Deccan Herald, the leading native English Daily from Bengaluru is hosting the prestigious Bengaluru 2040 Summit today at JW Marriott, Vittal Mallya Road. This invitee only event is expected to see the participation of several ministers of Karnataka besides many industry guests.
One of the discussions during the day would be on measures required to “Prevent Cyber Crimes in Bengaluru” particularly in the emerging technological developments.
The undersigned is privileged to be an invitee to this panel. In this context, I would like to share some of my thoughts on the topic here as a background to the ensuing discussion.
In the last 25 years of the existence of ITA 2000, we have made a very slow progress in understanding technology crimes and bringing it under the hammer of justice. Initially it was the inexperience of the Police and later the difficulties of successfully presenting the digital evidence to the satisfaction of the Courts. The Courts themselves needed decades to understand digital evidence and how to interpret them in the “Criminal Jurisprudence”. Even today we are not confident that in all cases Police and the Courts will be presenting their cases properly to enable conviction in a Court of law for any technology related crimes.
While most of the discussions on prevention Cyber Crimes start and end with “creating awareness”, we must accept that “Awareness is necessary but not sufficient”.
I consider the following three aspects which need attention on a priority basis.
✓Lack of accountability of Software Developers who release immature software products with bugs
✓Lack of Responsibility of deployers who deploy the software without assuming accountability for the adverse consequences….particularly when the software comes with a tag “AI”
✓Lack of Commitment for the Government, Judiciary and Police in regulating the Darkweb and Private Crypto Currencies like Bitcoins which are the lifeblood of Cyber Crimes.
✓Lack of cooperation of Intermediaries during Cyber Crime investigation
We need to address these issues at all levels to honestly find a path to salvation from Cyber Crimes. If we let challenging of every Intermediary regulation in a Court and the Courts are happy to place a stay on every progressive regulatory notification at the drop of the hat, we will not make any progress. India will continue to be the hub of global crimes and Bengaluru being the Silicon city will also be the capital of global cyber crimes.
In this context we can look at DPDPA 2023 as an attempt to enlarge the regulation where the “Intermediary Guidelines” under ITA 2000 have failed by increasing the possible civil penalty for Data consuming companies and their associate Data Processors to Rs 250 crores and beyond.
While the role of Adjudicators and Criminal prosecution under ITA 2000 may continue to remain as a remedy for personal victims of data breaches under DPDPA 2023 and sections of ITA 2000 such as Sections. 43, 65, 66B, 66C, 66D, 66E, 67C, 69, 69A, 69B, 70, 70B, 72A etc will continue to remain relevant and work along with DPDPA 2023 and the inquiries under Data Protection Board, there is a need to bring the Adjudicators and Police who are now tuned to ITA 2000 to DPDPA 2023.
The Judiciary also needs to absorb the new Cyber Crime Jurisprudence to their practice but improvements here can only from within the Judiciary and will take a long time.
It is important to recognize that the concept of “Due Diligence” under Section 85 and Section 79 of ITA 2000 now has a new elaborate explanation in DPDPA 2023 and should be taken note of in any cases involving “Data” and all Cyber Crimes against individuals where “Personal Data Breach” is always one of the causes.
Currently the laws have not been used effectively in choking the Cyber Crime economy by not regulating /dismantling the Dark Web and the Private Crypto Currency systems. The reasons are many but the intention is lacking at all levels.
The Future of Cyber Crimes will be dictated by the developments of AI and Quantum Computing and unless proper steps are initiated today, we will allow the development of Dark AI supporting the Dark Web and making it darker. The goal of Criminals is to make the entire web “Dark” by applying AI and Privacy laws in conjunction to ensure that no criminal will be detected by any law enforcement agency. If we do not recognize this heinous design and take appropriate Techno Legal measures, the future of the Digital society looks gloomy.
Naavi
