Certificate Course in Cyber Laws at Mangalore to commence from January 2007 with an Elective on Banking

Certificate Course in Cyber Laws at Mysore to commence from December 2nd, 2006

Members of ITPF to get special rebate for Online Cyber Law Courses at Cyber Law College

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You be the Judge.... ITA-Amendments..."Tightening of the Laws" or "Criminal Friendly".

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Social Networking Websites to be barred from US Schools?

In what is termed as an attempt to protect Children from the ill effects of the Internet, US is getting ready to pass a law titled "Deleting Online Predators Act" (DOPA). The effect of the act is to bar certain websites from being accessed from Schools and Public Libraries receiving Government funding. The sites which would be affected would be those sites which are allowing building of online communities and exchanging personal profiles. In particular web content including "commercial Web sites that let users create Web pages or profiles or offer communication with other users via forums, chat rooms, e-mail or instant messaging." would be the target of the legislation. ..More

Indian Pseudo Cyber Security Activists..all set to play a fraud on the society

Two new legislations being contemplated in USA indicate the raise of new thoughts in Cyber Space regulations which will in due course contribute to the cumulative knowledge of  "Cyber Jurisprudence". The first is the raising demand for "Mandatory Monitoring of ISPs".

While the countries with stringent records of Privacy Protection and Freedom of Speech are reconciling to the fact that in the emerging terror stricken world there is a need for new "Jurisprudence" where "Curbing of some freedom" is essential for protection of democracy, it is strange that in India there is an attempt to provide a better shield to the Intermediaries made possible by the Indian Pseudo Cyber Security Activists who are projecting the amendments as beneficial to the society. It is therefore with pain that we must say that the attempt is a fraud on the Indian society....More

Are Hyderabad Police partners in an illegal activity?

A Times of India Report states that it is common in Hyderabad for people to approach private so called "IT Security" companies to investigate cyber crimes. Not withstanding the success stories narrated in the report, it needs to be recognized that this trend of private investigation is dangerous and equivalent to private "dadagiri".

It is also objectionable that such companies should call themselves "IT Security Companies" or "Ethical Hacking" Companies, since they are actually "Private detective agencies" using the same tools which the criminals use such as password stealing etc.

If the TOI report is true, then these IT Security companies must be having access to the IP addresses of Internet users from the ISPs which is a privacy invasion.

Unless Government of India comes out with a legislation that allows existence of private detectives and empowers them to gather information from the ISPs and to undertake "Hacking for investigation", these activities have to be dubbed as illegal.

While I welcome the views of the e2Labs founder that private sector should assist the Police in Cyber Crime investigation, they have to be careful in not taking law into their own hands. This is precisely what seems to be happening in Hyderabad. It will not be long before some of these ethical hackers or the companies they are engaged in turn into e-extortionists themselves.

I demand that Hyderabad Police take necessary legal action on such companies based on the report. If not, public will only assume that the Police are hand in glove with the private operators and deliberately flunking investigations so that public may use the services of the private operators. Such a situation also makes public to assume that the Police are getting their mamool from these companies for diverting business to them where as in reality it may just be their inability to handle such investigations... TOI Article

"Learn to Unlearn", the first principle  of "Cyber Jurisprudence

An interesting legal development in USA involving a law suit in physical space over a dispute of a virtual property has attracted attention of Cyber Law specialists. A case has been filed by a Pennsylvania resident Marc Bragg against San Francisco-based Internet game company Linden Lab and its president and CEO for alleged conversion, fraud, unjust enrichment and breach of contract and for allegedly violating several California laws.

This case will throw up interesting discussions on the nature of virtual property and transactions in which virtual acquisitions are in dispute.

