Are Good Days Expected for Dot-Com Again ?
Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce (GBDe)
meeting in Manila last week, has felt that the fundamentals of the Cyber
Economy was strong and could sustain a growth of 30% to 40 % per annum over the
next decade, nearly 10 times the traditional growth rates. ..But is
this only a marketing dream? or Can it be closer to truth?.. is what is
challenging the minds of Internet Economy watchers.
...The moot question is, Has the increasing Cyber
Regulations contributed or is likely to contribute significantly to the
revival of Internet Economy?..it appears at first glance that "Cyber
Regulations" have not been an unbridled success in promoting Consumer
confidence and better E-Commerce. Some of the problems is in the Enforcement
which is weak and often mis directed. Some are due to the legislation itself
being faulty or lacking in vision.
Perhaps Nasscom has to undertake a new perception study....
Detailed Story
Here
Dutch Court Gives A Hope to Naptster
In what could be a
land mark reversal of thinking in the Copyright arena, an
appeals court in the Netherlands overturned a lower court ruling that had held
file-trading liable for copyright infringement. That decision--which still
can be appealed to a higher court--was the first anywhere to protect a
file-swapping company against copyright liability.
If nothing else, this decision should give a
moral strength to non US Courts to decide independently on Cyber Law issues
without being influenced by US Court decisions.
At a time when US Copyright Zealots are
trying to make "Reading a Book Aloud" an offense, this Dutch court decision
comes as a breath of fresh air.
More Details
at News.com
Related Article on Adobe E-Book Restrictions
Internet Telephony Ready to Hit the Market in India
April 1st 2002 would be a much awaited day for the Convergent Society watchers
in India. For the first time now, the convergence of Internet and Telephony
would be given legal blessings with the introduction of Internet
Telephony. ...Net4India has been the first ISP off the block and has
already announced the scheme for the PC to Phone long distance calling....
...It is now upto the other ISP s to catch up with this
blazing start of Net4India. The consumers can expect innovative schemes,
introductory promotions and falling costs to make communications convenient and
less expensive.
Detailed Story
The Story of Spam
From a friendly inexpensive marketing tool, Spam has
come a long way since its origin in 1994 to be one of the most hated problems of
E-Mail usage. Laurence Canter, considered the father of Spam
recounts how it all started in an interesting interview.
Detailed
Story in News.com
The Legal Status of E-Mails
Recently, a case has come up before the Plymouth Supreme Court ( Shattuck
v. Klotzbach) concerning the legal validity of a series of e-mails
exchanged between a prospective buyer and a seller of a property which the
seller tried to repudiate later.
....Ever since the Information Technology Act-2000 became
effective in India, users of E-mail in India have been concerned with the legal status of
E-Mails....
Detailed Story
Let's First Protect Our Home Front
CBI is reported to have arrested a 16 year old teenager for spamming a UK site.
The action has followed a complaint from abroad.
What we do not understand is why CBI is not similarly interested in
protecting Indian Citizens from Cyber Porn spam emanating from abroad.
Is a "Foreigner's" complaint more precious for CBI to follow up?..
than the interest of Indians?.
More Here
Business Opportunity With Global Patent Prospects
Naavi has been pursuing two global patents for web services
which have since passed international search phase. The search has confirmed
non existence of prior art and therefore the possibility of final patent being
granted are very high.
Granting of patents means that the services would be
available for exploitation world over without competition.
Additionally, Naavi is also pursuing a third patent which
is in the provisional stage. This is a "Brick and Click Solution" of immense
potential.
These when exploited would be the first dot-com projects in
India to be backed by global patents.
Now Naavi is looking for VC s or Companies who are
interested in associating with him in harnessing the business potential of
these patents.
If any Company or investor is interested in associating
with Naavi for developing these projects the modalities can be discussed for
mutual benefit.
More Details Here
Block Spam Not Customers!!!
Spam is a growing menace every where....ISP s have started blocking SMTP access
to customers of rival ISP s in the guise of prventing SPAM. This however only
helps to block genuine customers having multiple ISP accounts. It does not
prevent spam which often originates through international servers.
The anti-customer approach taken by VSNL and Dishnet needs to be
discussed in the context of individual freedom to use an e-mail ID of the
customer's choice.
