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Cyber Cafe Regulations of Karnataka

Karnataka Government has issued a notification under Section 90 of ITA-2000 imposing certain regulations for Cyber Cafes. A copy of the regulations can be found here.

Mobile Crimes

In recent days several Cyber Crimes including  wrongful use of stolen mobiles is being reported. These mobile thefts are likely to increase since Camera phones which are involved in many crimes require to be monitored and will be brought under a registration scheme sooner or later. In the case of stolen mobiles it therefore becomes necessary to block its usage as well as trace the user if it is used for criminal purpose. The first step in this direction is to identify the unique hardware number of the mobile which is known as the IMEI number. Users are therefore required to find out and keep a record of this number for future use. This is available on the mobile with the command *#06#.

However not all the ISP s are today filtering the calls through IMEI database and hence unless they make changes in their call routing system it may not be able to block the use of specific IMEIs. Further it is stated that the presence of spurious mobiles supplied in the grey market with duplicate IMEI numbers is also a reason why the ISP s are hesitant to block phones on IMEI basis.

There is need for some action on the security of mobile phone usage and a freedom given to mobile owners to block unwanted SMS as well as exercise some control on roaming, STD, ISD facilities.

Dot In Domain to be Promoted

At last an attempt seems to be on to promote the use of dot in domain names in India by addressing the basic problems of simplification of procedures. It is understood that dot in domain names will be available online at around RS 250 per year from the next year. (Report in ET)

Nasscom finalizing new Security Norms

It is reported that new security norms for the IT Sector in India are in the process of being developed. (Report in ET) Nasscom, represented on the Computer Emergency Response Team set up by the ministry of communications & IT, is coordinating the country’s efforts to evolve stringent cyber security standards.
 

Beware of Spoofed e-mail in the name of Naavi

It is hereby notified that a spoofed e-mail apparently in the name of Naavi with the address Naavi@c1.huagai.net has been in circulation and is being used for spamming. While necessary notices have been sent to Mr Lifeng the registrant in Shanghai of the domain through which the offence is being committed, notices have also been served on the Companies  Shanghai Huagai Technology Development Ltd and Shanghai Watex metal Products Co Ltd associated with the offence for necessary corrective action.

This public notice is to keep all of you informed that Naavi the founder of this site is a victim of this offence and shall not be liable for any consequential third party action.

I invite the legal community in Shanghai to assist me if possible in resolving this issue.

..Naavi,29 th October 2004

ICANN Considering New Top Level Domain Names

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, announced preliminary approval of two new Top level domain names viz: .post and .travel  which are likely to become operative early next year.

It has also been announced that ICANN was  still considering eight other proposals including ".asia," ".jobs," and ".xxx." Separately, ".eu" for the European Union also is in the works.

Impact of Cyber terrorism in India

 The problem of cyber terrorism is multilateral having varied facets and dimensions. Its solution requires rigorous application of energy and resources. It must be noted that law is always seven steps behind the technology. This is so because we have a tendency to make laws when the problem reaches at its zenith.The aim of this article by Mr Praveen Dalal the Delhi based High Court Advocate is to analyse the adverse impact of "Cyber Terrorism" on the national interest of India. Cyber terrorism is a catastrophic phenomenon that has not yet attracted the attention of the Indian Legislature. ...Full Article here

ICICI Bank Clarifies on the Digital Signature Usage

It had been reported in these columns about the usage of Digital Signatures by ICICI Bank while sending demat statements to the clients. A clarification has been received from ICICI Bank today details of which are available here.

Identity Theft increasing in Asia

According to an IDC research, attempts at online theft of identity in the form of passwords is increasing in Asia. Often referred to as "Phishing", this form of crime involves luring public with false e-mails inviting them to log in to their Bank or e-mail accounts under pretexts such as routine check or change of passwords etc. and stealing the passwords....details at australian IT.com

Inter Bank Clearing to Go Electronic in Mumbai

Reserve Bank of India has announced that physical clearing of cheques in Inter Bank Clearing will be replaced with RTGS in Mumbai from November 1st. ...report in FE

Though the Negotiable Instruments Act was amended to accommodate Truncated Cheques, the system of Truncated Cheques was never put to use while the RTGS developed as a means of Inter Bank funds settlement. While RTGS is being held out as a replacement of the physical clearing system, the legal aspects of cheque presentation, payment and protection of a collecting Bank and Paying Bank are unclear in the RTGS system while they had been sorted out in the Truncated Cheque system. It appears that RBI needs to clarify the legal position of RTGS in terms of Chequs as Negotiable Instruments for the new system to work smoothly.