We need a fresh thinking on most of the disputes and we should "Learn to Unlearn" our physical society concepts. This is the first principle in the development of "Cyber Jurisprudence"... More

e-Extortions..Punishable in India under Information Technology Act

There is a raging debate in India about cyber crimes and the legislative environment. Media is full of reports that the Government of India is “Tightening the Laws” to protect the industry against Cyber Crimes such as data theft which are frequently reported in the country. These reports refer to the proposed amendments to ITA-2000 based on a report that was submitted last year by a committee constituted for the purpose. In the midst of these orchestrated campaign that the proposed amendments to ITA-2000 will meet the needs of data security in India, there is also a concern whether crimes such as e-extortions which are surfacing today are adequately dealt with in Indian law.

Looking back at the time Information Technology Act 2000 was drafted, crimes such as e-Extortion could not even be envisaged. It must therefore be appreciated that either by accident or design, the law was intelligently drafted so as to cover futuristic crimes... More

Nasscom is failing in its duty

Nasscom is the national association of software companies in India. For many aspects, Government considers Nasscom as the representative of the IT industry. Also  when any reforms are meant for the ICT sector, the opinion of Nasscom becomes a key input. Nasscom Chairman is often taken into confidence when important decisions that affect the Cyber Regulations in the country.

In our considered opinion, the Government of India is making a serious mistake in allowing for the amendments to ITA-2000 go through without further major debate on the final version which will be tabled in the Parliament.

Nasscom headed by Mr Kiran Karnik. Nasscom has already taken a public stand on the issue saying in a press release that “Nasscom welcomes the Amendments”

It is our request that  Mr Kiran Karnik should take personal interest in making the final draft meant for approval of the parliament available for a prolonged debate in the public domain before any action is taken....More

RIAA Hesitant to face Court battles

It has been reported that RIAA has recently walked away from tow cases against individuals namely Warner v. Stubbs and Marilyn Barringer-Thomson. Speculation is that RIAA was afraid of losing the case.

What the MCIT Rejected

To appreciate the folly of the Government in suggesting amendments to ITA-2000 with an ulterior objective settling scores with the Police, it is necessary to also take a look at the suggestions made by Naavi.org which of course were not to the liking of the so called "Expert" committee. Had some of these suggestions been considered, the amendments would have been meaningful. Perhaps MCIT has no vision beyond consulting Nasscom where there appears to be a serious dearth of ideas. (These suggestions were made before the expert committee finalized its views). Suggestions

IBM Sues Amazon on Patent Issue

In what could turn out to be an interesting but society threatening patent suit, IBM has sued Amazon for patent infringement in resepct of certain basic processes of doing business on the net. It is expected that the patent could affect other e-commerce companies also and IBM claims that many other companies have obtained the license while Amazon has refused to obtain the license.Article in washington Post

China set to remove anonymity on Blogs

The Internet Society of China has recommended to the government that bloggers be required to use their real names when they register blogs, state media said on Monday, in the latest attempt to regulate free-wheeling Web content. Report in news.com

If however this is restricted registration of bloggers, there is no cause for concern since the registration of websites is already governed by similar laws across the globe.

Copyright Redefined

"Posting article text violates copyright, even if the text is very short and the accompanying link drives traffic to the publisher Web site". This is the net effect indicated by the decision of Microsoft to withdraw  all links to cached and non-cached articles from French and German-language Belgian newspapers from its Live Search engine and the news engine Newsbot. This follows the law suit filed by Copiepresse. Google faces a similar copyright-related lawsuit over links to articles from Agence France-Presse articles.

Some may feel that Microsoft which itself is under fire for its copyright policies does not deserve any sympathy. But, if Web has to survive as an "Information Super Highway", it is necessary to reject this view. The concept of Fair use as a part of Copy right is part of the society’s right over the individual’s right and cannot be diluted.

In order to prevent individual courts in different countries taking contrarian decisions in this regard which create confusion it is necessary to amend the Indian  copyright law to specifically mention that posting of extracts and hyperlinks on the web is a "Fair Use" under copyright act.

It must be remembered that India is planning a new law on Digital Copy rights and this aspect has to be taken into consideration when the law is drafted.