Details Here
India Calls for Affordable Universal Access
It is reported that the
Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh said at
the World Telecommunication Development Conference-2002 organised by
International Telecommunication Union at Istanbul on Monday that in order to
reduce the ill effects of Digital Divide, there is a need for providing
"Affordable Universal Access"
In order to
achieve this, efforts are required on two fronts. Firstly, the cost of telephone
for accessing Internet has to be brought down from the current levels of Rs 25
per hour to around Rs 2 to Rs 3 per hour, a little below the ISP s cost of
around Rs 4 per hour. The total cost of access would then come below Rs 10 per
minute.
Secondly, the
Cyber Cafe's being "Public Transport" to Internet world need to be encouraged
rather than persecuted as is happenning now.
Hope the Telecom
Secretary would do the needful on his return to India.
Related Article in TOI
Please Do not Play around with Digital Identities
...Now the choice is before you.. either change your name or quit the
house. ...This is what Dishnet is asking its customers to do...
...Now the choice is before you...either transfer the deposit out of my
Bank to or
pay up the loan taken with my competing Bank....This is what VSNL has been
asking its customer to do ..
The mutual blocking of SMTP servers for clients who have multiple access
accounts is ostensibly to prevent misuse of the SMTP server for spamming. In
the process both ISP s are playing around with the "Digital Identities" of
Netizens forcing them to change the identities in tune with the access
accounts.
Details Here
Consumer Protection Under ECT-2002- International Players Beware!
While the intentions behind this jurisdictional freedom assumed by the act is
laudable, it could be a source of frequent international disputes when the
seller takes shelter under the provisions of his country's consumer laws which
are at variance with the ECT-2002.
Details Here
Crimes Under ECT-2002 ..Shades of DMCA ?
What is important to note is that "Selling or using of devices that assist
in breaking of security measures for protecting data", are made an offence under
the ECT-2002.
Vendors of software referred to in the section above who
make it available to the people of the Republic of South Africa will now be
liable for trial as per the jurisdictional coverage envisaged in the Act even
if they are not residents of the Republic.
Hopefully, Mr Dmitry Sklyarov takes note of this provision
and desist from travelling to South Africa!!.
More Details Here
The Dilemma of Teenage Crime
This is the case of a minor boy who once had been a website defacement hacker
and trapped by FBI. The trap involved an invitation to make the boy some thing
of a security consultant for the State Government. Now even though FBI prefers
to let the boy off without pressing of hacking charges, the State Government is
keen on pursuing its charges since the boy has now turned 18.
The case brings out the sociological challenges in handling Cyber crimes. In
India the series of e-mail threat cases that have come to light in recent days
are also similar to this case and raise the issue of how to handle such teen age
miscreants.
Details
in Newsbytes.com here
Governance of the Domain Space ECT2002 Vs ITA-2000
Chapter 10 of ECT-2002 is devoted to defining the envisaged administration of
the dot-za ccTLD so that this country code domain space would be systematically
administered. ..
The policies of the NCST in respect of domain
names in India has failed in protecting the interests of the
Country and its Foreign Exchange revenue and ECT 2002 has reminded us
that we in India also need a "Domain Name Administration Authority"
on the lines of what is proposed in ECT-2002.
Detailed Story
Governance of the Domain Space ECT2002 Vs ITA-2000
Chapter 10 of ECT-2002 is devoted to defining the envisaged administration of
the dot-za ccTLD so that this country code domain space would be systematically
administered. ..
The policies of the NCST in respect of domain
names in India has failed in protecting the interests of the
Country and its Foreign Exchange revenue and ECT 2002 has reminded us
that we in India also need a "Domain Name Administration Authority"
on the lines of what is proposed in ECT-2002.
Detailed Story
Bharti Mobile to offer Browser on SIM Card
In a major breakthrough in the field of Mobile Internet technology, Internet
will soon be available in India on Mobile phones without the need for expensive
WAP enabled hand sets. Bharti Mobile has announced that it would provide Smart
Trust's Wireless Internet Browser in its Air Tel connections, shortly.
This will allow
Net-based services to be offerred to all subscribers.
This
would be a great booster to Convergence and highlights the need to push through
the passage of the pending Communication Convergence Bill at the earliest.
Detailed Story in TOI
British Telecom Set to lose Patent Case against Prodigy?
In what could be a relief to the Internet world, preliminary indications are
that British Telecom may lose the Hyper Linking Patent case against Prodigy.
Detailed Report in law.com
E-Governance Through Legislation-Contrasting Styles ITA-2000 and ECT 2002
What is striking in contrast in this approach of the South African Government is
the Desire to work for International Goals without rejecting National interests
and to set a time frame for not only the Minister in Charge of Information
technology but to the entire Government itself. It suggests a "Broad Global
Vision" and " Extreme Self Confidence".
