Cyber Forensics Polls By Perry4Law And PTLB

In order to ensure better cyber forensics environment in India, Perry4Law and PTLB have been conducting polls to ascertain whether India has sufficient cyber forensics capabilities?

The first poll is available at the cyber forensics in India blog of Perry4Law and immediately below the blog archives segment. Only 5 days are remaining so cast your votes immediately.

The second poll is available at Linkedin under the polls segment. Click to the recent polls and there you would find the poll in this regard. It would be there for a month. Cast your votes immediately.

The result of the polls would be shared by Perry4Law and PTLB with all the stakeholders if sufficient database and information is available in this regard. So kindly vote at these polls and encourage your friends to do it as well.

The result of these polls would also be shared with Indian government with suitable suggestions and recommendation from Perry4Law, PTLB, general public and all stakeholders.

If you need a better legal and judicial system that can fight against growing cyber crimes and cyber attacks against India, kindly do the needful.

Cyber Forensics: A Much Needed Skill

Cyber forensics has been long ignored in India for long. Now Indian government has shown some indications that cyber forensics would be considered to be a part of Indian law enforcement requirements.

Cyber forensics is also required to strengthen the cyber security capabilities of India. In fact, a cyber security policy of India is already in pipeline. However, the missing links of cyber security in India and cyber forensics in India are still glaring at the face of governmental claims.

Cyber forensics in India is not in a good shape. In fact, cyber forensics and Indian approach in this regard is not conducive for the long term growth and development of cyber forensics in India.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal specialist of Asia, Cyber Forensics has not found favour with the Executive, Judiciary, Legislature and the Administrative Branches of India. We have no dedicated Cyber Forensics Laws in India.

Clearly, cyber forensics in India needs rejuvenation and it is for the Indian government to take immediate steps in this regard.

Internet And Human Rights In India

Information and communication technology (ICT) has brought many novel challenges before governments, international organisations and individuals in one form or another. ICT has also introduced many challenges that require an appraisal of the rights and obligations of those using ICT in general and Internet in particular.

Human rights protection in Indian cyberspace is an ignored world. Very few are aware of the importance of this issues and even the mainstream media is ignorant about the importance of safeguarding human rights in cyberspace. This is the reason why the traditional mainstream media is occasionally defeated by social media websites these days.

The position of United Nations and human Rights in cyberspace is still not clear. Naturally, human rights protection in cyberspace is still in the process of contemplation alone. UN must realise that protecting human rights in cyberspace is its solemn duty that it has failed to discharge so far.

In the past as well suggestions have been given by many techno legal experts to UN to ensure protection of human rights in cyberspace. However, this issue seems to be a complicated one as UN is taking lots of time to protect human rights in cyberspace.

The World community on Human Rights, Cyber Law and Cyber Security must start thinking in this direction as issues like Cyber Warfare, Cyber Terrorism, Cyber Espionage, Cyber Crimes, E-Surveillance, Unlawful Interceptions, etc are “Transnational” in nature, says Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based law firm Perry4Law and CEO of PTLB and the exclusive Cyberspace Human Rights Protection Centre of India.

Clearly, the United Nations must protect human rights in cyberspace and keep a close watch upon Internet censorship, e-surveillance, human rights violations in cyberspace and similar activities.

Take the example of India. The lawful interception law is needed in India and the same is still missing despite contrary governmental claims. Till now, phone tapping in India is not constitutionally performed. The truth is that big brother in India is violating Indian constitution and even courts are silent on this aspect.

Indian government has been taking many steps that are strengthening its e-surveillance and censorship capabilities without meeting the constitutional requirements. For instance, the central monitoring system project of India,  national cyber coordination centre (NCCC) of India, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), national counter terrorism centre (NCTC) of India, Aadhar project of India, etc are all proposed without any legal framework supervising and justifying their functioning.

It is high time that UN must take notice of such developments worldwide.

Vodafone Taxation Dispute In India And Censorship By Google

Vodafone taxation dispute in India has witnessed many ups and downs. Finally, it has reached at a stage where the Parliament of India has to intervene to conclusively settle the same.

Once bitten twice shy. This adage aptly applies to Indian government. Handed with a defeat at the Supreme Court level, now Indian government is planning to bring amendments in the tax law of India.

Simultaneously, Indian government has also introduced consolidated FDI policy of India 2012. The new FDI policy is clearly safeguarding Indian interests unlike the previous one that was specifically crafted to sub serve private interests.

The current budget session (April-May 2012) is going on and the proposed amendments may be placed in the first week of May 2012. Let us see how Vodafone and other telecom sector players would respond to these developments.