E-Governance..Investment Required in Education

The introduction of digital signature use in India  by a mandatory provision in several Government transactions and the expectations that Magistrates will start using digital signatures to sign orders shortly brings to focus the need for urgent education of the users in Government sector to educate the concerned individuals.

One of the practical difficulties in this regard is that there are a very few reliable trainers in this field and they are in the private sector. We have indicated in these columns that even the Certifying Authorities and the Ministry of Information Technology themselves are not clear on many of the legal issues and hence are part of the misinformation that prevails in the market.

Naavi and Cyber Law College has been in the forefront of such education and has been conducting many awareness building lectures, workshops and seminars all over the country. In the coming months, this effort needs to be multiplied several times even if we need to reach the bare minimum level of education required in the e-governance sector.

The tragedy is that though the Government allocates crores of rupees to e-Governance budget, the money is spent only in acquisition of computer hardware and a little on software. Investment on education is very little. This makes it extremely difficult for professional workforce to be built up for this important social obligation.

It is our observation that most Judicial Academies and Police Departments do not have the budget to organize seminars in a professional manner and hence settle for a few free lectures of an on from experts.

Unless this trend changes, we have to settle for continuation of Cyber Law Ignorance in the Government sector which will lead to more problems in the coming days.

It is now understood that the Government of India has allocated Rs 4.5 billion for the current face of digitization of the courts in India. It is suggested that at least 10 % of this is reserved for education and training.

Digital Signatures..Confusion Confounded

The introduction of digital signatures in Indian Corporate sector for signing of tax returns and company act returns has introduced a new dimension of ambiguity. The digital certificates in India currently carry the name and e-mail ID of a person as the identity parameters. Hence a digital certificate is considered bound to the person with the specific e-mail ID. However before issue of the certificate, the Certifying Authority verifies the physical address and hence it may also be considered as part of the identity parameter locked to the certificate.

A question arises when a person is signing "For and On behalf of a Company", is he affixing his personal signature? or the signature of the Company? If a person is a director in multiple companies, does he use the same digital certificate for all the different signatures or does he obtain different digital certificate for each of his representative capacity? Obviously the signature of an individual cannot bind the Company and also signature of one company cannot bind the other. If the digital signature is indistinguishable for each of the signatures then it must be accepted that it is not possible to conclude if the person has affixed a signature in one capacity or the other.

Hence it follows that a person has to carry multiple digital signatures one for each of the representative capacities in which he is expected to affix his digital signature.

Is this practical? Or Does it require an amendment of law" or a change in the Digital Certificate configuration?..are the new areas of debate that we can start in India now. Of course the debate will be meaningful only when people understand the nuances of the digital signatures which will take some more time.

Until then we need to live with the confusion.

Related Article: BS

Orkut Now Faces charge of charge of Indecency and Solicitation

Orkut which created controversy with its hate-India communities, is now facing charges of carrying indecent and solicitation content in over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.  Ministry of Information Technology, is reportedly filing  an affidavit with the Maharashtra High Court in the case on hate-India communities and added that soliciting would also be dealt with.

This is good news. But similar action may be required amongst other sites on indiatimes.com which also abounds in sex related clubs.

 Details in HT

 

What to do when your mobile is lost

Loss of mobiles has become so common that the Police at some places are discouraging registration of complaints. Mobile service providers are also not keen to prevent theft of mobiles by installing necessary software for IMEI tracking. Perhaps even the mobile manufacturer is not worried since a lost mobile means one more sale. This educative article in BL explains what you need to do in case of loss of your mobile...Lost your mobile phone?

