We’re all so busy on our social media in today’s world. We surf the internet for hours, browsing various websites to find some aesthetically pleasing, watching our friends and acquaintances post new pictures. As soon as we wake up, we switch on our phones and check our Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc. and check our daily feed and notifications. Social media has become a huge part of our lives, in today’s world we can find everything online, from buying shoes to booking a hotel, everything can be done with just a click. But do we realize that there is a law governing all of our activities and some of them are punishable? The Information Technology Act, 2000 was enacted by the parliament to put a check on all kinds of online activities taking place. Any kind of criminal activity carried out by means of computers or internet is known as a Cyber Crime. We’re all dependent on technology and its advancement has increased the rate of cyber crimes. Cybercrime cases such as online banking frauds, online share trading fraud, source code theft, credit card fraud, tax evasion, virus attacks, cyber sabotage, phishing attacks, email hijacking, denial of service, hacking, pornography etc. are becoming common. Digital signatures and e-contracts are fast replacing conventional method of transacting business.
We need to realize the fact that whatever we post on the internet remains there forever.
We can categorize cyber crimes in two ways-
- Computer as a Target- Using a computer to attack other computers and devices e.g. Hacking, Virus, Denial-of-Service (DOS) attack.
- Computer as a Weapon- Using a computer to commit real world crimes e.g. Cyber terrorism, Intellectual Property Rights violations, Credit card frauds, pornography etc.
Does the Cyber Law concern me?
Cyber Law concerns all of us. As the nature of internet is changing every activity of yours in the online world can and will have a Cyberlegal perspective. From the time you register your Domain Name, set up your web site, promote your website, when you send and receive emails , when you conduct electronic commerce transactions on the said site, at every point of time, there are various Cyberlaw issues involved.
There are several provisions in the IT Act, 2000 which were laid down to protect the citizens from any sort of criminal activity taking place, some of the provisions are-
- Tampering with the computer source document
- Hacking with computer system
- Using password of another person
- Cheating using computer resource
- Publishing private images of another
- Acts of cyber terrorism
- Publishing images of sexual acts and child pornography
- Misrepresentation
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology laid down National Cyber Security Policy in 2013, another measure to curb down the criminal activities taking place in the online world. India had no Cyber Security policy before 2013. In 2013, The Hindu newspaper, citing documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has alleged that much of the NSA surveillance was focused on India’s domestic politics and its strategic and commercial interests.
The level of cyber crimes has been on an upward graph, U.S. government plans to spend $15 billion on cyber security according to the President’s Budget. Symantec Corporation claims that India is currently as the No. 2 targeted country for cyber attacks after USA.
Cybercrime cases in India, registered under the IT Act, increased at a rate of 300 percent between 2011 and 2014. In 2015, there were 11,592 cases of cyber crime registered in India. A crime free society is perfect and exists only in illusion, it should be constant attempt of rules to keep the criminalities lowest. Especially in a society that is dependent more and more on technology, crime based on electronic law-breaking are bound to increase and the law makers have to go the extra mile compared to the impostors, to keep them at bay. We need to stay cautious and spread awareness regarding the advent of cyber crime, we should not just post anything which might be taking away the right of another and should always stay within the boundaries of law. Cyber law is said to be the most upcoming law and the everyday new notifications and judgments from the Courts are given by the Courts regarding the same. The internet is evolving day by day, minute by minute, we cannot shut our eyes and go with the flow and enjoy the applications on our phones without any repercussions, its time to wake up and understand the concept of laws that are governing us in this world wide web. We must not forget the fact that we are under surveillance 24/7, and there is someone out there, hidden in the dark, on their laptop, watching you.
ForeSight 