In the meantime censorship of controversial news by Google is in full force. Vodafone taxation related news is frequented censored in India these days. For instance, this post did not appear at all in the news while this post appeared and then disappeared within half an hour of its posting.

It is only after making the issue public that the latter post resurfaced. But this has become a standard practice of Google and Indian government for which neither is providing any explanation.

It seems either Google or Indian government is openly and blatantly abusing the controversial Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011 of India.  In fact, a motion for annulment of intermediary guidelines has already been moved In the Rajya Sabha.

It is high time for both Google and Indian government to clarify their respective stands in this regard as civil liberties of Indians in cyberspace is clearly violated through these censorship activities.  

E-Commerce Legal Requirements In India

Many entrepreneurs are jumping upon e-commerce wagon band in India without realising that e-commerce also requires legal compliances. For them mere opening of a website is enough to start e-commerce business in India.

These entrepreneurs cannot be blamed as cyber law awareness in India is missing. E-commerce laws in India are still evolving and e-commerce stakeholders in India are not aware of cyber law due diligence in India.

However, ignorance of law is no excuse. This is more so when the cyber due diligence for Indian companies is now well established. For instance, cyber due diligence for foreign websites in India, cyber due diligence for press and media in India, cyber due diligence for PayPal and online payment transferor in India, etc have already been discussed.

Thus, if you are planning to open an e-commerce business in India, legal formalities required for starting e-commerce business in India must be well understood. Similarly, legal requirements to start an e-commerce website In India must also be well understood.

In short, legal requirements of undertaking e-commerce in India must be duly complied with in order to get maximum benefits out of e-commerce business in India.

E-Courts Consultants In India

E-courts in India are still a distant dream. Till now not even a single e-court has been established in any state of India. Lack of techno-legal expertise is the main reason for the current scenario. Further, governmental and judicial resolve to establish e-courts in India is also missing.

As far as techno legal expertise is concerned, we have a single techno legal e-courts training and consultancy centre of India managed by Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). Similarly, we have very few e-courts consultants in India that can successfully implement any e-court project in India or abroad.

Fortunately the e-justice and dispute resolution in India has been strengthened by Perry4Law and PTLB. It has been reported that Perry4Law and PTLB have launched dedicated portals pertaining to electronic courts, e-judiciary, ODR India, online arbitration, etc.

From a mere perusal of these initiatives it is clear that these initiatives are covering crucial issues like online dispute resolution (ODR), e-courts, e-judiciary, online arbitration, etc.

So far neither Indian government nor Indian judiciary has taken any concrete steps towards use of ODR and e-courts in India. While other countries are exploring active use of e-courts and ODR India on the other hand is still engrossed in purchase of computers and printers.

Till now there is no facility of e-filing in India at the lower courts. Litigants are still required to be physically present at court premises to submit their digital media and electronic documents.

Indian government has taken almost a decade to decide whether e-courts would be used in India or not? It is high time for Indian government to actually act rather than keep on thinking for another decade.

Indian government can also take help of techno legal consultants who are well aware of the details of both technical and legal aspects. Of course, the option of approaching Perry4Law and PTLB is the best one if the Indian government wants best and instant results.

TRAI Accepted Suggestions Of Perry4Law On Telecom Policy Of India

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recently suggested the National Telecom Policy 2012 of India. It has suggested many important reforms and changes that if implemented would make the telecom sector safe and secure.

It seems TRAI has considered a wide range of techno legal reforms while suggesting the proposed 2012 policy. Many of the reforms suggested by TRAI are reiteration of the recommendations given by Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). Nevertheless they are good suggestions that must be implemented by the department of telecommunication (DoT), India.

Some of the suggestions of Perry4Law and PTLB that have been accepted by TRAI pertain to issues like:

(a) Establishing servers in India,

(b) Establishing cloud computing legal framework in India,

(c) Establishment of telecom security in India,

(d) Reconciling privacy rights and law enforcement requirements,

(e) Reconciling privacy rights and national security requirements,

(f) Adoption of lawful interception methods,

(g) Telecom dispute resolution reforms in India,

(h) Crisis management and emergency response services,

(i) Delivery of e-services in a time bound manner,

(j) Digitisation of governmental records,

(k) Establishing cloud computing best practices in India,

(l) Encryption and privacy issues of cloud computing,

(m) Establishing a centralised monitoring system in India, etc.

Clearly, the telecom policy 2012 is moving towards consumer and end user empowerment. The ball is now in the court of DoT and Indian government and let us see how they would react to the suggestions of Perry4Law and TRAI.