Privacy Rights Need to be sacrificed in the fight against Terrorism

In the aftermath of the Orkut case where a debate on the need to block terrorist websites has been raise there is a case for  sacrifice of  privacy rights by individuals. While advanced countries in the so called democratic world are tightening their laws, the Indian pseudo secularists are showing their ignorance of reality by supporting causes of terrorism in the guise of human rights, privacy and freedom of speech none of which mean anything to the terrorists. Related Article in BL

Canada Proposes Clean Air Act

Canada has passed a separate legislation to bring down green house emissions. Is this a support of the Kyoto protocol on Carbon Credit or is it a move away from it? is the ensuing debate. Readers of this website will also wonder, how is this relevant to Naavi.org?. The relevance comes from the fact that Digital Society Foundation which is taking on the social service activities of Naavi.org plans to use the Kyoto protocol to develop projects that bring the benefits of the digital society to the rural farmers. It is trying to initiate e-governance projects which enable farmers to accumulate carbon credit which can be encashed in the Carbon Credit exchanges online. A preliminary discussion in this regard has been started with the Karnataka Government. It is proposed to organize a virtual think tank for the purpose for which interested parties are welcome to join....Report : Some figures on the benefits of  kyoto protocol

Judicial Revolution on cards

With details of 30 million cases in more than 17000 courts in India to be made available on line with magistrates using digital signatures to sign orders etc, the Indian judicial system is set for a revolution that can bring unprecedented changes in India. This will be a boon to the litigants who often are kept in the dark about the developments of a case for which they are now dependent on their advocates. Similarly, many times even copies of judgements do not reach the litigants. The current move will therefore be one of the most important e-governance developments undertaken in India which can reach the common man. More

Should there be a ban on Sting Operations?

The recent spate of media sting operations and the observation of the Supreme Court that Sting operations aimed as a commercial exercise is not to be considered as public interest has raised interesting issues in the freedom of press in India. The observation followed some sting operations that were carried out by other agencies on an outsourced basis. In the light of the above observations, the Government is also reported to be thinking about bringing in some regulations in the Broadcast Bill which is likely to be taken up for discussion during the next session. Report in NDTV :ohmynews.com

You be the judge.... amendments to ITA-2000..  "Tightening of the Laws" or "Criminal Friendly".

During the last week, there have been umpteen number of press reports and blog reports in India and abroad that India is "Tightening its Cyber Laws", "Data Theft will now have stringent punishment" etc.  These reports were based on a PIB press release which the media  reproduced blindly.

Naavi.org has become the rare minority which has tried to clarify that if what we are talking are the amendments proposed by the "Expert Committee" which gave its report in 2005, the Government of India is committing a fraud on the public by calling the amendments "Beneficial to the community". The entire media is making a fool of itself by believing the Government propaganda and carrying reports under individual journalist's byline towing the Government line.

I hope that this Diwali, the festival of lights would remove the darkness surrounding the Cyber Law Awareness in our country and bring better understanding of the needs of the Digital Society....More

Beware of this Digital Certificate Issue Blunder

It has been brought to our notice by a customer of Safescrypt that the dealer of Safescrypt used his personal e-mail address and downloaded the private key himself and handed over the digital certificate and private key to the client. This is highly irregular since the user would be liable under Section 72 for misrepresentation . Since the private key has been compromised even before delivery the client would also be liable under section 42 if he does not immediately notifies the CA. The certificate has to be rejected forthwith. I have also come across another CA in Bangalore who's agent was creating a new e-mail ID for their client himself and downloading the private key. This appears to be a general practice being followed by many CAs. If this practice is not stopped forthwith, the system of digital signatures is likely to be rejected by the judiciary. The Government which has decided to make digital signature mandatory before the market is ready and even before the CAs themselves understand what is a digital signature should answer how the public should respond. The ministry of IT which is keen to push through the fraudulent amendments should focus on education of the CAs instead.

CA's are also misleading the public that what they are delivering with a USB token is a "Secured Digital Signature" where as it is not so. Does any body care?... when there are 21 lakh digital certificates to be issued with an annual revenue of around Rs 210 crores to be shared by three CAs in India..because the use of Digital Signatures is mandatory by Company Directors for submission of MCA 21 returns and filing IT returns. This is one of the biggest scams in India in recent times... Will any journalist probe?

 Naavi

Nasscom Joins the Disinformation campaign.

