Mandates of WTO and Data Protection
"The proposed change in the Information Technology Act, 2000 for conferring data protection is not only unwarranted but is equally based on misinterpretation of the provisions of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 and the TRIPS Agreement. "..opines Praveen Dalal, the Delhi based Advocate in this inscisive article in which he examines the provisions of TRIPS and the need for Data Protection being sought through ITA-2000...Detailed Article
Online Gaming..The Next Addiction?
After Pornography, online gaming is likely to be the next in the list to be categorized as an "Internet Evil". San Francisco is reportedly considering a ban on Children below 17 years playing online games in Cyber Cafes...Details in NBC
Law Firm Report in Support of Bazee.com
According to this report in Business Line, the law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. firm has prepared the study for The Internet & Online Association, which says that ITA-2000 suffers from a few definitional problems by not properly clarifying terms such as terms `network service provider'; `due diligence'; and `transmits'. The report is said to recommend that the directives of the European Union on Electronic commerce could be a guiding point for gathering international practices.
However as long as publishing and transmitting obscenity is an offence, it is difficult to understand how legal protection be given for a business model which promotes such activities merely because the business is in electronic form. Practice of some form of "Due Diligence" is therefore essential.
The concept of "Due Diligence" is by nature an "Evolution" of "Industry Practices" and it is perhaps unnecessary to seek it to be defined by law. Weakening this concept is not in the long term interest of the industry. ..Related report in BL
Don't Call them Domain Squatters
The response in the registration of dot in domain names after the new system of generic names were introduced appears to have unnerved a few. For any observer of the Internet it was clear from the beginning that there would be a large response for generic name registrations which are being conveniently termed as "Cyber Squatting" by some.
It is necessary for every one to learn to live with names with dot in extension though there may be some issues of confusion with earlier registered names...Details
Half day Workshop for Cyber Cafe Owners in Chennai
Cyber Law College under the umbrella of Cyber Society of India and in association with PBSC Spectacular Solutions Ltd will be conducting a half day workshop for Cyber Cafe owners in Chennai at Umapathy Hall, Anand Theater Complex. Registration is Rs 250/-. Time : 10.00 am to 1.00 pm. Workshop will be conducted by Naavi and discuss Cyber Laws applicable to Cyber Cafes and the Compliance measures to be taken by them. Contact Mr Adhivarahan, 94442 75315.or Naavi : 98410-30123.
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Naavi has been nominated to the panel of Experts for evaluating Content for Manthan Award from the States of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Andamans and Nicobar. Suggestions for the award may kindly be sent to Naavi for evaluation as per the terms of the award. |
New cyber security protocol for online banking
A patent pending New Protocol referred to as the "Delayed Password Disclosure" protocol created by Markus Jakobsson and Steve Myers of Indiana University was revealed by the researchers in an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on 19th February. This is expected to improve safeguarding of credit card numbers, bank passwords and other sensitive information for those who surf the Internet using wireless connections.
The protocol may have application in any environment where "mutual identity authentication" is required according to the researchers. This protocol could also help to prevent consumers from getting tricked by the phishing frauds which are common in the banking circles. According to the researchers, the safety measures also might help stop organized crime and terrorist-funding groups from collecting large numbers of fund-transfer account numbers that could be used for money laundering.
