Cyber Laws Demystified

Ever since a legal framework for the Cyber World was conceived in India, in the form of a draft E-Commerce Act 1998, the subject of Cyber Laws has fascinated me. Afterwards, the basic law for the Cyber space transactions in India has emerged in the form of the Information Technology Act 2000 (ITA-2000).

The structure of Cyber Laws in India has further been supplemented with the Semi Conductor Integrated Circuits Layout Act though yet to be notified. The Copyright Act in India is already applicable to computer generated documents and hence applicable to Cyber Space. Patent Act provides for patents on “Devices” with embedded software but is yet to recognize software patents. However the “Electronic Devices” represent instruments of creation of Cyber Space transactions and hence form part of the Cyber World. Though there is no separate law in India on “Domain Names”, the introduction of “dot in” domain names and adoption of a UDRP like dispute resolution policy for resolution of dot in domain name disputes has provided for operation of Cyber Laws in the Trade Mark area. In the mean time, the importance of “Legal Compliance” has been highlighted in international security standards and BPO Contracts making Cyber Law Compliance a burning industry issue.

Thus, the scope of Cyber Laws has expanded more rapidly than what many considered possible in India given its huge rural population with low technology base. We are in fact on the threshold of a major revision of ITA-2000 following an expert committees report which was submitted to the Government in August 2005.

These characteristics of Cyber Law are however also responsible for the discomfort those traditional legal professionals feel in studying this branch of law.

Firstly, the technology part of the law makes Cyber Law, a subject which cannot be understood without at least a small dose of technology input into the learning.

Secondly, the rapidly changing nature of the law is unnerving for the legal practitioner since the law seems to acquire new meaning with each succeeding new Act and each new judicial decision some where in the world.

Cyber Law has therefore emerged as a field of study for a new crop of professionals who may be called Techno-Legal specialists.

In India, the present educational system is such that a Technology student has no exposure to Law and a Law student has no exposure to Technology. Hence a Computer science student in a College is taught how to develop programs that can automatically transmit data across the Internet riding on a TCP/IP packet, without alerting him on cyber crimes such as Hacking or Virus introduction. The Law students on the other hand are taught about Trade Marks and Copyrights without recognizing their implications on the Electronic documents. As a result, neither the Technologist nor the Lawyer is trained in his formative years to understand Cyber Law.

I therefore felt that there was a need for techno-legal experts to de-mystify Cyber Law and make it possible for a large section of the society take up study of Cyber Law. It is envisaged that in future, Engineering, Commerce and Management Colleges will teach Cyber Law as an extension of Computer Science, Commerce and Management Education, even while the Law Colleges try to extend their coverage of Criminal Laws and IPR laws to the Cyber world.

The advent of Techno-Legal specialists will bring a change in the legal perspective in the country and we can expect that fresh ideas would emerge and form the building blocks for the development of Cyber Jurisprudence as a distinct field of study.

This book recognizes such a development and analyses different pieces of Cyber Legislation from a perspective that encourages debate rather than prescription.

The good reception received for my earlier book “Cyber Laws For Every Netizen in India” released in December 1999 which happened to be the first book on the subject of Cyber Laws to be published in India encouraged me to release the first E-Book on Cyber Laws entitled “Cyber Laws in India..ITA-2000 and Beyond” in May 2003. Since the release of the E-Book, there have been further changes in the Cyber Laws applicable to India. This Book further expands the content to the contemporary requirements.

As in the previous editions, the main objective of this book also is to serve the mission to spread Cyber Law Literacy. The goal is to reach as many of the professionals as possible not only in the Legal sector, but also in the Technology sector and Corporate Management sector.

Since, the emerging Digital Era indicates that “There is No Business Without E-Business”, there will be no room for any corporate professional without a basic understanding of “Cyber Laws”. Hence Cyber Law literacy amongst professionals such as Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, Bankers, Insurance professionals, Law Enforcement officers, and E-Governance officials is as essential as the study of Company Law or Contract Law.

This book goes much beyond the Information Technology Act 2000 in discussing Cyber Laws as applicable in India. Cyber Squatting, Copyright Infringement and Patent Issues have been discussed in this book to the extent required.

Elements of Semi Conductor Integrated Circuit Layout Designs Act which is yet to be notified is also discussed considering it’s importance.

A chapter has been devoted in the book on the Communication Convergence Act. Though the Communication Convergence Bill has presently been withdrawn from the Parliament, in view of the conceptual importance of this legislation and the possibility of its re-introduction with some modifications, the chapter has been retained.