It is disappointing to note that Nasscom has come up with a press release welcoming the proposed amendments to ITA2000. Contrary to the spate of press reports based on the GOI press relase, the said amendments are likely to dilute the information asset protection available to industry players and help criminals to evade arrest and prosecution. If the amendments become a law, the Karan Bahree case in Gurugaon, HSBC case in Bangalore and Summit HR case in Chennai will all become impossible to prosecute. Cyber Crime Police stations will also become redundant. Despite knowing the consequences certain vested interests are pushing the legislation and un informed journalists are unknowingly being used to propagate a fraudulent legislation. Journalists should wake up. Nasscom Press Release

Here is an open letter from Naavi to all professionals.. Please express your views on the proposed amendments

"Digital Society Day" Celebrated at Bangalore

Digital Society Foundation and Cyber Law College commemorated the introduction of the birth of Digital Society in India on October 17, 2000, with the introduction of ITA-2000. Declaring "October 17" as "Digital Society Day",  Honourable Justice N.Kumar presiding over the function urged the legal community to take suitable steps to educate themselves on the complicated technology aspects of the law so that cyber crime cases can be properly dealt with by the Courts. R.Srikumar, CMD, KSPHC, speaking on the occassion spoke on the evolution of the Cyber Crime Police station in Karnataka after ITA-2000 was enacted and highlighted the benefits. Naavi the chairman of Digital Society Foundation spoke on the need to remember the important event of ITA-2000 which provided legal recognition to the Digital Society in India and also announced several activities that the Trust has planned to take up. He also announced that three awards have been instituted by the trust to further the cause of awareness building. He also offered that  Digital Society Foundation would conduct a "Cyber Law Awareness Lecture Series" to create Cyber Law awareness in Law students. He also indicated that the Trust desires to undertake programmes to reach out to rural farmers and bring some benefits of the Digital Society developments to them.

A panel discussion on "ITA-2000 and Prosperity of Digital Society" was also conducted during the occasion in which apart from Justice N Kumar and  R.Srikumar, Mr Sanjay Vir Singh, DIG, Cyber Crime Police Station, Mr Subimal Bhattarjee, Cyber  Security Consultant and Dr Sateesh Kannegala, of IBM participated in the discussions. Report in DH

Naavi speaks on podtech.com on Digital Society Day

Should we welcome the amendments to ITA-2000?

 When the Government announces that they are making amendments to a law to improve its effectiveness, one should normally welcome it. Industry should be happy. But in the case of ITA-2000, since the draft of the amendments which was under consideration is known, there is a fear that the same draft may be pushed through into legislation.

The concern is that the draft was clearly not capable of protecting the Information Asset owners. It was criminal friendly and anti Police. If therefore the draft has not changed, then the passage of the amendments will be a disaster on the IT companies and BPOs in India.

 The acid test for the effectiveness of the amendments would be whether it would  strengthen the hands of the law enforcement in cases such as the Gurgaon Fraud or HSBC Fraud or the Summit HR Fraud. Let us put the amendments to test once the details are available.

For example, the proposed amendments suggested modification of Section 66 to say that the offence would be recognized only of "Dishonesty", "Fraud" and "Lack of Permission" is proved and not otherwise. So the accused in the BPO cases have several loopholes to escape even arrest for investigation let alone conviction.  Further Orkut cannot be convicted either for showing the burning Indian flag or for hosting pornographic content since the revised Section 79 would make them immune under any law unless "Connivance" and "Abetment". Any BPO which leaks out data would not be liable under the new Section 79 unless the data leak is proved to have been done with "intent to cause injury". ..so much for data protection and privacy protection.

(These comments are based on the now available draft. Let's hope that the cabinet has already considered these objections and made necessary changes..naavi)

Amendments to ITA-2000 Approved ???

It is reported that the amendments to ITA-2000 has been approved by the GOI. It is to be presented in the parliament in the winter session. Full details are awaited. Report in BS

It is not clear if the amendments approved are as per the expert committee's report submitted last year which has been criticized by naavi.org as Criminal friendly.