Details Here
Beware-Mobile Phones are Under Attack!
We are aware of the Trojans and viruses that send out e-mails in our names
carrying objectionable materials.
Now it is reported that hackers and virus writers are attacking mobile phones
and making them do such things as ring up White House and deliver a message from
Osama Bin Laden!.
Next time there is an alleged crime involving E-Mails, it would be necessary for
the law enforcement authorities to eliminate the possibility of such a virus
activity as part of the investigation.
Detailed Report from Economic Times
War Against Terrorism-Al Queda losing on Cyber front?
Concerted efforts by technologists cooperating with the state has enabled the
Police to take an upper hand on Al Queda on the Internet.
Detailed Report in Business week
E-Commerce Law Bill Presented to parliament in South Africa
The South African government has presented its long awaited Electronic
Communications and Transactions bill to parliament. The Bill is a comprehensive
bill which covers not only Cyber Crimes, Digital Signatures, Privacy and Spam
but also addresses the issue of domain name space in the dot ZA space and
consumer protection. The law has also been very specific on jurisdictional
issues and appears to be a "model Law" in many respects.
Look out for more on this Bill at this site.
Steganography- The New Criminal Challenge
Race against Cyber Crimes is reaching yet another technological mile stone with
Steganography, the new technology of "Hiding Messages within images".
Initially when the technology was unleashed a few years back, it was hailed as a
means of preventing copying of picture files from the web in violation of the
Copyright of the owner. It soon became a cherished tool for confidential
communication by terrorists who were otherwise caught by the FBI 's content
monitoring software such as the Carnivore.
The future in
Internet security will therefore be an interesting battle between
those who create algorithms for hiding the data and detecting the
hidden data. After Virus and Anti Virus, Hacking and Anti hacking, it
is the time for Steganography and anti steganography battles in the
Internet space.
It is high time that Indian software professionals
start devoting attention on this field.
More Details here
Task Force Required To Protect India's Internet Number Space
The IP addresses required for internet connectivity are presently based on the
IPV4 system With convergence of Internet and telephony, the system will
choke unless alternate addressing system such as the contemplated IPV6 system is
not developed quickly.
There is an urgent need for India to wake up to the need for ensuring an
appropriate allocation of IP addresses when IPV6 comes through. Naavi.com
urges the Ministry of Information technology to set up a task force immediately
to develop an action plan on this aspect on the lines of the "Spectrum
Committee" envisaged in the Communication Convergence Bill.
More Here
Brussels I Regulation Comes Back To Life.
In December 2000, the council of Ministers of 15 EU states met in Brussels and
passed a joint agreement for cooperation in E-Commerce Law enforcement.
According to the provisions of this convention, consumers residing in the
convention countries who get into a legal dispute with a foreign company when
buying goods online can now have their case heard in their country.
This convention referred to as Brussels I regulation was to come into effect
from March 2001. According to recent reports, the law
has become effective now in all European Union member states, except Denmark,
along with non-EU countries Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Poland and
Switzerland.
Related Article in Europemedia.net
Copy of the Regulation
"UDRP is biased"- Says a Study
The obvious has been restated. A study of all 4,332 UDRP decisions released
before Feb. 18, 2002 suggest that the decisions of the UDRP are biased in favour
of Trade Mark Owners. What is worse is that the bias has also resulted in two of
the arbitrators being able to garner 95 % of business arising out of the
disputes apparently indicating that the bias is having a commercial implication.
Naavi.com has been advocating that the UDRP system is fundamentally flawed as it
favours the Trade Mark owner and discriminates the Cyber Citizen's right to a
domain name even when there is no bad faith. The situation can not improve
unless WIPO accepts its mistake.
Naavi.com urges viewers to take a look at
www.verify4lookalikes.com which is a solution aimed at resolving the "Bad
Faith" issue. The service for which a patent is pending is awaiting large scale
exploitation for want of appropriate sponsors.
Related Article in Globandmail.com
Is Internet Outside US Law?
The celebrated case of Dmitry Skyalov has raised the fundamental question of
whether Internet should fall under the jurisdiction of Meta Society or not.
This could lead to interesting discussion on why and when should laws of one society be
made applicable to another society? Is it because the citizens of one of the
societies are more powerful and can impose that their laws have to be
universally accepted? or Is it because the properties of one society get
affected by actions of persons in the other society? ..And is Cyber Society a
Community entitled to its own process of democratic functioning at all?
