Cyber Crimes And Role of Media In India

Cyber crimes in India are increasing rapidly. With the proliferation of social media websites in India, cyber crimes have not spared even such social media websites. A lot of cyber crimes, cyber contraventions, intellectual property rights (IPRs) violations, etc are committed due to lack of awareness about cyber law of India.

Further, there are very low cyber crimes convictions in India. This is because the cyber crime investigations in India are not proper due to lack of cyber law and cyber forensics knowledge. There is an urgent need to ensure cyber skills development in India so that cyber crimes can be prosecuted successfully.

Even judiciary needs to reform its practices and working style. Presently civil and criminal cases take decades to resolve and this frustrate the cause of justice. Technological innovations like e-courts, online dispute resolution (ODR), digital evidencing, e-discovery, cyber forensics, etc are still missing from Indian courts. These technological innovations can greatly reduce the time taken by Indian courts to decide cases.

Similarly the role of media in expediting the trials in courts is also well known. Media highlights the societal issues and this force the courts to speed up the matter. While media trial must be avoided yet public awareness must be spread by media so that cases can be debated among Indian masses. Cyber crime cases generally do not attract media attention.

Social media websites are popular places for building new relationships and contacts. However, social media websites are also becoming a place for cyber criminals to indulge in various cyber crimes.

We have no dedicated social media laws in India although guidelines for social media contents monitoring in India may be prescribed. Although we have a cyber law in India in the form of information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) yet we have no dedicated social networking laws in India. The cyber law for social media in India needs to be strengthened further keeping in mind a balance between civil liberties and law enforcement requirements.

Guidelines For Social Media Contents Monitoring In India

Social networking is an area whose time has come. People across the globe are part of social media and networking platforms. This also applies to India. However, dedicated social networking laws in India and social media laws in India are missing despite much requirement.

Even we have no social media policy of India that governs the use of social media in India. The growing demands for cyber due diligence in India has further necessitated for adopting of a sound social networking policy in India by various stakeholders.

For the first time, a social media framework and guidelines for Indian government organisations has been suggested. However, keeping in mind the past record of Indian government, this may be another proposal that would not be fulfilled.

Cyber law of India has imposed certain restrictions and liabilities upon social networking websites. For instance, social networking sites are liable if they fail to exercise cyber due diligence in India. Similarly, social media is also liable for online IPRs violations, including online copyright violations in India.

Recently Internet intermediaries of India were agitated when they were asked to pre screen users’ contents before posting at their websites. Companies like Google and Facebook were asked to take appropriate steps in this regard. However, lack of adequate Internet intermediary laws in India has proved to be a big hurdle in regulating online contents in India. Google has openly showed its dissatisfaction in this regard to Indian government.

Now Indian government is planning to formulate guidelines for monitoring content on social media platforms and removal of objectionable content from websites. Let us hope the same would be drafted after analysing various merits and demerits of this proposal.