If no substantial change has been made to the amendments as proposed, then we can say that the IT industry has been taken for a ride by diluting the existing law. Nasscom would be making a mistake in supporting the amendments if it is in line with the expert committee report.

It is also to be noted that the said report bypassing the CARC is ultra vires the ITA-2000. We need to wait for the full details before further comments can be made in this regard.

Report in CIOL : EFYtimes.com :TOI

Naavi's earlier comments

Digital Society Day

Cyber Law College and Digital Society Foundation will be commemorating "October 17" as "Digital Society Day" to recognize the seminal changes that the day brought to the Indian society through a function on October 17, 2006 at Bangalore. The function will be held at Century Club, Cubbon Park, at 6.00 pm.  Honourable Justice N Kumar would as Chief Guest preside over the function. Karnataka's IT Secretary  Mr M N Vidyashankar would also grace the occasion along with many other dignitaries. The function would be followed by a panel discussion on "ITA-2000 and Prosperity of Digital Society".

 It may be recalled that October 17, 2000 was the day when electronic documents were given legal recognition in India with the notification of Information Technology Act 2000. It was on the same day, a means of signing of an electronic document was also given legal recognition in the form of digital signatures and many other changes were brought in to the extent that we can say that a "Legally Recognizable Digital Society was born in India on October 17, 2000".

Those interested in attending the function may e-mail their request to dsfoundation@gmail.com or naavi@vsnl.com

E-filing of returns for cos’

The central government, on Friday (October 14, 2006), made it mandatory for all corporate entities to file their tax returns through the electronic-filing system. E-filing of returns — a mechanism developed as part of government’s efforts to foster “friendlier” relations between tax authorities and assesses — was formally launched by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. ...DH

It is understood that the recent mandatory provision for MCA 21 filings with digital signatures has created a need for 21 lakh digital signatures to be issued across India for around 7 lakh companies. The latest provision on tax filing may add to the rush to obtain digital signatures. Since the business is worth about Rs 225 crores business every year to three Certifying Authorities in India, it makes a huge commercial sense for the mandatory introduction of digital signatures.

However the Government should consider if the market is prepared..Are the users aware of how to use Digital Signatures safely? Are the CAs prepared to service the demand? Are the CAs following proper procedures for the issue of Digital Certificates?. In our opinion, the Government is rushing into a premature implementation of   mandatory use of digital signatures and this is likely to back fire.

Circular: IT Return : Notification

Haryana Police Bungle..BPO closes its Operations

It is reported that the a BPO in Gurugaon has decided to shut down its operations since it is unhappy with the way Haryana Police has handled the Data Theft Case. The BPO has expressed its disappointment that the Police have not been able to understand the gravity of the offence and decided to move its business to Australia....Details in India daily

This is the typical effect of an inadequate law and order management in Cyber Space and should be an eye opener for Police in other parts of the Country.

Will Chennai be the next such victim?

It may be recalled that Naavi.org had highlighted the need for Police to understand BPO crimes of the IP Theft variety while discussing the Summit HR Case in Chennai.  If Police in Chennai does not wake up, soon Chennai may also be called a state where law and order in Cyber Space is inadequate and foreign companies may decide not to invest in Chennai despite the IT minister being from the state.

Does IT Act address seriousness of cyber crimes?

Speaking at a short course on preventing and detecting cyber crimes in banks organised by the Institute of Criminological Research, Education and Services in Chennai,  former Supreme Court judge S Mohan said that the act failed to address the seriousness of cyber crimes. He suggested that  the Information Technology Act should consider futuristic trends of cyber crimes and evolve according to the changing pattern of crimes. Report in HT

Naavi's school of thought however is that section 66 of ITA-2000 as it exists today covers most of the Cyber Crimes that are recognized today. Further  since crimes  under other statutes committed with the use of Electronic documents can be tried along with offences under ITA-2000, the existing law may not hinder any proceedings in respect of Cyber crimes. We may however agree that perhaps some improvements can be made particularly on inclusion of Cyber Stalking, Cyber Squatting and Cyber Terrorism. (Refer: Naavi's Suggested Amendments)

If Suggested Amendments to ITA-2000 are accepted..Orkut would feel better!

