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Meeting the Global Competition..A Challenge for Indian Software Companies
It is stated that today the share of products in the revenues of TCS and Infosys is around 5% to 7 %. If this is the trend in the top Indian companies, the industry average could be only around 3 %. This indicates that 97 % of Indian Software business is exposed to the risk of continued patronage from the Clients without any IPR protection.
This is an alarming situation for an industry hoping to be a "Super Power".
We therefore need some quick action by Indian IT majors so that over a period of next three years, at least the top 10 IT Companies should increase the "IPR Protected Component of their Business" (Whether as full products or as Reusable Components) to atleast 25 %.
I urge Nasscom to devote some attention in this regard. .........More
Britain to pass Anti Spam Laws
Britain is considering proposals to make it mandatory for prior permission before unsolicited advertising mails are sent to internet users to control the menace of Spam. Moves are also afoot to strengthen the Privacy of users by making the use of Cookies more transparent.
I-Flex Chief may remain in detention
In an unfortunate escalation of the incident, it has been reported that the -Flex chief Mr Senthil Kumar may continue to be under arrest in London until end of May and may be extradited to Netherlands. It is hard to believe that the alleged offence that the VISA papers and Work Permits were not in order warrant such a serious action at international level. There apppears to be a conspiracy against the Indian IT industry and Nassscom has its hands full in finding out the root cause for repeated occurence of such incidents.
To start with, there is a need to train IT Company executives on "Law Compliancy". Secondly, the IT Companies need to re assess their business policies to identify why they are repeatedly getting into such troubles.
Another IT Company CEO in trouble
First it was the Polaris CEO Mr Jain who was arrested in Indonesia on a Contractual dispute. Then IT professionals in Malaysia had VISA related problems. Now the I-Flex CEO Mr Senthil Kumar has been detained by Police in UK following a complaint from Dutch authorities on violation of VISA norms by the Company.
The emerging pattern indicates that Indian IT industry is losing respect in some foreign countries. The technology specialists seem to have no awareness of legal issues involved in international business or are too busy to give attention. This is a lacuna of the Indian technical education system where an IIT graduate is considered ready to be a "Top Management Business Manager" without understanding the basics of Commercial Law. Even MBA curriculum provides a limited exposure to "Legal Risks" in business. The new laws of Cyber Space and IPR are are subjects that are yet to make inroads into such curriculum.
Hopefully, the IT company CEO s will wake up to the need of educating their Software professionals about legal concepts such as "Offer" and "acceptance" or "Copyright" and "Patent", etc.
Related Articles at Naavi.com: Cyber Law Education For Engineers, There is No Quality without CCL Compliancy, Let Compliancy Replace Complacency.
A Relook at the Emerging Media Policies
The department of Mass Communication and journalism at the Madras University had organized a two day seminar on "Emerging Media Policies" on March 24th and 25th, 2003. In the technical session that followed, Naavi highlighted some of the areas for policy focus. A brief summary is given here........More
Create Wealth For India- Agenda for the new CII-TN Chairman
It is good to know that Mr Arun Jain, the chairman of Polaris who had to go through a harrowing time recently has now been elected Chairman of CII-Tamil Nadu Committee....
...In the present industrial scenario in India, it is necessary for industrial organizations such as CII to think of the long term interests of the Indian economy and take strategic steps necessary to ensure that fundamental building blocks of the economy are nurtured.
...The importance of the manufacturing industry in creating "Wealth" for the country should not be under estimated
...It is through such IPR based products that the Indian IT industry can add long term Virutal wealth to the Country.............More
Timing Attacks as Threats
It has been demonstrated by a security firm that remote timing attacks which try to extract security information such as the "Private Key" by analysing the time taken for processing a decryption request can also be used against a Open SSL based web server. ...More on Crypto Standard
Credit Card Fraud With a Difference
A Hacker in Bermuda is reported to have broken into a Credit Card processing Company and manipulating the database. One customer has already reported a false charge of US $ 1686/- which has been traced to a priest in Nigeria. It is estimated that the security of approximately 5 million Master and Visa Customers might have been compromised through this hacking attack....Details at Security news Portal
New Jersey Bill and the Future of Indian IT Companies
The move of the New Jersey State to stop its vendors by law importing BPO services from foreign companies should set the Indian IT companies thinking about their future business strategies....There is an urgent need for Indian IT companies to switch attention to "Branded Product Development". .....More
Computer price in India breaks a barrier
Computer prices in India appear to be heading for a new low. It is reported that A Singapore based ESys Distribution Ltd has released a Linux OS based system for Rs 9990/- excluding the monitor. Considering that a limited utility gadget such as the Simputer is being retailed at over Rs 17000/-, ESys appears to be a much bigger revolution requiring a nationwide celebration. . ...Details in HT
Indian Student arrested in US for e-mail threat
Rajesh Manyar, a graduate student at Purdue University in Indiana, was arrested Wednesday and charged with false informing for allegedly sending an email in which he threatened to detonate a nuclear device on campus....Details at sify.com
Internet Access rates to drop?.. By how much?
