Urgent Measures Are Needed To Curb Cyber Crimes In India

India has finally shown some concerns towards the growing menace of cyber crimes in India. The government of India has shown an absolute apathy towards growing cyber crimes in India by making almost all the cyber crimes in India “bailable”. Through this process the government made India a safe heaven for cyber criminals. The cyber criminals are virtually free to do whatever they want because at best they can be caught and then have to be set free because Indian cyber law is toothless in this regard. Even these cyber criminals would be very difficult to nab as Indian law enforcement is not well trained to deal with cyber crimes.

India is confused regarding its cyber law and the same has resulted in cyberspace anarchy in India. The Indian political thinking is marred by gross confusion. There are growing incidences of exploitation of Indian cyberspace by cyber criminals and foreign powers. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India sent an open letter to the Government of India including the Prime Minister of India, President of India, Supreme Court of India, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, etc and brought to their attention the growing menace of cyber crimes in India.

Reacting immediately, the Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily announced the enactment of separate laws and creation of a specialised agency to deal with the menace of cyber crimes. Cyber crimes in India are increasing in the absence of a strong and stringent cyber law i.e. Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act 2000). The ICT Trends of India 2009 have proved that India has failed to enact a strong and stringent Cyber Law in India. On the contrary, the Information Technology Act 2008 (IT Act 2008) has made India a “safe heaven” for cyber criminals, say cyber law experts of India.

The problem seems to be multi-faceted in nature. Firstly, the cyber law of India contained in the IT Act, 2000 is highly deficient in many aspects. Thus, there is an absence of proper legal enablement of ICT systems in India. Secondly, there is a lack of cyber law training to the police, lawyers, judges, etc in India. Thirdly, the cyber security and cyber forensics capabilities are missing in India. Fourthly, the ICT strategies and policies of India are deficient and needs an urgent overhaul. Fifthly, the Government of India is indifferent towards the “ICT reforms” in India. This results in a declining ranking of India in the spheres of e-readiness, e-governance, etc. While International communities like European Union, ITU, NATO, Department of Homeland Security, etc are stressing for an enhanced cyber security and tougher cyber laws, India seems to be treading on the wrong side of weaker regulatory and legal regime, says Praveen Dalal.

At last, somebody in the government has shown some concern regarding the growing menace of cyber crimes in India. However, the task is difficult since we do not have trained lawyers, judges and police officers in India. However, at least a step has been taken in the right direction by the law minister of India.

SOURCE: GROUND REPORT

Online Education In India Is At Grave Risk

Indian educational industry has lot of potentials provided we make a proper education policy in India. Education and skill development is at the core of a trained and talented manpower. This is more so regarding e-learning in India and online education in India. However, if the educational policy can be circumvented and defeated by weak and criminal friendly cyber laws, little can be hoped from the same. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the Indian educational policy is currently suffering from.

Firstly there was a failure of the online examination conducted by IGNOU and now we witnessed collapse of Common Admission Test (CAT) exams. This shows that India is still not ready for online education and e-learning in India.

This is, however, not the real problem as a graver problem is still awaiting for us. None other than the government of India (GOI) can be held responsible for this fiasco. The GOI amended the sole cyber law of India, i.e. Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000) through Information Technology Act, 2008 (IT Act, 2008). From here starts the real trouble and demise of Indian online educational system.

According to Praveen Dalal, the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India and Managing Partner of Perry4Law the IT Act, 2008 made almost all (except few like cyber terrorism) the possible cyber crimes “bailable”. This has made India a “Safe Heaven” for cyber criminals. Think about a situation where the online exam or entrance is going on and someone collapses the servers through hacking, virus introduction, etc. Even if the police is able to trace such culprit, he would be released on bail. This practically means that a competitor can create havoc with the online education system of another with no deterrent at all, says Dalal.

It is clear that Indian online education system is very bad in shape. On the one hand we lack technical capabilities whereas on the other hand cyber criminals are on a ride without any deterrent law to desist them from attacking the server and other computer resources. If the GOI still does not wake up, it must forget about attracting foreign universities and their opening of campuses in India. In fact, such foreign universities must not open any centre in India till India is ready, both technically as well as legally.

SOURCE: MERINEWS

E-Learning Is A Government Induced Failure In India

Online education requires both state of the art technologies as well as effective laws. Even if we have all the favorable condition still there may be technical glitches or legal wrangles. But what would happen if we have inadequate technical capabilities coupled with criminal friendly cyber laws? The net result would be a demise of the e-learning and online education capabilities. The same is happening in India due to myopic insight and criminal friendly nature of government of India.

Firstly there was a failure of the online examination conducted by IGNOU and now we witnessed collapse of Common Admission Test (CAT) exams. This shows that India is still not ready for online education and e-learning in India.

This is, however, not the real problem as a graver problem is still awaiting for us. None other than the government of India (GOI) can be held responsible for this fiasco. The GOI amended the sole cyber law of India, i.e. Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000) through Information Technology Act, 2008 (IT Act, 2008). From here starts the real trouble and demise of Indian online educational system.

According to Praveen Dalal, the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India and Managing Partner of Perry4Law the IT Act, 2008 made almost all (except few like cyber terrorism) the possible cyber crimes “bailable”. This has made India a “Safe Heaven” for cyber criminals. Think about a situation where the online exam or entrance is going on and someone collapses the servers through hacking, virus introduction, etc. Even if the police is able to trace such culprit, he would be released on bail. This practically means that a competitor can create havoc with the online education system of another with no deterrent at all, says Dalal.

It is clear that Indian online education system is very bad in shape. On the one hand we lack technical capabilities whereas on the other hand cyber criminals are on a ride without any deterrent law to desist them from attacking the server and other computer resources. If the GOI still does not wake up, it must forget about attracting foreign universities and their opening of campuses in India. In fact, such foreign universities must not open any centre in India till India is ready, both technically as well as legally.

SOURCE: GROUND REPORT