The Orkut's anti India community issue has attracted worldwide attention. Thanks to the  action taken by an enterprising lawyer from Aurangabad and the quick decision by the High Court bench, Orkut is now under the scrutiny of ITA-2000. Though it is an intermediary and is eligible for certain protection against any offence committed by its members, once a notice has been served, it is under obligation to take suitable steps to stop any illegal activity that may be going on on the web space under its control. It would be interesting to observe that had the amendments to ITA-2000 proposed by the "Expert Committee" last year had been accepted, Orkut could have breathed easy....More

Related Article in inforworld.nl

Do We Need a "Content Controller" for Web in India?

The PIL at Aurangabad High Court on Orkut has inter-alia requested for the appointment of a "Controller" as a part of the remedy sought. This naturally raises the issue of  what should be the structure of such a "Controller"? , "Will it amount to Censorship?" and "Is it practical"?. At the same time, it also raises the issue of "Should such regulation be done only by the Government?" or "Can there be Self Regulation"? or "Can there be NGOs who can act as catalysts to meet the requirement without being considered as a Censor Board"?. Lastly, if India objects to "We Hate India Campaign", how do we deal with "We hate Pakistan campaign" ?...More

Re-enactment of  Yahoo-Memorabilia case in India?

Google's community  Orkut which is already accused of hosting pornographic information is now accused of hosting anti-India hate communities. A PIL has been filed by an advocate Yugant R Marlapalle in Aurangabad and an  order was issued by Justice A P Deshpande and Justice R M Borde in this regard on 9th October 2006 directing the Maharashtra government to issue notice to Google for alleged spread of hatred about India by its social network service `Orkut'. It was alleged that a picture of burning national tri-colour, bearing anti-india messsage, has been put on www.Orkut.Com and a community "We Hate India" has been created on the site, according to the the petition. The petition has also appealed to the government to appoint a 'controller' under the Information Technology Act-2000 to regulate all such communities being in operation on the internet.

It may be remembered that some time back, French Government fought with Yahoo in the well known Nazi Memorabalia case which became a landmark case in Cyber Jurisdiction. Is Orkut Case similar?..Or More?... Details

Punjab Police to set up Cyber Crime Police Station

Punjab Police is taking steps to set up the State's first Cyber Crime Police Station at Mohali. It is reported that the Police are being trained for the purpose by some experts.  Report in zeenews.com

Haryana Police Need to Consult Cyber Law Specialists

Gurugaon is a stones throw from the Indian Capital. But if this report in TOI is true, Haryana Police appear to be  thousands of miles away from Cyber Law knowledge and preparedness to handle Cyber Crimes. According to this report in TOI, Haryana Police have drafted the services of DSP (Traffic) to handle the complaint from an IT Company about data theft and booked the case under several wrong sections. Some time back, there was another report about formation of a multi member Cyber Regulations Appellate tribunal which also appeared to be Ultra-Vires the ITA-2000. A query made to the authorities to indicate how this order was passed has not evoked any response. Perhaps a lot more has to be done by the Haryana Government to maintain law and order in Gurugaon Cyber Space.

Misconceptions on ITA-2000 Amendments..Continue

A few days back, we had brought to the notice of the public, an article in Times of India which had tried to build a case for the early passage of the proposed amendments arguing that it would benefit the handling of Cyber Crimes. We had at that time pointed out that this was a misconception and the proposed amended act will actually dilute the current act. Now an article has appeared in Indian Express which expresses similar sentiments.

It is our considered opinion that the proposed amendments, if not substantially modified will be a fraud on the digital society in India. The worst suffers would be IT Companies and Women. Journalists need to understand the implications of the amendments before hailing the amendments based on the views of persons with vested interests. In this process, they are becoming pawns in the hands of these interests and would be responsible for the fraud on the community if the proposed amendments follow the expert committee's recommendations. ..Detailed Article