The judicial review in this case will also re-open discucssions on whether US
can claim regulatory rights on Antarctica or the Moon or whether US can
take military action against a sovereign states without the intervention of UN
under certain circumstances etc.
Details at ZDNet
Frauds on e-Bay on the rise
Increasing incidents of fraud and sophistication in their execution is creating
concern amongst the genuine Netizens participating in auctions over the Net.
In the light of such reports it is interesting to note that Indian auction site
bazee.com is adopting a promotion strategy on the TV media based on "No payment
on the Net"...perhaps a case of IT security professionals refusing to take on
the challenge of the criminal hackers.
Related Report in NY Times
Amazon and Barnes & Noble reach a Settlement
The much talked about single click patent case between Amazon.com and Barnes &
Noble was settled out of court under some undisclosed terms.
Details at
News.com
Cyber Evidence Service to be made available by Naavi.com
After the passage of the Information Technology Act 2000 (ITA-2000), electronic
documents have become documents acceptable as evidence in a court of
law...However, as in the case of several other aspects regarding Cyber Laws,
there is a need to develop acceptable standards for production of Cyber Evidence
in Courts which is in conformity with the law and also takes into account the
practical aspects of dealing with evidence that rests in servers beyond the easy
jurisdictional access of Indian litigants.
Naavi.com therefore is pleased to announce that it would commence providing
"Certified Cyber Evidence" to any parties of a Court dispute in a form that it
believes should be acceptable to the courts of law in India.
Details Here
Cyber Law Compliancy Highlighted
E-Business is having a great potential to profits....but netpreneurs should also
recognize that negligence in Cyber Law Compliancy could also lead to loss
and damage .
Here is an interesting article from Netmag
W3C backtracks on Patent issue
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has backtracked on
its proposal to let companies claim patenting rights on 'standard' internet
technologies.
Detailed Story
at Silicon.com
Cyber Democracy on Test
The ongoing war between Mumbai police and Cyber cafe owners has taken an
interesting twist and placed a challenge on the Citizens. In what should be
considered as a land mark decision, the Mumbai High Court has ordered that the
controversial report of the expert committee which has suggested photo ID cards
for Cyber Cafe owners to be placed on a web site so that public can send their
comments on the report to the Court.
Naavi.com therefore requests every Netizen who has a view on the subject to take
a little time off and file his views.
Here is a challenge to the concept of Cyber Democracy. All Netizens should
realize that all Courts will not be as progressive as Mumbai High Court in
seeking public opinion in such cases. We have a duty to respect the confidence
that the Court has put on the Netizens.
More..here
Cyber Democracy Website launched
Naavi.com has been advocating Regulation of Cyber Space which promotes harmony
between Cyber Society and the Meta Society. In pursuance of this objective,
Naavi.com has always advocated public participation in the regulatory process.
Some time back, Naavi.com promoted a "Netizen's Forum" which took the lead in
mobilizing public opinion on the Information Technology Bill and the
Communication Convergence Bill.
In a step to strengthen the concept of "Netizen's Forum", and to create an
organization around it, Naavi.com has now launched a website
www.cyberdemocracy.org.
The site will start enrolling members for the Cyber Democracy Movement and
prepare to undertake larger responsibilities to be an interface between the
regulated Netizens and the Regulators.
The Movement is not for promoting laissez-faire on the Internet, but for
promotion of Cyber Regulation which will have a high degree of voluntary
Compliance from the society.
Visitors are invited to become members and contribute to the development of the
idea.
Naavi
February 25, 2002
Submit Your Comments on the Expert Committee's Report on Cyber Pornography
On February 13, 2002, the Mumbai High
Court passed an order in Suo Motu Writ Petition 1611 of 2001. By that
order, the report dated 30.1.2002 submitted by the Special Committee
appointed in September 2001 was directed to be made available to the
public online for download, to enable comments and suggestions. The
order requires that the online editions, in PDF and HTML formats,
should be available also on this suit.
Accordingly, in compliance with that order, VSNL have uploaded the
entire Committee report at
http://internet.vsnl.net.in/offers/highcourt.html
THE HIGH COURT HAS SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED THAT ALL COMMENTS AND
SUGGESTIONS ON THIS REPORT MUST BE RECEIVED WITHIN FOUR WEEKS (BY
MARCH 30, 2002).
Comments can be sent to
cyberreport@bombaybar.com
directly or to Naavi for
consolidation and submission.
PDF Versions are
downloadable here:
Part1 (800 KB)
Part 2 (4MB)
