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International Institute of InfoTech Law launched ..Seminar on 24th June cl_editorial_06/edit_june_03_iiitlaw.htm"> Research Proposals Invited

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Offline Course in Cyber Laws in Chennai

Cyber Law College which is running virtual courses in Cyber Laws and offline courses in Bangalore in association with KLE Society's Law College will shortly commence an offline course in Chennai in association with a franchisee viz Rishab Technology Solutions. Initially the Certificate Course in Cyber Laws will be offered with  classes on Saturday and Sunday. The Course is meant for Lawyers, Chartered Accountants and other IT Professionals interested in Cyber Law. Classes are tentatively scheduled  to commence during the first fortnight of  June  2006.For more details contact Naavi

Cyber Evidence Nails Coca Cola

A Delhi Court awarded compensation to a consumer who found insects in a sealed bottle of Sprite. In the trial the Court relied on a certified Cyber Evidence to prove that the brand "Sprite" belonged to Coca Cola. Report in Sify.com : Brands of Cocacola

Indian Student in USA Arrested

According to a report emanating from USA, Mr Vikram Buddhi, a 34-year-old graduate student of Industrial Engineering and a teaching assistant at Purdue University has been arrested and is being tried on 11 criminal counts of threatening the President, the Vice President, members of their families and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He is alleged to have posted messages on the Internet urging perople to kill Mr George Bush...Details in Chennai on line

Cyber Law Awareness at NIT s

In continuation of its mission to spread Cyber Law Awareness in India, Cyber Law College has now embarked on conducting a series of workshops in NITs in association with See Change Consulting, a soft skills training company in Chennai. As a part of the NPIU initiative two such programmes were conducted during this month at NIT Warangal and NIT Jaipur. More such programmes are planned in the coming months to take the knowledge of Cyber Laws to the technical institutions. The three day workshop is aimed at faculty of TEQUIP colleges and has been well received.

"Morphing" is "Hacking" in India

The case of a school boy in Ahmedabad who has been arrested for having morphed the photo of a girl class mate on an Internet downloaded pornographic picture and circulating it amongst his friends has reopened the debate on the definition of "Hacking" in India. In this offence, apart from section 67 of the ITA-2000, the question arises if any "Information Residing inside a computer" was "Altered" with the "Intent to cause" "Wrongful harm" to "Any person". It appears that all these ingredients can be found in the Ahmedabad case and hence Section 66 of ITA-2000 can also be invoked in the above case. This also provides a clarification to one of the points that was raised in our previous article "Hacking" ..In India, It's Different..Let is Retain it , where we discussed the issue of "Hacking" into "Own Computer" in the context of joint ownership such as in a partnership firm. The Ahmedabad case rightly focusses on the fact that if  "Wrongful harm" can be inflicted on "Any Person", by "Altering" information in a computer owned by the accused, that action eminently qualifies to be called an offence and charged under Section 66 of ITA-2000. By the same argument, a graphic designer who designs a fake currency using software on his computer is also guilty of "Hacking" or a photographer who morphs pictures of celebrities with members of the public for a fee (which can be used to commit a fraud or defamation) is also guilty of "Hacking". Report in IE

"Hacking" ..In India, It's Different..Let is Retain it

Section 66 of ITA-2000 which defines "Hacking" has been a subject of discussion particularly from the point of view of its distinctiveness to similar Computer Misuse" provisions in other Country legislations. This article revisits the section with particular reference to hacking (as per section 66) by Employees, Directors and Partners. It also discusses whether one partner of a firm can allege hacking of the partnership computer by the other partner. ..More

Security Hazard in Computerized Environment

A recent incident reported from a Hospital in US, has brought to focus the security hazards of computerization in the health industry. It has been reported in the instant case that a patient in a hospital was wrongly given a bar coded wrist band that indicated certain contra indications about his diabetic condition. The mistake could have caused administration of wrong drugs which could have been fatal to the patient.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when one analyses the risk of computerization in a critical industry like the Hospital industry. This is not to say that computerization does not have its advantages. In fact use of IT in Health care is of critical importance to the future generation. However what is important to note that in other forms of E-Commerce, a mistake or a "Security Lapse"  could lead to a financial loss while in the case of the Hospital industry, it could be a "Life and Death" problem.

So, How does the industry respond to these concerns of the health Industry? What is the role of "Tele Medicine Act" which is in the back burner in the regulator's chest?.. are some issues we need to ponder upon....More

Use of Trademarks in Search Engine Key Word Purchase Legal?

In what could be a very significant decision that could change Trade Mark Rights in Cyber Space, a U.S. federal court ruled this week that the purchase by Canadian pharmacies of search engine keywords using the name of rival Merck's "Zocor" cholesterol reduction drug does not constitute trademark infringement. This is a reversal of several earlier decisions in this regard. Readers are invited to also refer to the service www.verify4lookalikes.com which sought to provide disclaimer cover to such instances. The present decision however indicates that the primacy of the meta society Trade mark rights over the rights of Netizens has been diluted. This could be a forerunner to the complete disassociation of "Trade Mark Rights" as a "Right in the Meta Society" from "Identification Rights in the Cyber Society" which could take different forms such as domain names, e-mail IDs etc besides the right to register some body else's trade mark as a key word search parameter on which some body else can tag their promotional ads on. It is however possible that this decision may be over turned any time in future and let us watch the reactions of other courts in US and elsewhere on this very interesting development...Details in news.com