The consequences of the recent amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 through Negotiable Instruments Amendment Act 2002 have also been incorporated in appropriate places in the book.

Chapters on Privacy, E-Governance and Law Enforcement issues add up the comprehensiveness of this book.

Additionally there was a very significant Global development that took place in December 2003 which has transformed the future direction of the Cyber Society and the regulations that go with it. This refers to the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) which was held in Geneva between December 10 to December 12, 2003. During this summit the representatives of all member states of the United Nations Organizations have discussed the possible role of the sovereign Government states in the Information Society Management and adopted a “ Declaration of Principles” and agreed to set up a working group to take the issue further for discussion in more concrete terms in the Tunisia summit in 2005. The historical imprint that this development creates cannot be lost sight of and a brief discussion on the same is included in this book.

In view of the importance of the amendments proposed to the ITA-2000, consequent to the formation of an expert review committee in 2005, the amendments and their impact is discussed in the appendix. A copy of the ITA-2000 is also provided for immediate reference in the appendix.

The need to keep the book simple but yet cover a larger canvass has prompted me to add portions at the end of some of the chapters that stand out as independent articles. Some of them reflect the thoughts expressed by me in the website http://www.naavi.org in my humble opinion, add to the clarification of some of the points covered elsewhere in the book without disturbing the flow of discussions.

Maintaining the non legal style of the Book, as well as recognizing the evolving nature of the law, and also the lack of sufficient number of India specific cases, emphasis on Case Laws has been deliberately underplayed in the book. Some of the cases have however been referred to in the FAQ section.

I firmly believe that every judgment already delivered in Cyber Law cases is open to review and modification because of subsequent changes in technology and maturing of legal thoughts. Hence past judgments are treated more as stepping stones to understanding the nature of law rather than defining the legal precedence. I trust this change of emphasis is what makes this book more readable for corporate executives, e-commerce professionals and the common Netizens.

I would urge readers of this book to keep following the developments in Cyber Law through the Cyber Law portal http://www.naavi.org so that they can follow the latest developments.

This version of the Book takes into consideration the fact that my earlier book Cyber Laws had been prescribed as a reference book in many of the Universities and Colleges for Management and other courses and contents prescribed as the syllabus for courses in Cyber Laws and there was a need for a new book to replace the earlier primer.

I hope the student community would find the Book useful for meeting their examination requirements also.

The need for this book was highlighted during a series of workshops on Cyber Laws for the faculty of Engineering Colleges held in some of the major NITs . It so happened that around the same time the International Institute of Information Technology Law, was ready for launch. This book is therefore being presented to mark the occasion of the launch of the Institute on 2^nd June 2006 at Bangalore.

Chapter	Title	Page
	Preface
Chapter I	Introduction	9
Chapter II	The Internet Era	16
Chapter III	Electronic Document	29
Chapter IV	Digital Signature	43
Chapter V	Digital Identity Management	65
Chapter VI	Business of Certifying Authorities	78
Chapter VII	Digital Contracts	86
Chapter VIII	Cyber Regulatory Structure	98
Chapter IX	Cyber Crimes	108
Chapter X	Intellectual Property Issues	159
Chapter XI	Network Service Providers	189
Chapter XII	Privacy and Personal Rights	201
Chapter XIII	Law Enforcement Issues	235
Chapter XIV	E Governance and I Governance Issues	249
Chapter XV	Semi Conductor Act	306
Chapter XVI	Convergence	310
Chapter XVII	Business Opportunities in Cyber Law	319
Chapter XVIII	Legal Issues in Cyber Advertising	326
Chapter XIX	Legal Issues in Cyber Banking	345
Chapter XX	Legal Issues in Emerging Technologies	363
Chapter XXI	Legal Issues in Cyber Taxation	374
Chapter XXII	Cyber Wars and Cyber Terrorism	382
Chapter XXIII	Cyber Law Compliancy, The Need of the Hour	397
Chapter XXIV	Information System Security Audit	406
Appendix I	Information Technology Act 2000	419
Appendix II	Comments on the Proposed Amendments to ITA-2000	507
Appendix III	Adjudication under ITA-2000	579
Appendix IV	FAQ	589

Readers may kindly ignore shortcomings in the production of the book if any. Hope the content would give you some thing interesting and make you forget the shortcomings in production….Naavi