Writing a Will through the Internet

Indian law (ITA-2000) of Cyber Space contracts does not recognize drawing of Wills using electronic documents. Nevertheless, a new service reportedly introduced by a Spanish firm raises hope that some day writing of e-Wills would be recognized. Particularly when a person dies intestate and there is on record a wish expressed in electronic writing duly authenticated, there would be some argument on whether such a document would morally amount to a will. With cases like the Birla Will case now doing rounds such documents could provide breakthroughs far beyond the original intention of such personal leave behind notes...Details in fairfax.com : Service available at  www.thelastemail.com

Cyber Space Protection and Terrorism Law

Repealment of POTA and its replacement with a new ordinance was an opportunity for the Indian Government to make improvements to the law. However it appears that the new ordinance continues to ignore the requirements of protecting Indian Cyber Space from acts of terrorism.

Under section 15 of the ordinance which defines "Terrorist Act",..However the section does not cover any acts of destruction of property belonging to the private sector and the common Citizens of the country. To that extent the definition is incomplete..

Under Section 46 of the ordinance, it is proposed that "..the evidence collected through interception of ..electronic communication....under the provisions of the Information technology Act....shall be admissible as evidence against the accused in the court during the trial stage". It is doubtful if this section can be interpreted as providing the power to intercept electronic communication by an officer investigating a terrorist crime. If this view is held valid, then it will be a serious lacuna in the ordinance as it literally makes all interceptions without the permission of the Controller of Certifying Authorities in admissible as evidence....More

Cheating the Anti Virus Software

The increased sophistication in virus writing is reported to be focussing on how to cheat anti virus software. It is reported that virus writers are increasingly hiding the virus codes within legitimate programmes to fool the anti virus programme writers. ...Details in TOI

Being Negligent and yet claiming the benefit?

There are many companies which fail to register domain names in their brand names and try to evict innocent members of the public who register the domain name for a genuine purpose and build some clientele. Unfortunately the current domain name dispute settlement policy is heavily loaded in favour of the trademark owner. Hence it appears that trade mark owners can not only afford to be negligent, but also make profit by allowing others to nurse their brand names until it is mature  enough to be taken over. Today some of the Indian Companies have started to use this strategy and soon the same companies will face a similar onslaught from foreign companies. It is high time that Netizens who innocently book domain names which are later found to be registered trade marks are protected at least to the reasonable extent of being reimbursed costs when the trade mark owner tries to take over the domain name by virtue of his trade mark rights.

The Compulsive Mandates of Electronic Era

Information technology is a double edge sword, which can be used for destructive as well as constructive work. It is necessary for Information Asset owners appreciate the role and importance of the information technology in the growth and development of various business ventures, particularly those related to banking and insurance. The challenges which were posed by the traditional law breakers and offenders have taken precarious dimensions due to the growth of information technology, which if not tackled properly may result even in the closure of a profit making venture...Praveen Dalal examines various issues in Cyber Law Compliance with specific relevance to Banking and Insurance in this article.

POTA Repealed and Replaced

The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002 which was enacted a couple of years back exclusively to address the issue of terrorism in India became an object of political controversy between the erstwhile NDA Government and the present UPA Government ruling in India. Consequently, POTA has now been repealed and replaced with an ordinance called "Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Ordinance, 2004, (UAPO). The ordinance was promulgated at night of 21st September 2004...Details in IE : More References

Watch out for more details.

Related Articles:

Cyber Terrorism...A New Challenge to Law Enforcement Agencies

Interception of Communication under ITA-2000, CCB-2002 (Proposed) and POTA-2002

Information Asset Insurance to Reach 2.5 billion USD by 2005

According to US insurance industry sources, "Hacker Insurance" which is essentially insurance against loss of soft information assets due to hacking and virus is said to explode from the current levels of around USD 100 m to 2.5 b USD by 2005...Details at CIOL.com

CyLawCom process suggested by Naavi.org and Cyber Law College is directly aimed at assisting the industry in developing norms for Techno Legal Security that would enable insurance to be obtained at concessional premium.

Workshop on CyLawCom at I.I.T Madras

A one day workshop by Naavi on CyLawCom is being organized at IIT Madras on 24th September 2004 by the Computer Science Department of the IIT under the Technology Appreciation Programme. Several professionals from the industry are expected to attend the same. This will be an unique workshop that will discuss the relevance of Cyber Law for Corporate executives, the overview of ITA-2000, Digital Signatures, Domain Name Laws, Copyright and Patent Laws. The workshop will also discuss the emerging need for Information Asset Insurance and the contribution of Techno Legal Securities to the development of Information Asset Insurance. A brief outline of the CyLawCom certification process will also be discussed during the workshop. (For details contact I.I.T.Madras,  Department of Computer Science)

Book on CyLawCom

A book titled "CyLawCom, Corporate Mantra for the Digital Era" by Naavi is being released on the above occassion. This will be the third book to be released by Naavi after "Cyber Laws for Every Netizen in India" in 1999, "Cyber Laws...ITA-2000 and