Internet is today an essential business tool for all professionals. It is therefore common for most employers to provide online access to their employees. Such access may be used by them for sending and receiving e-mails, surfing the web etc. It is always a debatable point whether the employee can use such facilities for personal purposes and if so within what limits. 
Similarly it is also debatable whether the employer can spy on the e-mail messages of his employees. 
In the absence of a specific understanding in the employment contract or the working conditions, this issue will always remain a contentious issue. 
In one sense, it is similar to the facility to receive personal telephone calls or mails at the office telephone or  address. If the usage in snot unreasonable, there is no dispute in this regard today. Should therefore be a lenient view on the use of Internet by employees? Is this a relevant issue when the connected society is blurring the division of office and home and an employee is always accessible to his work desk through the Internet and therefore there is no distinction between his personal and office time. 
These are issues to ponder. 

Related Article at medical design online.com

Detailed Story in EONews.net

In the aftermath of the controversy sorrounding the treatment provided by Apollo Hospitals at Delhi to the former Cabinet Minister, Mr Kumaramangalam, the accountability of the medical professionals has been brought into sharp focus. This debate on the limits upto which the medical professional is responsible for his judgements will further accentuate as the Medical Insurance Industry develops in India. ..What are the concerns before the medical community in this regard? What should they do now?.. Read on...

The Law Society in UK is trying to draw up a guideline for online practice to remind the practitioners of their responsibilities and legal liabilities in providing online consultancy. A discussion is also on as to the utility of the "Disclaimers" against the provisions of the  Unfair Contract Terms Act. 

Details at register.com

SEBI the apex securities transactions regulator is contemplating "New Disclosure Norms "for the IPO s of dotcom companies. Indian Financial markets which were earlier lead by the more traditional P/E concepts have been thrown off-track by the valuation methods adopted in the American markets  which have started influencing the Indian markets. One of the prime concerns of SEBI is to arrive at a format by which different revenue models adopted by dot com companies can be reported in the pre-IPO documents. A starting point for such an exercise is to define "dot-com" companies as a distinct entity. We need to watch how SEBI would classify "Click projects" of "Brick Companies" which may be a tricky area. 
An area of  concern is the possibility of SEBI bringing in regulations that would affect the viability of the dotcom projects. 

More in Financial Express

The Cyber world is watching with its fingers crossed,  the outcome of the case between the innovative company represented by Napster which has a huge community backing  and the might of the music industry represented by RIAA. At stake is the fate of technological innovations that change the lifestyle of the society and the natural human tendency for self preservation. 

If one looks back on the development of technology, some may say if "Recording" had not been developed, every musician would have minted money in holding live concerts. The Recording industry however will quickly add that  it is only the "recordings" that have enhanced the value of a musician and created a value which was otherwise not there. We should spare a thought now, whether we are facing the same situation in respect of the Napster case. 

Moreover, just as "Recording" is a technology that can be used for more than music recordings, file sharing technology also has many applications beyond  music sharing. Killing the company that has popularized the innovation may not be in the   best interest of the community. 

The Napster case has the potential to define the principles of Jurisprudence for the Cyber society and will have its impact on the  history of Cyber Laws one way or the other.

Related Story in ZDnet India

The much publicised Patent case between Amazon  and  Barnes & Noble is now before the US Court of appeals. This would be a landmark case in which some basic principles of "Patentability" is likely to be set.  The point of dispute would be whether a basic Internet process such as one-click  purchasing mechanism can be patented and whether the Community can be deprived of its unfettered use. If the principles of technical jurisprudence gains ascendency, the Patent rights of Amazon may be protected. Otherwise, theremay be some conditional grant of rights to Amazon. Either way it is an   interesting decision  to watch. 

Related Story in Bloomberg.com

Whenever a new  Law or Regulation is contemplated, there is always one section of the society which feels, that the Laws should have "More Teeth". A similar cry has already started in respect of Cyber Laws in India even before the law is fully in place....
Details

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The UK Scene from ZDNet
 

In a welcome development , the Finance Ministry issued a notification  widening the meaning of computer software to include IT-enabled services, making it eligible for tax breaks. 

According to a notification issued by the CBDT, the activities which will be covered include back-office operations, call centres, content development and animation, data processing, engineering and design, geographic information systems, human resource services, insurance claim processing, legal databases, medical transcription, pay-roll, remote maintenance, revenue accounting, support centres and Web site services. 

