Friday, July 23, 2010

Domain Name Dispute Resolution Institutions In India

Domain name disputes are increasing day by days these days. This is primarily attributable to cyber squatting episodes. The growing cyber squatting incidences require strong domain name protection and effective domain name dispute resolution mechanism.

The present domain names are based upon IPv4 and very soon India would adopt the IPv6 framework. This would also add its own share of domain name dispute that have to be handled effectively.

All over the world individuals, organisations and nations are working in the direction of using online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism for resolving various disputes, including domain name disputes. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has been using ODR mechanism to resolve disputes for long.

In India, we have selective institutions that are providing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services. Even fewer are institutions providing ODR services and just a single platform providing techno- legal ODR services.

The limited growth of ADR and ODR in India is primarily attributable to lack of awareness among the individuals and companies engaged in disputes. Further, even the laws in this regard are not appropriate.

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is the sole ADR law of India and there is no dedicated law regarding ODR in India. Although arbitration services in India are for long yet they have to match the international standards. This is the reason why Law Minister Veerappa Moily is considering amendments in the ADR law of India.

With the ADR law in the process of amendments and India’s stand to shift to IPv6 the future of Indian domain name dispute resolution institutions seems to be bright.

What Failed E-Governance In India

E-governance in India has become a source of corruption rather than removing corruption and bringing transparency. Various e-governance projects in India have been achieved on papers alone without any transparency and accountability for the hard earned public money wastage.

E-governance in India has by and large a flop show. There are many factors that led to the poor performance of the e-governance in India. The major among them are lack of planning, omnipresent corruption in governmental offices, lack of accountability, misleading policies, etc. Further, e-governance in India has never been considered a part of good governance.

E-governance is beyond the scope of e-government. While e-government is defined as a mere delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic means, e-governance allows direct participation of constituents in government activities.

E-governance is not just about government web site and e-mail. It is not just about service delivery over the Internet. It is not just about digital access to government information or electronic payments. It will change how citizens relate to governments as much as it changes how citizens relate to each other. It will bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of needs and responsibilities.

E-governance will allow citizens to communicate with government, participate in the governments' policy-making and citizens to communicate each other. The e-governance will truly allow citizens to participate in the government decision-making process, reflect their true needs and welfare by utilizing e-government as a tool.

However, e-governance in India has been a complete failure. There is too much stress upon procurement as opposed to management. India has to accept that computerisation of traditional governmental and public functions are not e-governance. We have to empower the citizens with the power of information and communication technology (ICT).

ICT has become an indispensable part of our daily life. It has the potential to streamline procedures, inculcate discipline among workforce, and bring transparency and accountability and reduction of costs. The benefits are tremendous provided we have the will, insight and knowledge to use it.

E-governance in India is in its infancy stage. The National E-Governance Plan (NEGP) is the umbrella under which all e-governance initiatives are taking place. However, there are very few successful and completed e-governance initiatives like MCA21 in India. Whether it is e-courts, e-readiness, legal enablement of ICT systems, e-gazette, e-commerce etc none are even close to success. So where lies the problem?

Firstly, there seems to be lack of insight among the policy-makers. The ICT polices and strategies of India are not covering the e-governance aspects at the national level. No political party ever considers e-governance as an important part of their political agenda before elections. Even commodities like onion and potatoes find place in national debates but not e-governance.

Secondly, there is too much stress upon procurement as opposed to management. India has to accept that computerization of traditional governmental and public functions is not e-governance. We have to empower the citizens with the power of ICT. We have to make the governmental services user-friendly as well as productive and easy.

Thirdly, there is lack of transparency in governmental dealing and in the absence of the same e-governance is just paperwork. In India, we have the Right to Information Act, 2005 but the same has been a failure in India. The public information officers keep on denying the relevant information on flimsy grounds. In exceptional cases, citizens may get some information but by and large very few people get the information.

Fourthly, accountability among governmental officers is missing. There is no mechanism through which we can punish a wrong doer for his violations and negligence. This results in a casual attitude towards public good and e-governance. If we fix accountability and time-bound progress requirements then a lot of problems can be solved.

Fifthly, public participation in both policy making and governmental decisions is missing. If we get the opinion of those who are somehow surviving at the grassroots level we can solve the majority of our problems. However, the fact is that grassroots level problems are never solved.

E-governance will be successful only if we start to undertake due efforts to implement it in all blocks and districts and spread it to the grass root level. Being the largest democratic country, India must show an example to other in this context.

But in last many years we have not seen the efficiency of public servants, who are supposed to be the some of the best brain of India. For attaining developed status our public service system must work in a better way. Citizen must participate in various activities, if we really want to see India as a developed nation. Public service must be strengthened in India in true spirit, if we want to become to become a developed nation in near future.

Cross Border E-Commerce Transactions And Online Dispute Resolution

Arbitration law of India must accommodate some of the present day’s method of dispute resolution. Online dispute resolution (ODR) is one of the contemporary methods of dispute resolution. With the growing numbers of human interactions, there are growing incidences of disputes among them. ODR can be an effective, instantaneous and cost economic method of dispute resolution.

However, ODR has to face many technical and legal challenges as well. That is why modern day ODR must be techno-legal in nature. Besides, ODR must also be associated with other allied fields like e-courts to produce better results.

Cross border e-commerce transactions have further mandated that there must be an internationally accepted ODR framework that must be used while resolving various disputes.

In the Indian context, we have very few ODR providers that are providing qualitative ODR services. However, there is just a single techno legal ODR centre in India that is managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). In fact, PTLB is also exclusively providing online ODR training so that ODR may be widely used in India.

PTLB has launched the most comprehensive techno legal trainings for lawyers, judges, police officers, court managers, arbitrators, mediators, ODR professionals, etc. These trainings are managed by an online platform to maximise the reach of the trainings of PTLB. Application Form for enrollment to various techno legal training courses of PTLB can be downloaded from Here.

PTLB is also working in the direction of International harmonisation of ODR best practices and ODR regulatory and dispute resolution framework. With these initiatives, the future of ODR in India seems to be bright.

Techno Legal Skill Development By PTLB

These days almost all the persons and institutions are required to deal with techno legal issues like cyber law, cyber forensics, cyber security, etc. However, these techno legal fields are highly specialised in nature and they require good amount of training form the best institutions. Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is one such institution that provides world class online and offline techno legal trainings and education.

PTLB has launched the most comprehensive techno legal trainings for lawyers, judges, police officers, court managers, arbitrators, mediators, ODR professionals, etc. These trainings are managed by an online platform to maximise the reach of the trainings of PTLB. Application Form for enrollment to various techno legal training courses of PTLB can be downloaded from Here.

Techno legal trainings are particularly important for corporate executives, lawyers and judges. The corporate executives have to take care of regulatory and technical requirements at companies. The lawyers have to develop good knowledge of contemporary topics like cyber law, cyber forensics, etc. Similarly, the judges cannot give proper judgment till they are aware of techno legal issues.

These training and skill development programs of PTLB can go a long way in effective implementation of national litigation policy of India (NLPI). Further, these courses also have great scope for legal and judicial reforms in India.

SOURCE: PTLB NEWS