Did Microsoft and Intel Cheat the Public?

It is now being revealed in an investigation that when Vista OS was released,  Microsoft and Intel agreed to put a "Vista Ready" label on Intel 915 motherboards though it was known that it did not have the required graphic capability. This was done to enable Intel protect its quarterly earnings though both companies knew that they were taking the public for a ride. The responsibility for the decision to pass 915 chipset as "Vista capable" is now taken by Microsoft though Intel was the main beneficiary. To curb such obnoxious practices in businesses, both the giants need to be punished appropriately.  Detailed report at news.com

Cyber Law observers may note how e-discovery provisions and  undigitally signed e-mails have been used as evidence in this case.

Blocking of You Tube Turns into a DOS attack

Pakistani ISP PieNet attempted to block You Tube in the country on the directions of the Government. It is however understood that the  blocking was tried to be achieved by re-directing the youtube incoming traffic back to you tube. This became denial of service attack shutting the site off for two hours and eventually leading to the You tube blocking out Pakistan to continue its service.

Though unintended the incident demonstrates the lack of vision of the technical personnel who tried to handle the blocking of the site through reflecting back the incoming traffic.

Report in blorge.com

"Global Warming Conference" and Nigerian Fraud

Two left Trade Union leaders  P K Ganguly and M K Pandhe  who wanted to participate in an international global warming conference but ended up being cheated of 300 pounds.becoming victims of the Nigerian e-mail scam...report in ibnlive.com

"Second life" could be used by Terrorists

Cyber war specialists have now come to recognize the potential of the "Virtual Game" sites such as the "Second life" to be misused by terrorists. The problem arises due to importance given by these websites on the "Privacy" of individuals which provides a good camouflage for the underworld to operate as online avatars and use the freedom for their nefarious activities. Security specialists should therefore try to find out solutions to prevent such misuse... Related Article

Copyright Needs Boundaries

The controversy of whether the online game "Scrabulous" violates copyright of the owners of the toy "Scrabble" raises the issue of the limits that needs to be placed on the concept of Copyright. May be the idea of the scrabble game might have been used in Scrabulous. But is the online version a clone of the "Expression"?. If this argument is accepted then use of online Cricket or Football or Baseball or Chess would also be adaptations of the original expressions. There is need for the society to progress forward without such narrow interpretation of the copyright provisions. Creating an online version of a "game"  idea should be considered as either as a fair use or as a matter outside the Copyright  and falling under  the patent right. Report in gulftimes

More Cyber Crime Units to come up in Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu Police which has made substantial progress in the prosecution of Cyber Crimes has announced that they would open more Cyber Crime Police stations in the State. The DGP of Tamil Nadu has stated that within the next six months, Cyber Crime Units will start functioning in Madurai and Coimbatore and in due course every district will have a Cyber Crime unit. Naavi.org has been urging for setting up of one Cyber Crime unit in every district of India and welcomes the initiatives taken by Tamil Nadu. Hopefully this will be an inspiration for other states also to take similar actions. The then Home Minister of Karnataka Sri M P Prakash had announced some time back that a Cyber Crime cell would be started in Hubli. We hope that this will become a reality during the Governor's rule. Report in Chennaionline

Chennai Police Score Another Cyber Crime Conviction

Close on the heels of a confirmation of Section 67 (ITA 2000) conviction in an appeal court, Chennai Police obtained an important conviction in the celebrated case of Dr L Prakash who had been accused of supplying obscene electronic pictures to a foreign wbsite. This case was registered in 2001. He has been awarded life sentence.. ..Report in CNN-IBN : About Sentence..report in NewsToday

Zapak.com accused of Trademark violation/Defamation

In an interesting observation, it is reported that the Reliance controlled Zapak.com uses online game situations to boost Reliance brand image and decry Vodafone and Airtel. Report in ET

Phishing is Hacking

The power of Indian Cyber Law is manifest in the definition of the Section 66 offence which covers a wide range of Computer and Internet Crimes. The recent concern of the Netizens is the "Phishing Attacks". Most of the time the attack ends up with a fraudulent withdrawal of money froma Bank account. In view of the end result we often see only the "Fraud Dimension" of the Phishing attack.These attacks consist of the following components.

1.Forging of e-mail headers

2.Spamming under the false name

3.Creation of pseudo websites/web page which appear similar to the better known Bank site

4. Using the stolen password for entering the real Bank system to withdraw money.

Under Section 66 of ITA 2000, these could be recognized as an offence not withstanding the offences that may be recognized under IPC. Victims would rather prefer action under ITA 2000 since it also simplifies the recovery of damages through adjudication proceedings... Naavi

Chennai Cyber Crime Police achieve another landmark

on 5th November 2004, Chennai Cyber Crime achieved a historical conviction under Section 67 of ITA 2000 in the Court of the Assistant Metropolitan Magistrate under case no 4680/04.  This was the first conviction under ITA 2000 and the accused had been sentenced to a total of 5 years of imprisonment which included 2 years under Section 67 of ITA 2000, 2 years under Section 469 of IPC and 1 year under Section 509 of IPC. The case hinged on the evidence produced by Naavi under the Cyber Evidence Archival Center (www.ceac.in) . The case had been investigated meticulously by S Balu the then ACP in charge of the Cyber Crime Cell, Chennai.

The case established several guiding principles  namely the investigation and conviction simultaneously under ITA 2000 and IPC, acceptance of evidence under Section 65B of IEA, Acceptance of evidence from CEAC, recognition of the concept of "Forgery" in the sending of a message under a different person's name as well as the forensic aspects of a crime committed through electronic documents.

The accused had preferred an appeal and the City Civil Court delivered its judgment on the appeal on 23rd January 2008 confirming the conviction and completely vindicating all aspects of investigation in the land mark case. The sentence however was reduced from 5 years to a modest 8 months and the accused has been released since he ahs already served the sentence.

Chennai Cyber Crime Police can now be proud of being the first Cyber Crime Police Station in India to successfully defend the conviction under ITA 2000 on appeal.  

 Copy of the judgment can be accessed here (PDF document 8MB)