2 Sides of INDIAN Cyber Law or IT Act of INDIA
Cyber laws are meant to set the
definite pattern, some rules and guidelines that defined certain
business activities going on through internet legal and certain illegal
and hence punishable . The IT Act 2000, the cyber law of India , gives
the legal framework so that information is not denied legal effect,
validity or enforceability, solely on the ground that it is in the form
of electronic records.
One cannot regard government as
complete failure in shielding numerous e-commerce activities on the firm
basis of which this industry has got to its skies, but then the law
cannot be regarded as free from ambiguities.
MMS porn case in which the CEO of
bazee.com(an Ebay Company) was arrested for allegedly selling the MMS
clips involving school children on its website is the most apt example
in this reference. Other cases where the law becomes hazy in its stand
includes the case where the newspaper Mid-Daily published the pictures
of the Indian actor kissing her boyfriend at the Bombay nightspot and
the arrest of Krishan Kumar for illegally using the internet account of
Col. (Retd.) J.S. Bajwa.
The IT Act 2000 attempts to change
outdated laws and provides ways to deal with cyber crimes. Let’s have an
overview of the law where it takes a firm stand and has got
successful in the reason for which it was framed.
1. The E-commerce industry carries out
its business via transactions and communications done through
electronic records . It thus becomes essential that such transactions be
made legal . Keeping this point in the consideration, the IT Act 2000
empowers the government departments to accept filing, creating and
retention of official documents in the digital format. The Act also puts
forward the proposal for setting up the legal framework essential for
the authentication and origin of electronic records / communications
through digital signature.
2. The Act legalizes the e-mail and
gives it the status of being valid form of carrying out communication in
India. This implies that e-mails can be duly produced and approved in a
court of law , thus can be a regarded as substantial document to carry
out legal proceedings.
3. The act also talks about digital
signatures and digital records . These have been also awarded the status
of being legal and valid means that can form strong basis for launching
litigation in a court of law. It invites the corporate companies in the
business of being Certifying Authorities for issuing secure Digital
Signatures Certificates.
4. The Act now allows Government to issue notification on the web thus heralding e-governance.
5. It eases the task of companies of
the filing any form, application or document by laying down the
guidelines to be submitted at any appropriate office, authority, body or
agency owned or controlled by the government. This will help in saving
costs, time and manpower for the corporates.
6. The act also provides statutory
remedy to the coporates in case the crime against the accused for
breaking into their computer systems or network and damaging and copying
the data is proven. The remedy provided by the Act is in the form of
monetary damages, not exceeding Rs. 1 crore($200,000).
7. Also the law sets up the Territorial
Jurisdiction of the Adjudicating Officers for cyber crimes and the
Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal.
8. The law has also laid guidelines for providing Internet Services on a license on a non-exclusive basis.
The IT Law 2000, though appears to be
self sufficient, it takes mixed stand when it comes to many practical
situations. It looses its certainty at many places like:
1. The law misses out completely the
issue of Intellectual Property Rights, and makes no provisions
whatsoever for copyrighting, trade marking or patenting of electronic
information and data. The law even doesn’t talk of the rights and
liabilities of domain name holders , the first step of entering into the
e-commerce.
2. The law even stays silent over the regulation of electronic payments gateway and segregates the negotiable instruments from the applicability of the IT Act , which may have major effect on the growth of e-commerce in India . It leads to make the banking and financial sectors irresolute in their stands .
3. The act empowers the Deputy Superintendent of Police to look up into the investigations and filling of charge sheet when any case related to cyber law is called. This approach is likely to result in misuse in the context of Corporate India as companies have public offices which would come within the ambit of "public place" under the Act. As a result, companies will not be able to escape potential harassment at the hands of the DSP.
4. Internet is a borderless medium ; it spreads to every corner of the world where life is possible and hence is the cyber criminal. Then how come is it possible to feel relaxed and secured once this law is enforced in the nation??
2. The law even stays silent over the regulation of electronic payments gateway and segregates the negotiable instruments from the applicability of the IT Act , which may have major effect on the growth of e-commerce in India . It leads to make the banking and financial sectors irresolute in their stands .
3. The act empowers the Deputy Superintendent of Police to look up into the investigations and filling of charge sheet when any case related to cyber law is called. This approach is likely to result in misuse in the context of Corporate India as companies have public offices which would come within the ambit of "public place" under the Act. As a result, companies will not be able to escape potential harassment at the hands of the DSP.
4. Internet is a borderless medium ; it spreads to every corner of the world where life is possible and hence is the cyber criminal. Then how come is it possible to feel relaxed and secured once this law is enforced in the nation??
The Act initially was supposed to apply
to crimes committed all over the world, but nobody knows how can this
be achieved in practice , how to enforce it all over the world at the
same time???
* The IT Act is silent on filming
anyone’s personal actions in public and then distributing it
electronically. It holds ISPs (Internet Service Providers) responsible
for third party data and information, unless contravention is committed
without their knowledge or unless the ISP has undertaken due diligence
to prevent the contravention .
* For example, many Delhi based newspapers advertise the massage parlors; and in few cases even show the ‘therapeutic masseurs’ hidden behind the mask, who actually are prostitutes. Delhi Police has been successful in busting out a few such rackets but then it is not sure of the action it can take…should it arrest the owners and editors of newspapers or wait for some new clauses in the Act to be added up?? Even the much hyped case of the arrest of Bajaj, the CEO of Bazee.com, was a consequence of this particular ambiguity of the law. One cannot expect an ISP to monitor what information their subscribers are sending out, all 24 hours a day.
* For example, many Delhi based newspapers advertise the massage parlors; and in few cases even show the ‘therapeutic masseurs’ hidden behind the mask, who actually are prostitutes. Delhi Police has been successful in busting out a few such rackets but then it is not sure of the action it can take…should it arrest the owners and editors of newspapers or wait for some new clauses in the Act to be added up?? Even the much hyped case of the arrest of Bajaj, the CEO of Bazee.com, was a consequence of this particular ambiguity of the law. One cannot expect an ISP to monitor what information their subscribers are sending out, all 24 hours a day.
Cyber law is a generic term, which
denotes all aspects, issues and the legal consequences on the Internet,
the World Wide Web and cyber space. India is the 12th nation in the
world that has cyber legislation apart from countries like the US,
Singapore, France, Malaysia and Japan .
But can the cyber laws of the country
be regarded as sufficient and secure enough to provide a strong platform
to the country’s e-commerce industry for which they were meant?? India
has failed to keep in pace with the world in this respect, and the
consequence is not far enough from our sight; most of the big customers
of India ’s outsourcing company have started to re-think of carrying out
their business in India .Bajaj’s case has given the strongest blow in
this respect and have broken India ’s share in outsourcing market as a
leader.
If India doesn’t want to loose its
position and wishes to stay as the world’s leader forever in outsourcing
market, it needs to take fast but intelligent steps to cover the
glaring loopholes of the Act, or else the day is not far when the
scenario of India ruling the world’s outsourcing market will stay alive
in the dreams only as it will be overtaken by its competitors.
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