The protocol essentially involves sending of an encrypted message by the originator without sending the password. It would be decrypted by the receiver using the password which is expected to be available to them since the originator is a client. On receiving the decrypted message, the originator will then send the password to confirm that he has the knowledge of the same password which the receiver...Details in eurekalert.com
ATM Frauds and Their Prevention
With the increase in the use of ATM frauds, a concern is experienced in the Banking circles about the possible decline in the usage of ATMs. Mr Praveen Dalal discusses the preventive measures that can be taken by Banks to reduce the frauds and increase the confidence of the public on the ATM system...Detailed Article
BPO s ban Cell Phones
It is reported that many BPOs in Bangalore have opted to ban use of Cell phones both with and without Camera at workplaces. It is interesting to note that the high tech industry has taken the same measures as some schools or colleges have taken with regard to the use of Mobiles. Probably this is to conserve employee time which may otherwise be misused in Mobile conversations though the ostensible reason is to protect confidential customer data which of course is essential. However, it is high time that industries consider solutions such as deposit of Cell phones at a Cell Phone deposit center with paging services for employees so that the employees are not denied of access in case of emergencies...Details in TOI
40000 dot in domain names registered
It is reported that 40000 dot in domain names have been registered mostly as pre-registered domain names when the dot in registration started on February 16th. Without doubt a large number of these names and nearly every name will be in conflict with existing domain names leading to a dispute from day one. It is absolutely essential that domain name owners start the day with the blanket of the service www.verify4lookalikes.com for the minimal protection they may need. Otherwise they may have to later spend a lot of time and money in defending their names once a brand value is built around it.... Related Article in FE
CyLawCom .A New Dimension in Banks
Amongst the various measures to be taken to strengthen the Indian Banking system, Reserve Bank of India is reportedly contemplating introduction of the Basel II compliance regime by 2007 albeit in a simplified form...After the introduction of the Sarbanes Oxely Act (SOX) in USA, and mandatory compliance provisions, the scope of Cyber Law Compliance had expanded substantially in the corporate world with accounting compliance requirements for the US regime. This included many Indian entities which were subsidiaries of the US Companies. This changing needs of the industry has thrown a challenge to the IT World to tune their software tools for the Banking industry as well as other Corporates to be Cyber Law Compliant...More
National Workshop on Cyber Laws at Hubli
G.K.Law College, Hubli, one of the many Law Colleges of the K.L.E.Society in Karnataka, successfully conducted a one day workshop on Cyber Laws in Hubli on 13th February 2005. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Khaja Peer, Vice Chancellor of the Karnatak University and was attended by a large number of teachers from various Law Colleges in Karnataka and Students of Law. Mr S.I. Munavalli, Chairman of K.L.E.Society, Dr M.K.Nagaraj, (I.P.S.), Dr K.R. Aithal, Dean, Karnatak University and Professor G.B.Patil, Principal G.K.Law College graced the inaugural session.
M/S Naavi, Dr Vivekanandan Director Nalsar University, Hyderabad, Dr Ishwar Bhatt, Department of Studies in Law, University of Mysore and Dr J.S.Patil, Professor and Dean,, Gulbarga University were amongst the distinguished speakers on the occassion.
Has Tatas taken a responsibility they cannot handle?
The Indian ISP service is a near monopoly with Tatas having taken over both VSNL and Dishnet. Unfortunately Tatas have found totally ill equipped to handle the ISP service and the sufferers are the public. Firstly there is inefficient service capped by a disgusting help desk. Now there is also a feeling amongst the public that Tata Indicom is actually cheating them with a boosted up band width usage.
The undersigned has many times discussed with Dishnet about such a possibility. Now Mr Kris deva elaborates his experience (I would like all to read this detailed review) almost indicting Tata VSN of fraud.
To add to what he says, I can say that over the last one month VSNL has disabled my "View Usage" facility which has resulted in my incurring a higher than allowed bandwidth usage during the month.
Since there is no proper organization of ISP consumers who can question this inefficient monopoly, Tatas is getting away with murder of the consumer. I wish consumers in Chennai at least to come together and demand a better service from the ISP providers.
I believe that ISP s such as VSNL are happy with Pornography, Virus and Spam on the Internet so that they can charge the customer more for his unused service. To be fair to Dishnet, I however feel that they were relatively better than Tatas in terms of service and response even though they also fell short of my expectations.
ICICI Bank Clarifies on the Reported Vulnerability
Following the report lodged by a Netizen cited earlier in the day, a quick response has been received from ICICI Bank which is reproduced below. It is brought to the notice of the public that sometimes mischief mongers may try to over play an issue either partially true or blatantly false and try to create panic. This is a sort of "Cyber Terrorism" which needs to be guarded against. ..February 11, 2005
"Dear Sir/ Madam
This refers to your mail below addressed to Mr. K. V. Kamath. We would like to clarify here that there is no problem with the ICICI Bank ATM/Debit card. We have checked the transactions of ICICI Bank cards on ATMs of SBI. The ATMs do ask for the PIN to be entered by the customer. The problem, if it has occurred in the past, could be due to a technical glitch on certain SBI ATMs. We have spoken to SBI and they have confirmed that all their ATMs do ask for PIN to be entered by the customer. VISA has also checked the transaction logs for the last fifteen days and confirmed that they have not received any such transaction on their network. As an added precaution, ICICI Bank has put in an additional check at its end for any such transactions coming into its network. Our cardholders can safely use their card on the ATMs of ICICI Bank as well as Banks participating in the VISA/NFS network.
