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Japanese Software Developer Under Trial

In what appears to be a repeat of Dmitry Sklyrov case, a Japanese professor Isamu Kaneko has been accused of assisting copyright violation by developing a P2P  file-sharing software Winny. Details in Mianichi Daily News : Visit Kaneko Support site

Canadian Copyright Committee Report raises concerns

A Canadian parliamentary committee has submitted a report on copyright reform which has some interesting propositions.  It has raised concerns that it neglects the requirements of the society by focusing chiefly on the compensation and protection afforded to creators. The recommendation is also considered  highly restrictive and if adopted may prove costly for Canada's education system. Comments at Toronto.com  :: Copy of the report
 

E-Voting Machines Fail in US

An internal memo indicating failure of Electronic Voting Machines used in a Florida election has again raised concerns on the accuracy of the EVM systems. It was reported that the system failed  while consolidating the votes from different machines...Article in Law.com

Maryland State Law to Supplement CAN-SPAM ACT

Maryland State in USA passed an Anti Spam Law called Maryland Spam Deterrence Act to supplement the provisions of the Federal law under CAN SPAM Act to prevent Spamming. Convicted spammers under this new law can be imprisoned upto 10 years.Ohio and Minnesota are also reported to be currently considering spam legislation for their own states..Details in Washington Post : Copy of Bill

VSNL E-Mail Users..Beware

A suspicious looking mail has hit the VSNL customers in Chennai which states as follows:

Dear user of e-mail server "Vsnl.com",

Your e-mail account will be disabled because of improper using in next
three days, if you are still wishing to use it, please, resign your
account information.

For more information see the attached file.

Cheers,
    The Vsnl.com team                 http://www.vsnl. com.

The attachment contains a file named readme.zlo the nature of which is unknown.. The mail originates from a yahoomail address. It is suggested that those who receive the mail should ignore the message and delete it.

Any information regarding the above from readers is welcome...Naavi 27th May 2004.

Reveal Your Password..You may be in Jail !!

It is well known in security circles that negligence in protecting passwords by employees is one of the most important risks in Network security Management. Academicians have also debated that "Being Negligent of Password Custody" should be made a penal offence. 

Sri Lank takes the credit for making this into an enforceable law as  the proposed Prevention of  Computer Crimes Act makes unauthorized disclosure of password an offence for which a fine of SLR 300,000 and imprisonment of 3 years can be imposed.

It would be interesting to observe that compared to Canadian Law which an impose an imprisonment upto 10 years, the Sri Lankan provision appears mild.

Clients Start Demanding Cyber Law Compliance from BPOs

For the first time the BPO industry in India is mentioning "Compliance of Laws" and "Information Security" as a key requirement of survival. As Naavi.org has already pointed out, Legal hurdles including "Trade Mark Related litigation" will be the most potent weapon in the hands of anti outsourcing lobby in US and it will be used to devastating effect in the coming days. Sooner Indian BPO s wake up, better it is for them...Related Article in BL

You Can Now Filter Sex Related Spam

US Federal Trade Commission has made it mandatory that unsolicited commercial e-mail that contains sexually oriented material include the words ``SEXUALLY EXPLICIT'' in the subject line. This enables easy filtering of the mail by configuring the e-mail software.

The rule also bars graphic images from appearing in the opening body of the message. Instead, the recipient must take some action in order to see the objectionable material, either by scrolling down in the e-mail or by clicking on a provided link.

Spammers who violate the rule face possible imprisonment and criminal fines of up to $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for an organization.

Software Industry Blamed

Businessmen have been increasingly demanding that the software industry develop products that are less vulnerable to Virus and Hacking. The negligence of the software developers result in huge losses to the users and additional expenditure for security. CEO s of many large Corporations in US has joined in a public relation blitz demanding better work from technologists. Details in Securityfocus.com

It may be noted that Naavi.org has already started the movement of Cyber Law Compliant Software development which has started attracting attention.

UTAH Proposes Law to Ban Adware

Utah has proposed legal measures to ban adware and spyware which is yet to be passed. The move has attracted criticism from industry circles that it may unintentionally hamper some means of doing legitimate business on the Net. However, a case has already been filed under the Act challenging the serving of pop up ads by a company.  Details in Internetnews.com

Yahoo Proposes New E-Mail Standard

Yahoo has proposed a new E-Mail Standard that is designed to effectively eliminate spam mails sent under spoofed addresses. The technology named "DomainKeys" proposes that outgoing e-mails from a server would be embedded with a digital signature of the sending server which can be used by the receiving server to filter undesirable servers. The proposal has been submitted to the IETF for consideration.The proposal would not only prevent spam but can also prevent many e-mail related Cyber Crimes since there would now be a better tracing mechanism. Details at yahoo.com