After the recent telecom rate hikes, dial up internet access rates had become expensive. With telephone charges of Rs 36 per hour, the access cost was nearly Rs 45 per hour. It is now reported that TRAI has recognized its folly and is likely to revise the tariff suitably.
Will it end up in restoring the three minute per call as earlier, or bring it further down to say 5 minute per call, we need to wait and see. At 5 minutes per call the telephone cost of Internet access will be around Rs 14.50 hour. and the the total internet cost will be around Rs 23 per hour.
A more logical rate should be one which keeps the telephone cost around 40 % of the total Internet access cost with the ISP cost being the balance 60 %. . If the ISPs charge around Rs 7 to 9 per hour, there is no reason why the telephone service provider should charge more than Rs 6 per hour or 5 calls per hour.
Can we expect TRAI to be that reasonable? Perhaps the influential WLL phone industry will make them so.... so that more Reliance mobiles can be sold.
An Interim Legislation?
The Communication Convergence Bill is still before the Indian Parliament. With the free/concessional price Palmtops being distributed to all MP s, the awareness of the benefits of a convergent society must be high on the minds of our legislators.
With one big hurdle of merging the Telecom Ministry with IT ministry having been achieved, what is left as a prelude to passing of Convergence Act is the merger between the Convergent Ministry as it exists today with the ministry of broadcasting. Considering the political implications, we may have to wait for the next elections for this to happen.
It is therefore understandable that the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Amendment Act was notified despite the fact that this may have to be replaced once the Communication Convergence Act is passed. The Act however appear to increase the cost of Cable Access to the public and is unlikely to bring any relief to public from the ill effects of the unfair monopoly built in many parts of India by local vested interests.
If the Convergent Act is passed, the broadband ISP s can step into compete with the Cable operators and provide the much needed competition which can work in the consumer interest.
Related Article in ET by Pavan Duggal
A Challenge to Chennai Law Enforcement Agencies
The controversy surrounding Sohonetindia, a Chennai based company engaged in the services of providing a home based earning opportunity to public has taken an interesting twist. ..It has now been alleged that the Company has posted around 60 messages yesterday on the same forum, all praising the Company and its services and claiming that it is not a fraud.
Under the circumstances, unless a thorough investigation is undertaken on an all India basis, this controversy is unlikely to be resolved.
Will the TN Police take up the challenge since this incident if proved right could brand Chennai as the "Home of the Home-based IT Business Frauds"?.. which every Chennaiite would dislike to live with?...More
US Supreme Court Decision to affect Domain Name Rights
In what is considered as a dilution of the rights of Trade Mark Owners on Domain Names, a decision of the US Supreme Court has stated that the issue of Domain Names infringing Trade mark Right shas to be viewed more from the perspective of Consumer Confusion rather than protection of a Trademark owner's rights. ..More at News.com
US Authorities resort to Seizure of Domain Names
In what appears as a recognition of Domain Names as "Virtual Property", US authorities have been reported to have started seizure of Domain Names as a routine policy in case of certain Cyber Crimes. Police are reported to have put warnings to public in some of the cases .
Now Indian Government can press for seizure of dalitstan.com and other such anti India sites that are running from USA. It will be interesting to see how the US authorities would react if Indian Government launches a domain confiscation action against a pornographic site operated from USA and violating Indian Laws. ....More in wired.com
Nigerian Fraud Explored
In a bid to unravel the mystery of the evergreen Nigerian Fraud, Zone-H has conducted an investigation which is very revealing. ......Details at Zone-H
Call for new Jurisprudence for Net Law
It is observed that in recent judicial reviews, whenever implementation of existing laws of the real space to Cyber Space has encountered a conflict, the laws of the real space has prevailed. This tendency in due course is likely to develop into a principle of "Primacy of Meta Space". However, when two laws of the real space itself come to conflict in the Cyber Space, the principle of "Primacy of the Meta Space" fails.....More
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