Majority of People Reject CAS

The Conditional Access System (CAS) which makes Cable TV subscribers already reeling under the monopolistic hold of Cable TV operators get themselves technically chained for further exploitation was rejected by people in a survey conducted across Metros...Details in FE.

The people have made it clear that as long as they do not have an option to change the Cable operator at will, subjecting themselves to further controls by the Cable TV operators is suicidal.

NCRB Comes out with Cyber Crime Report of 2002

National Crimes Record Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs has released statistics of Cyber Crimes registered in 2002 across the country...Detailed report : Tables:

Youth Arrested for Mobile Pornography

Chennai Cyber Crime Cell has arrested a youth allegedly engaged in circulating pornographic pictures through mobile phones. The case which involves the use of a Computer and transmission of obscene pictures to other electronic devices has been booked under ITA-2000 ..report in IE

News Reporting Will be redefined

The public sector Prasar Bharati which had the exclusive TV rights for Athens Olympics reporting in India is reported to have slapped bills on private channels for indiscriminate use of the footage. It appears that the claim is based on the report of a monitoring agency appointed by Prasar bharati for the purpose.

While Prasar Bharati has every right to pay back the private channels in their own coin, this does indicate the emerging ugly face of IPR where news reporting has to balance between what is considered a fair exposure and what is not.. Details in agencyfaqs

The Tragic Story...of an Inventor Who could not digest the Patent Challenge

Here is a tragic story of a CEO of a Company and an inventor who could not digest a challenge to his patented invention and tried to substantiate it with additional evidence....which he perhaps doctored. When caught, things got further complicated until he became so frustrated that he plotted a murder of the federal judge. Again caught in the act of hatching a conspiracy faces a long, long jail sentence ...(Details at law.com)

There is a lesson here...If evidence is not captured properly at the appropriate time, there may not be an opportunity to correct it later. Even if it is truth that is intended to be added to the available evidence, if it is not done in an appropriate manner, it may end up being construed as "Fabrication of Evidence".

I have frequently come across people who encounter a domain name dispute or a Cyber Crime litigation and cannot protect their rights because of lack of evidence.  They often regret since in many of these cases they could have created the necessary evidence by using the services available at www.ceac4india.com or www.verify4lookalikes.com but had failed to do so because of ignorance.

These services are like "Insurance". They need to be invoked before the need for the same arises. When the need arises, it may be too late. But only people with the vision will understand the need for such services..and it appears that there are not many of them..at present..

Certification Practice Document..Is it an offence to copy?

According to the Indian laws, licensed Certifying Authorities (CA) have to publish their Certification Practice Statement (CPS) based on which the license is granted. It is inevitable that the contents of the CPS should be known to the Digital Certificate Applicants as well. Hence it is considered mandatory that CPS is published in a public website along with a repository of Certificates issued and the details of revoked certificates.

Now MTNL the latest CA offering Digital Certificates to the public has come out with its CPS on its website which is accompanied by a shrink wrapped notice that copying of the document requires "Authorization" without describing what and how of the authorization process....

I request the Controller to advise MTNL to remove the legal notice barring the copying and distribution of the document....Details

Vulnerability..Patched..But Not Completely

Panda Software reported finding a tool on black hat hacker sites that can be used to create files in the JPEG image format that exploit the vulnerability in Microsoft's JPEG processing component.

Microsoft has since patched the flaw but several applications using the component will continue to be a security threat since the patch may not be applied individually on all of them.

The attacker tool, called JPGTrojan.C, allows a user to create several payloads that can be included in the malicious image file. They include payloads to add a new user to the infected computer and grant that user administrative rights, specify a port to be opened to allow remote access to the computer, specify a remote IP address and a port and establish a connection or download an executable file and run it...Security News Portal

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