CEO Emerges Out of Chaos

Amidst the chaos which reined  the Indian political scene for some time has emerged Dr Manmohan Singh as a Prime Ministerial Candidate.  It would be interesting to see this economist and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India managing the country as the PM. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to look at Mr Singh as the CEO of India managing the  assets of the country for wealth maximization. Dr Singh would be welcome by the Industry as well as the International Financial Agencies and would perhaps be the first " Non Political, Economist Prime Minister" of India. . The combination of a scientist President and Economist Prime Minister should be a refreshing change to the Indian political scene. Naavi.org wishes the new Prime Minister a very successful tenure...May 19,2004

Online Job Sites used for Credit Card Frauds

Credit Card fraudsters are reported to have used online jobsites such as Monster.com to recruit agents to encash stolen credit cards...Report in EFE

Time for Change..in India

The results of the General Elections in India provide a clear indication  that people of India did not support the economic policies of the erstwhile Government as it did not benefit the common man. To be fair to the out going Government however, we need to remember that  Manmohan Singh and  Chidambaram were both parties to this policy development and the NDA only built on the policy direction already set by their predecessors.

Now both Mr Singh and Mr Chidambaram  will continue to be in the new dispensation holding key positions providing the continuity element. However the presence of the left parties in the alliance should  let a balanced economic policy take over in place of the current WTO led policies.

We can therefore say that this is the time for change in economic policies in India. Hopefully, this will help those parts of India which had not so far shined to start shining...(May 13, 2004)

Election 2004-The Andhra Verdict

The early indications available in AP assembly elections predicts that IT industry in AP will now have to wait for the new regime to clarify how it will continue the policies of the erstwhile TDP Government which was seen as extremely IT friendly.

Will this affect the IT policy of AP? Will it introduce an economic imbalance in AP with the separation of Telengana from the rest of AP? Will the IT majors shift their focus to Chennai and Bangalore again?.or Will it help Naidu to be the next IT Minister in Delhi?...are some of the issues that will come up for discussion in the coming days.

Hopefully, the new managers will not discard the progressive E-Governance policies of Mr Naidu but will find ways to improve them....More

Why Cyber Law Compliance is a must for EVMs

The reported incident in Coimbatore (Report in Chennai online) where a sticker was put to change the symbol in front of an AIADMK candidate highlights why Naavi considers that there is a lacuna in the EVM system which takes an Electronic Confirmation for a Physical ballot paper. Read the details in the earlier articles.. Beyond EVMs..E-Governance in elections, and Clarifications on Cyber Law Compliancy of EVMs

Beyond EVMs..E-Governance in elections

India has just completed a marathon elections which were run over a period of three weeks. This election 2004 attracted global attention for two reasons.

One was the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)...The second was the series of opinion polls and exit polls...It is in this context that I urge the ECI to consider the following changes...Voter's List on the Web...Verifiable Voting System..Details

A step ahead on evidence

Want to check on a cyber-suspect without his knowledge and without removing his PC? Or do you want to fully clean a hard disk so that a current user is not liable for misdeeds of an earlier user? Forensic technology to the aid. ..Details in BL

Delhi High Court orders MSN To Reveal Identity of e-mail holder

Mr Justice C. K. Mahajan of the Delhi High Court directed Hotmail, to disclose the details of an unidentified person sending out chain mails using the name of the Tata group and its Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, and claiming to be involved in the treatment of cancer patients in Dharwad in Karnataka...Details in BL

China to strengthen Cyber Cafe Monitoring

China is reported to be introducing a nation wide Internet Cafe monitoring system. This new surveillance system will require all Internet cafes customers to enter personal information, such as name, age, and their national citizen identification number, before they are allowed to log onto the Internet.   Details in Interfax.com

Vanishing E-Mails challenge Law makers

After readnotify.com, a second service for recalling e-mail service has become available from Recall Mail Corporation (BL Report HT Report). The service is being marketed by Bigstring.com

These services make it possible for the sender to send e-mails which erase automatically as per pre set parameters. While this is an excellent utility for the user, the law makers who have defined "When a Message is Sent" and "When a Message is Received" will now need to change some of the definitions as a result of this service. For example, according to ITA-2000, a receipt of an e-mail occurs when it enters the addressee's e-mail system. The issue now is what happens if it vanishes after it enters.

Clarifications on Cyber Law Compliancy of EVMs

Some readers of an earlier posting at this site had requested for more clarifications on the views expressed on Cyber Law Compliance of EVMs. Now that the PIL requesting ban on EVMs has been disposed off, I provide some more details of my personal view on the subject..Naavi

Order Passed on PIL on EVMs

In perhaps the first order passed by the new CJI Justice Rajendra Babu,the Supreme Court has disposed off the PIL on banning the use of EVMs and suggested the petitioner to approach the EC...Details

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