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Year 2007 in Retrospect
Another eventful year 2007 is behind us. The digital society in India entered its 9th year of existence. The year marked some new beginnings and also opened up some concern areas. Let's try to recall some of the important developments in the field of Cyber Law in India and also in the history of Naavi.org.
ITA 2000 Amendment
One of the biggest events of the year in terms of Cyber Law in India was the the development regarding the proposed amendments to ITA 2000. The ITA Amendment Bill 2006 was pushed through the cabinet committee and all but passed despite the persistence opposition from Naavi.org and a few other discerning observes.
The recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee finally pulled the curtains down on the persistent efforts of the "Intermediary Lobby" to get the amendments passed with the help of a few friendly journalists projecting the amendments as a positive development.
The story has been captured through a series of articles at Naavi.org and in the tracing of the history of Cyber law developments in India captured here.
Social Networking Sites
The social networking sites such as Orkut.com, Youtube.com etc continued to make news with members misusing the facilities to disturb the society. There were reported copyright violations in Brazil to which You tube responded by removing the offending videos after being banned in the country. Thailand and Turkey also had objections about their leaders being denigrated on the net. India also had its share with denigration of Shivaji rsulting on attacks on Cyber Cafes. Digital Society Foundation, (www.dsfi.in) also raised the issue of denigration of Mahatma Gandhi on You Tube and filed a PIL in Karnataka High Court.
Virtual Life woes
Interesting Legal issues were raised with cases such as "Theft of Virtual Furniture in a Virtual Hotel" coming up for consideration in a Court in US underscoring the need for development of new thoughts on Cyber Jurisprudence. (Another virtual Crime at secondlife.com)
Cricket World Cup
The year 2007 was the year of the Cricket World Cup and the unnatural death of Bob Woolmer during the tournament called for the use of Cyber Forensics in the murder investigation. (Bob Woolmer's Murder and Cyber Forensics)
Swisscash.net
Naavi.org warned the investors in India in advance about the impending fraud at Swiss Cash.net. However SEBI failed to take timely action and crores of rupees were lost by Indian investors in this global scam. (Swiss Cash..a scam brewing )
National Cyber Security Thoughts Seeded
Digital Society Foundation (DSFI), a trust promoted by Naavi celebrating the Digital Society Day broght focus on the needs of National Security of Cyber Space. With the exposure of e-mail passwords of several Government officials by a Swedish hacker Dan Egarsted and US efforts to ser up a Cyber Command DSFI raised several issues for consideration by the Information Security Community (Indian National Cyber Security...Challenges) and pressed for an Indian National Cyber Security Force.
Copyright Regime
As could be expected, Windows Vista raised concerns of the society with some bizarre licensing terms some of which were changed in response to the public opinion. There were concerns about the DRM regime (Freedom Movement for Digital Independence of India) being used unfairly used.
Cyber Policing Raises Concerns
Pune Police putting a Bangalore software professional in jail for 50 days without trial because Airtel gave a wrong IP address information brought the dangers of irresponsible Cyber Policing. Several cases of Cyber Crime police stations refusing to register cases were also noticed pointing out the need to redefine the role of Cyber Crime Police Stations if they have to remain more effective in the era of Cyber crimes emerging as a hybrid of ITA 2000 and IPC offences.
SRO for BPOs
Nasscom set up a Self Regulatory Body (SRO) for the IT and ITES industry to address with issues such as data security etc.
Cyber Law College expands
Cyber Law College continued its expansion with another offline center being added at Mangalore in association with SDM Law College in additon to Bangalore, Hubli and Mysore. A franchisee also started operating in Ahmedabad. Additionally Cyber Law College opened up the Webinar front with Cyber Law sessions being conducted by Naavi for ITPF, as well as University students of Baroda and Anand. The headquarters of Cyber Law College moved to Bangalore during the year with the shifting of residence by Naavi.
Cyber Law College also initiated a International Cyber Law Research Center to encourage its students to undertake further study of Cyber Law developments in other countries.
Naavi honoured
PR Syndicate a community of professionals in Chennai honoured Naavi with the "Dena Bank Award of Excellence in Public Life" calling him "Cyber Law Guru".
Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center
In continuation of its activities in support of a "Responsible Cyber Society", Naavi started a human rights initiative to provide assistance and guidance to Cyber Crime victims with the setting up of the Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center (CCC-RAC).. During the year a Cyber Law Consultancy Centers were also opened at Mysore and Mangalore.
Major Cyber Crimes
India saw more of "Cyber-Economic Offences" with Phishing frauds on ICICI Bank and HDFC Banks as well as credit card frauds particularly involving booking of air tickets. CCC-RAC also reported job frauds and online broking frauds which are likely to dominate in the coming years. The liabilities of the Banks and adoption of insecure policies for Internet Banking and the reluctance of Cyber Crime Police to take up cases have become a matter of concern to the Indian Cyber Crime observers which need to be addressed in the coming years.
CISSP forum and ISO27K forum has come out with a note on the top IS risks in 2008 which may be of interest to the readers.
Naavi
January 02, 2007