We thank you for writing to us and giving us an opportunity to clarify.
With regards,
Sharon Mascarenhas (Ms)
Service Quality Manager
Customer Relations - Director's office"
Serious Vulnerability Reported in ICICI Bank ATMs
In what could be described as unbelievably shocking news, it is reported that a serious vulnerability exists in ICICI Bank ATM system where by, its ATM cards may be used on SBI ATMs and the system works without a PIN. This information is provided here as an alert in view of its importance and is yet to be confirmed. We have sought the comment of ICICI Bank and will post their reply when received. It is advised that ATM users may exercise caution without resorting to any panic reactions since there is a possibility that this could be an aberration without wide ramifications...February 11, 2005
CySi Introduces CyLawCom Certification for Cyber Cafes and Web Publishers
Cyber Society of India (CySi) of which Naavi is the founder Secretary launched two CyLawCom products for Certification today in a Press Conference in Chennai. The products are CylawCom audit and certification for Cyber Cafes and CyLawCom audit and Certification for Web publishers...February 9, 2005
More information on the launch is available here.
Report in HT ::: Report in Hindu BL :: News Today :: webindia123 :: New Kerala : ET
Advertising Risks
Advertising in the information technology era has certain risks over and above what we are used to recognize in the Meta Society. The effects have been felt in the form of promotion of obscene information such as in the case of Bazee.com and in causing annoyance through Spam as in the recent observation of the Supreme Court. Mr Praveen Dalal examines in detail the risks associated with Advertising, in this article.
Info security is the in-area
Software sector is not yet saturated as yet. There are opportunities aplenty waiting to be tapped. One such area with enormous employment potential for young software engineers is information security, according to N A Vijayashankar, Director of Cyber Law College.
News Today Report :: IE
Supreme Court Questions Mobile Spam in India
In response to a PIL objecting to the increasing spam on Mobiles, the Supreme Court is reported to have issued notices to the Mobile operators and the Government that steps should be taken to prevent the mobile database being used by marketing agencies for unsolicited marketing messages. Report in HT
"False Sense" of absolute power causes Cyber Crime Tendency
Analysing a few recent crimes in Chennai, Hindu reporter Karthik Subramanian highlighted the feeling that it is the false sence of power in front of a Computer that encourages a Cyber Crime tendency in certain cases. He also highlights the usefulness of the services of Cyber Evidence Archival provided by www.ceac4india.com... Detailed Report in The Hindu
What is Obscenity?
Answering a question raised by a Netizen, Praveen Dalal clairfies what is Onscenity. In view of the general interest for this question, opinion of Mr Praveen Dalal is made available here...Detailed Reply
What is Contempt Law?
Answering a question raised by a Netizen, Praveen Dalal clairfies what is Onscenity. In view of the general interest for this question, opinion of Mr Praveen Dalal is made available here...Detailed Reply
Delhi Government ban on Mobile Phones
In an obvious fall out of the DPS saga, Delhi Government has banned use of mobile Phones in all Government Schools. With several institutions including Anna University in Chennai having already taken similar decisions, this is becoming a trend. This is indicative of how technology growth would be curtailed if appropriate security measures are not implemented in time...Report in Sify
Reliance Infocomm Charged for Mobile ad
In what can be termed as an extremely interesting development, Reliance Infocomm has been charged for an advertisement on the mobile Network violating the law on pre-natal sex determination .Details in Hindu of 2/2/2005
With increasing number of Cyber Crime Cases coming up for judicial review including cases like Bazee.com, there is a discussion brewing in legal circles about the "Compoundability of Offences under ITA-2000".
In the interest of a good academic discussion coming forth in this aspect, this preliminary piece of article is presented which argues that none of the Chapter XI offences under ITA-2000 are compoundable under the current provisions....Detailed Article
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