Monday, March 30, 2015

Online Petition And Survey By CCICI Regarding Cyber Law Due Diligence In India

Interpretation and analysis of the judgment of Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (24th March 2015), Writ Petition (Criminal) No.167 Of 2012 (PDF) has already been started by various cyber law stakeholders of India. Most of them have based their observations upon Section 66A alone leaving aside other sections like Section 69A and Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

However, it seems while doing justice to freedom of speech and expression in India, the Supreme Court has erred in reading down Section 79 and Rule 3 of Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 (PDF) that pertains to Internet Intermediary liability and observance of cyber law due diligence (PDF) by them. In fact, it has been claimed that Supreme Court has killed cyber law due diligence in India to a great extent.  

Cyber Crimes Investigation Centre of India (CCICI), the premier cyber crime investigation centre of Perry4Law Organisation (P4LO), has been covering these issues from the very beginning. Now CCICI has taken this interpretation and effort to another level by starting an online petition and survey titled “Do We Need a Stronger Cyber Law Due Diligence in India?”

Unfortunately, most of the interpretations and observations regarding the judgment of Supreme Court were directed towards Section 66A alone and the issue of cyber law due diligence was totally ignored. This has serious ramifications for all cyber victims whose locus standi has been taken away by the Supreme Court to approach the Intermediary.

It is of utmost importance that this issue must be discussed in great detail and then taken up before the Supreme Court through a review petition. Similarly, the collective inputs can also be shared with Indian government and Parliament so that they can come up with a more potent and effective cyber law due diligence requirement in India.

If you are a cyber victim or you know a person who has been a cyber victim, please share your views through this petition and review. Your views would shape the cyber law of India and make it more meaningful. If you have ever suffered from harassment over e-mail, SMS, chatting, Social media, etc or you know a person who has been so harassed, then please share your views at the petition/survey page. Collectively let us make a responsible cyber society and culture in India.

Source: Cyber Law Blog.