to be developed on the lines as has been done in western countries. Further, the legal and judicial fraternity of India needs scientific knowledge that has become necessary with the enactment of IT Act 2000 and similar technology related laws.

There are certain areas that are closely related to cyber law. For instance, issues like cyber forensics in India, e-discovery in India, cyber security in India, etc have still not got the attention of Indian parliament. We need dedicated laws on each of such fields that are presently missing in India. There are very few cyber forensics research, training and educational centers in India. Similarly, cyber security research centers in India are also limited. Even lesser are digital evidencing and e-discovery centers in India.

Cyber laws would also be relevant for areas like online dispute resolution (ODR) in India and e-courts in India. Cross border technology transactions and dispute resolution is the latest trend in the field of ODR. Further, legal issues of entertainment and media industry in India would also involve cyber law implications. DNS redirection and distributed denial of service attacks are these days used to protect IPRs and brands. These methods are strictly not legal and have serious cyber law implications.

There are many more issues that are involved with cyber laws of India. However, they cannot be covered in a single post and we would cover them one by one in our subsequent posts. We hope readers would find this information useful.

Cyber Law Of India Should Be Repealed

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has many aspects and Legal Framework is just one of them. This Legal Framework is taken care of by the Legal Enablement of ICT Systems. This Legal Enablement exercise must cover areas like Cyber Law, E-Governance, E-Commerce, Cyber Security, Cyber Forensics, etc.

If these are the essential components of Legal Enablement, we have no Legal Enablement of ICT Systems in India. Readers must not confuse it with lack of Cyber Law in India. Of course, the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act 2000) is the Cyber Law of India.

But IT Act 2000 is more on the side of a collection of “Legal Jargon” than a Law as contemplated by the Constitution of India. With the Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008 (IT Act 2008), even this Legal Jargon has become a “Legal Nuisance”. The net effect of the IT Act 2008 was that Indian Cyber Law ceased to be a “Reasonable and Constitutional Law”.

I still remember the time when IT Act 2008 was proposed. I was, perhaps, the “Strongest Opposer” of that Amendment. I believed, and I still believe, that IT Act 2008 was a “Big Mockery” of Fundamental Rights of Indians. The IT Act 2008 shouted loud and clear that our Executive and Indian Government do not believe in the Constitution of India in general and Fundamental Rights in particular.

I was hopeful that my concerns and suggestions would be considered and Government would not proceed further with the IT Act, 2008 Amendments. The moment IT Act 2008 was “Notified”, I lost my Faith and Interest in the Cyber Law of India. This is the main reason why I did not give any Suggestions regarding the same subsequently, especially regarding the recent Rules suggested by Department of Information Technology (DIT).

Indian Cyber Law has become an E-Surveillance Instrumentality and it contains many “Unconstitutional Sections” that should not be there at the very first place. However, it does not matter much as Indians are well known for accepting whatever is forced upon them.

Now the only proper course that is left for Indian Government in general and Parliament of India in particular is to “Repeal” the Cyber Law of India and come up with a Decent, Sensible and Constitutional Law. It would be better if we have “Separate Laws” for Cyber Law, Cyber Security, Cyber Forensics, E-Governance, E-Commerce, etc. I hope good sense would prevail upon Indian Government and Parliament of India very soon.

Canada Is The New Preferred Place For Cyber Criminals

Cyber criminals are in continuous search for safe heavens that allow them to indulge in cyber crime activities. These safe heavens are places having a weak cyber law like India or places well known for their cyber crime free image like Canada.

Digital Journal reports that cyber criminals are on the move again, and Canada is the preferred safe heaven for these cyber criminals. The internet protocol (IP) addresses of countries like China and Eastern Europe are highly scrutinised and undergoing intense evaluation. The crackers reacted to this evaluation exercise by moving their networks to countries like Canada that have cleaner cyber reputations.

Cyber criminals are taking advantage of many loopholes that make cyberspace a highly insecure place. While many countries have no cyber law at all, some countries like India have a weak and ineffective cyber law.

For instance, the information technology act, 2000 (IT Act 2000) is the sole cyber law of India. It has been amended by the information technology amendment act, 2008 (IT Act 2008) that made almost all the cyber crimes in India bailable. Obviously, now there is no deterrent for cyber criminals as they can commit many cyber crimes and go free even if they are caught. Thus, India is going to be one of the most famous safe heavens for cyber criminals.

Another reason for growing shifting of cyber criminals from one jurisdiction to another is lack of international harmonisation and cooperation in this regard. Till now we have no uniform and internationally acceptable cyber crime treaty. This makes the task of cyber criminals easier.

Canada has to take this shift of cyber criminals seriously. Cyber crimes have an adverse effect upon the socio economic conditions of any nation and this shift would bring its own losses to Canada in the long run. The sooner this nuisance is tackled by Canada the better it would be for it.

Is Cloud Computing A Viable Solution In India?

India is a country that is weak privacy, data protection and data security laws. India is also infamous for its e-surveillance and eavesdropping exercises without any constitutional laws backing the same. Phone tapping in India is not done in a strictly constitutional manner and we also lack a lawful interception law in India.

With the information technology amendment act, 2008 (IT Act 2008), the cyber law of India has been amended and this has also made it vulnerable to constitutionality attacks. With projects like national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS), central monitoring system (CMS), etc e-surveillance in India has reached its zenith.

In this background we have to analyse the use of cloud computing in India. Cloud computing in India cannot succeed till we have trust in the service provider. We cannot trust a service provider who can be forced to disclose even the most sensitive information and data without a court order.

In India a mere order from the Indian government or its agencies is enough for the service provider to share sensitive information. There is no judicial scrutiny of a warrant that is absolutely required in these circumstances. So you cannot be even sure what government agencies are looking at and what information they are taking from the service provider.

Any business model must essentially balance profit motives and risks associated with the business. Similarly, the users of cloud computing services must ensure that the convenience of software as a service (SASS) and cloud computing is much greater than the risks of data leakages and manipulations.

Till now the legal opinion is weighting against the use of cloud computing and SAAS in governmental departments and for governmental projects. Without a conducive legal framework, user’s data in India is not safe. Let us create a conducive commercial and legal environment before we jump upon cloud computing wagon.