A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts – William Gibson.

The cyber space is an intriguing and exciting space for the young and the old, thecomputer wizards and the amateurs. Outstanding breakthroughs in the cyber world have lead to the world into being a better place to live in, literally. But as with all good things, cyber world is susceptible to the viciousness of being misused. And this act of misuse is known as cyber crime. Simply put, cyber crimes are unlawful acts, where the computer is either a tool or target, and in some cases, both. 

Cyber crime activities range from theft, fraud, forgery to defamation and mischief, all of which are subject to the Indian Penal Code. These abuses have given birth to some new age crimes, which are addressed by the Information Technology Act, 2000. The increasing crime rate has identified the need for a law/ commandment that will help check the miscreants and protect users. Hence the need for Cyber Law. 

Cyber Law is an attempt to integrate the challenges presented by human activity on the internet with legacy system of laws applicable to the physical world. Cyber Law is a term which refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of internet and the World Wide Web. Still in its nascent stage, Cyber law is an ongoing and an evolving process, with the opinion that, as the internet grows, the number of problems also arise.

Why Do We Need Cyber Laws?

• To fight Cyber crimes
• To authenticate electronic and digital signatures
• To Protect Intellectual Property
• For Data  Protection and Privacy

CYBER CRIMES:

Cyber crimes are unlawful acts where the computer is used either as a tool or a target or both. The enormous growth in the electronic commerce and online share trading has led to a growth in the cyber crimes in the recent years. Cyber law attempts to fight crimes and protect the authenticity of computer users  through the following measures:

Electronic  Signatures

Electronic Signatures are used to authenticate electronic records or close deals electronically. Since digital means may in no way, validate the authenticity of a business or other transaction, Digital signatures modified by or sophisticated by various levels of verification processes are employed, to ensure their sanctity. Cyber Law makes provision for such through the following patterns:

• Signer authenticatio
• Message authentication
• Message integrity

The digital signatures are more trustworthy than hand written signatures. An electronic signature is very easy to implement.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property refers to matters such as litigation, domain name disputes, and copyright and trademark issues. Information Technology concerns like e-commerce, privacy, entertainment law and technology licensing also fall under its purview.  Cyber law covers all the above under Intellectual Property.  

Data Protection and Privacy

Data protection and privacy laws aim to achieve a fair balance between the privacy rights of the individual and the interests of data controllers such as banks,  hospitals, e-mail service providers etc. These laws seek to address the challenges to privacy caused by collecting, storing and transmitting data using technologies.

Scope:

The field of cyber law has a tremendous scope and prospects in India. With 42 million internet users in India, companies are taking to digital storage, and people are increasingly using e-banking, e-commerce, e-ticketing and even e-governance. Given the current situation, there will undoubtedly be a high need of cyber lawyers in the future.

Cyber Law is still at its development stage, but with the way internet access is growing, cyber law will soon be one of the most sought after careers in the industry.. The number of cases involving cyber crime is on a rise. The Information Technology Act, 2000 takes care of all the criminal activites using computers.  We spoke to a student who is a pass out from Asian School of Cyber Laws, this is what she told us, “..the job can be summed up in one word , exciting ! You are always at the cutting edge of law and technology and at the forefront of development since many ways this is still virgin territory”. So, if you are fascinated by the unknown and you dare to create your own experiences, then cyber laws is something that you should definitely explore.

Author: Raunka Sood

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