This should be of interest to Portal sites besides companies involved in web designing.

Stung by the previous devastating DDOS attacks and further threats, the  coalition of Internet companies formed following February's  attacks is taking stepsto stop a repeat of such an assault. 

The group was formed when victims of February's DDoS outbreak banded together in a high-tech survivors' support group, advising one another on how to cope with future attacks and calling in experts and allies for help. Its  members include eBay, Yahoo, Check Point Software, Internet Security Systems (ISS), Network ICE and Recourse Technologies. Others of the working group's more than 60 members include Amazon, E*Trade, Buy.com, Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, America Online, Exodus, AboveNet, Sprint and UUNet. 

Can such a collaboration be  worked out between the proud Indian Companies? The proposed CERT Seminar will examine this issue. If you have any vies on the Seminar or the proposed CERT please contact Naavi. 

More from CNET

In  pursuit of its goal to contribute towards creating a "Responsible Cyber Society" , Naavi.com has promoted India's first Cyber Law Education Center  through www.cyberlawcollege.com. This college will conduct online Cyber Law Courses for which registrations will open from 28th September,2000. The Course will commence from October 7th with the despatch of the first lesson. 

Naavi.com is also in the process of identifying suitable partners for conducting offline courses in India and neighboring countries. 

Naavi.com which was associated with the publishing of the first Cyber Law book in India,  is proud to be part of this yet another pioneering venture  to spread "Cyber Law Literacy" in India. 

More

World's first international treaty on cybercrime, is being drafted by European and US officials in an effort to develop a nuniform Cyber Crime laws. The proposal, calls on countries to pass uniform laws that would, among other things, ban hacking devices and require countries to empower their law enforcement officers to conduct computer and network searches and seizures. 

Related Article in ZDNet

The era of mass customization made possible by Internet has enabled many online shopping centers offer dynamic pricing of products based on preset decision rules. 

This may mean that the pricing may be lowered if the system senses reluctance to buy at a given price. It may also mean that the price may be hiked up if the system spots a price insensiti 
ve buyer. The system should eventually optimize the price of a product based on  the perceived value by the market. It is therefore a welcome step. 
However for this system to work efficiently, the marketers need to capture information on the buying behavior of the public either anonymously or with specific reference to a given buyer. Herein comes the conflict with "Privacy". Unless you tell the salesman who you are and what you want, you cannot get a better than average deal. 

Unless  you are in the market to buy a specific product, you may however consider this information private and confidential. If the marketing agency knows your preferences, they may structure specific offers which you may thank them for. Probably, you may have to be prepared to sacrifice some your Privacy rights if you want to have this privilege. 

Related Article in Mercury Center

At one end of the spectrum of online society needs  is the need for "Non-Repudiable Identity" through Digital Certificates. At the other end is the concern for individual privacy. Can the two needs co-exist? or will there be an eternal fight? To what extent the regulators would be interested in protecting this human right concern when the Governments are often the worst offenders of online privacy? These are interesting questions for Cyber Law observers to discuss. 
The Clinton administration has responded to the concerns of the Netizens by  committing to make government sites P3P(Platform for Privacy Preference) compliant, said Elliot Maxwell, special adviser to the Commerce secretary on the digital economy. 

Related Article in techweb

The CERT co-ordination center in USA has warned that a massive Distributed Denial of Service attack may be looming. The center (www.cert.org) has identified that several computers seem to have been taken over by intruders as revealed by a study of the log records. The CERT has posted an advisory indicating the precautionary measures to be taken by network managers in this regard. 

Related article in Newsbyte

As  more and more online share trading web sites come up in India, it has attracted the inevitable attention of SEBI. SEBI first stepped in when Harshad Mehta opened his web site a couple of years ago, arm twisting him  to stop providing equity research reports on the web site. ... 

Now that SEBI is trying to regulate online trading sites,  (when it has demonstrated its own incapability to secure its site from hackers. There has been even mistakes in the prospectus documents displayed in SEBI site in the past) there is danger ahead for the dot com industry in India. If they donot wake up and act, we may write the obituary of "sharekhan.com", "india infoline.com", "indiabulls.com", "wallet watch.com" etc. VC s should also take note that the valuations of such companies  will have to be significantly downgraded. SEBI will introduce its own "Licensing and Harassing" systems to make such businesses unviable. 

