Cyber Space which was born free is today a fertile ground for all kinds
of regulations. India is unfortunately in the forefront of such restrictive
legislation through the proposed Convergence Act. This Act when passed
would make every Net activity a subject matter of "Licensing" and "Enforced
Code of Conduct". Licensing will simultaneously or soon, be followed by
"Taxation".
Any violation of the licensing requirements or non payment of tax could
impose financial or other punishments including imprisonment. Free use
of imprisonment for ambiguous "Copyright" violations all over the world
including USA has made life of a Netizen a nightmare.
Cyber Laws are a delicate set of laws that can impose physical imprisonment
for offences which are entirely "Virtual". There is an inherent contradiction
in this concept and as time passes more and more people will get disillusioned
with the legal system that affects the Cyber Space. Mishandling of the
regulations by people who donot understand the nature of the Cyber Space
has only contributed to alienation of the Netizen population from the regulatory
regime.
The seriousness of the problem can be seen from the emergence of a community
of Netizens who have expressed their desire to "Declare Independence" (Visit
http://www.atlantys.org/).
naavi.org has always held that for any regulation to be effective, it has
to have the acceptability of a large section of the community. Passing
a regulation with the arrogance of the "Power to Enforce" will be a bad
strategy as it would encourage Cyber Naxals and Cyber Terrorists to set
up activities that defy authority of the Meta Society Governments.
We the Citizens of India as elsewhere have already seen the disastrous
experience of pursuing policies that are at variance with the needs and
aspirations of the community. I hope we donot repeat the same mistakes
on Cyber Space.
The need for the hour is therefore development of a model of "Cyber
Democracy" which does not confront with the Meta Society Governance but
blends with it. We must recognize that an individual can have dual citizenship
of the Meta Nation where he lives as well as the Cyber nation. He will
own properties in the Meta space as well as the Cyber Space. He will have
legally enforceable rights in the Meta Space as well as the Cyber Space.
The two nationhood can co-exist if we recognize and respect that there
is no need for the Meta society to expect that the Cyber Society can be
subordinated and colonized.
The present legal interpretations where the Trade Mark Registrations
are extended into Domain Names, Copyright on Music Cassettes to "File Sharing
Systems" etc. are an attempt to subordinate the Cyber Society to the meta
Society. The arrest of the Russian Software professional in USA for developing
a software that can incidentally violate DMCA provisions, the arrest of
a School boy in Delhi for indecent writings on the web etc are instances
where the Meta Society has over stepped its enforcement obligations on
the Cyber Space activities.
naavi.org is therefore interested in developing an acceptable model
of Cyber Democracy which is built on the principle of Rule of the Netizens,
by the Netizens and for the Netizens. The concept envisages first a creation
of Netizenship through a registry of Netizens who carry a Digital Identity
through a Digital Certificate. This group would elect through the Net appropriate
representatives to govern themselves. The scope of activities of the group
would be restricted to Virtual properties and Virtual activities. There
can be a law limited to the Virtual existence and properties.
The difference that we advocate is that unlike the Atlantys.org scheme,
the suggested Cyber Democracy scheme should not declare independence from
the existing legal regimes as this is confrontationist and inconstant
with the practical requirements. On the other hand the object of Cyber
Democracy should be to create a self governing system for itself and to
minimize the influence the Meta Society laws on the Cyber society.
I would invite suggestions and participation from the public in India
and elsewhere on the feasibility of this proposition as a voluntary organization.
Naavi
August 7 2001