More

Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler of the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., has  upheld the rights of the users of Key word based Search facilitiesby non trademark holders.This business practice  offers advertisers the ability to display specific banner ads whenever users enter selected search terms, including their competitors' trademarks. 

More

On the eve of the new TLD s being approved by ICANN, it is reported that a spate of new trademark registrations are happenning at the US Trademark office. The registrations include several domain  names in the yet to be approved TLDs. 
Is it not an attack on the rights of the genuine Domain name registrants in the Cyber society?. In what way is it different from "Cyber squatting"? Should we therefore call this "Trademark Squatting"?.
I welcome your views. Send it today. I reserve my personal comments in this regard and would come up with a detailed comment later.

Related Story in Wired.com

"It is reported that an anti smoking crusader in UK has hacked over 100 Government sites to attract attention on his campaign. This is a case of the Cyber Society being held to ransom for the benefit of the "Non Cyber Society". 

Details from Newsbyte

"The members of the Cyber Society namely the Netizens have their "Rights" such the as the "Right to Exist in Peace", "Right to Freedom of Speech", "Right to enter into legally enforceable Digital Contracts", "Right to own and maintain Cyber Properties"," Right to carry on Online Business or Professional Practice" etc. The State may have the right to "Taxation" provided it is providing any "Community Services" such as "Cyber Policing", "Cyber Judiciary", etc. 

"If the Government has to ensure "Harmonious living " in a society which may consist of disparate interacting elements, there is a need for some "Norms" acceptable to the society which will be complied with voluntarily by a majority of the members. 

"More

"An interesting debate has ensued in USA about "Who is the Boss-ICANN or the Federal Government?". It is being alleged that  ICANN being a non statutory body, has no right to create "Laws". Several technical arguments are  being provided to prove that ICANN has no jurisdiction to create Laws that are considered binding on the US Citizens. 

"This issue needs to be discussed in the larger context of the current status of the Internet. 
More
September 13, 2000

"Mr Inderjit Sodhi is a Netizen like you and me. He has however shown what an alert Cyber detective can do. He has unearthed a chat transcript which he points out indicates a "Hacker" from Pakistan planning to attack Indian sites. 

"Mr Inderjit says "While working on the article on computer security, i came across an intercepted chat session(14 days) between two hackers. Surprisingly, one of them (or both) are of indian or pakistani origin. This is indicated by the use of Hindi/urdu in conversation. It also seems that there are more indians/pakis in this, such as h4ree (it comes to haree in 'elite' language, the language hackers use). It is worth taking note than at least three times, they discuss taking out on India... I am also posting these for third party reference here " 

"But what is the remedy against the minor in an enemy country? Can you make his father vicariously responsible ? Can the Indian Government take any follow up action? I request some experienced lawyer to explain the possibilities.
Congratulations Mr Inderjit. Keep up your goodwork.
See here for more details on the CERT initiative

"The combination of   the CERT and National Cyber Army can provide effective cover for the Cyber establishments such as “Online Trading Sites”, ”Online Banks” and other “Online  E-Commerce Services” which may be with private people but are sensitive to the economic stability of the country.

"Read the Detailed Story

"In continuation of the series of Cyber Terrorist activities  unleashed on Indian Cyber space, it was reported that the  site of SEBI was hacked into last week by a prankster who just inserted links to a porno site. Considering the damage that could have been made by altering the site selectively, the act appears to be that of an  individual fun hacker rather than a trained cyber terrorist. The incident however underscores the very lowe level of security levels our websites enjoy today. 

"Following the earlier note on the need for a "Computer Emergency Response Team" (CERT) in  India,  Naavi.com has received several encouraging responses and even offers from "Cyber soldiers". An important issue raised by one of the respondents was that the CERT should avoid Government funding and should be supported by the IT industry.  While raising the Cyber Army should be the responsibility of the Government,  CERT can of course can be privately maintained. 

"As a first step, Naavi.com has opened a section on guiding Website owners on Cyber security supported by voluntiers who would answer queries from the public. Security specialists who are interested in sharing their advise are requested to inform Naavi so that the queries if  any can be directed to them.