Information technology law

Information Technology Law (or IT Law) is a set of recent legal enactments, currently in existence in several countries, which governs the process and dissemination of information digitally. These legal enactments cover a broad gambit of different aspects relating to computer software, protection of computer software, access and control of digital information, privacy, security, internet access and usage, and electronic commerce. These laws have been described as "paper laws" for "paperless environment".

Background

Development of sophistication in information technology, and expansion of usage of information technology, has also given rise to a new set of crimes and criminal behavior. In order to combat such crimes, including criminal behavior, a number of countries across the globe, have reviewed and upgraded their existing criminal laws, and have also framed new set of laws to deal with such crimes, and criminal behavior. Some of such countries are Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Finland, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Such crimes and criminal behavior may be directed by the offender against an individual person or a group of individuals, and / or against an organization or the society at large.

Legal enactments - examples

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 [http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/internetcrime/compmisuse.html] , enacted by Great Britain on 29 June 1990, and which came into force on 29 August 1990, is an example of one of the earliest of such legal enactments. This Act was enacted with an express purpose of making "provision for securing computer material against unauthorised access or modification." Certain major provisions of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 relate to:
*"unauthorised access to computer materials",
*"unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate the commission of further offences", and
*"unauthorised modification of computer material."

A recent example of Information Technology Law is India's Information Technology Act 2000, which became effective from 17 October 2000. This Act applies to whole of India, and its provisions also apply to any offence or contravention, committed even outside the territorial jurisdiction of Republic of India, by any person irrespective of his nationality. In order to attract provisions of this Act, such an offence or contravention should involve a computer, computer system, or computer network located in India. The IT Act, 2000 provides an extra-territorial applicability to its provisions by virtue of section 1(2) read with section 75.

India's Information Technology Act 2000 has tried to assimilate legal principles available in several such laws (relating to Information Technology) enacted earlier in several other countries, as also various guidelines pertaining to Information Technology Law. The government of India appointed an Expert Committee to suggest suitable amendments into the existing IT Act, 2000. The amendments suggested by the Committee were severely criticised on various grounds. The chief among them was the dilution of criminal sanctions under the proposed amendments. These amendments, perhaps with some modifications, have been approved by the Cabinet in India on 16th October, 2006 and very soon the amendments will be laid down before the Indian Parliament for suitable legislation.

The IT Act, 2000 needs an overall haul keeping in mind the contemporary standards and requirements and the Indian law in this regard is lagging far behind. In the absence of proper law in place, the only recourse is to rely upon the traditional criminal law of India, i.e. Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) [1] that is highly insufficient for cyber crimes in India. Alternatively, a purposive, updating and organic interpretation of the existing provisions of the IT Act, 2000 and IPC by the judiciary must be tried.

The IT Act, 2000 requires a purposive and updating amendment initiative as many contemporary crimes and contraventions are missing from it. Besides, there is an emergent need of introducing the concept of cyber forensics in India.

Electronic Signature Laws

* U.S. - Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act
* U.S. - Uniform Electronic Transactions Act - adopted by 46 states
* U.S. - Digital Signature And Electronic Authentication Law
* U.S. - Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA)
* U.S. - The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
* UK - s.7 Electronic Communications Act 2000
* European Union - Electronic Signature Directive (1999/93/EC)
* Mexico - E-Commerce Act [2000]
* Costa Rica - Digital Signature Law 8454 (2005)

Information Technology Law

#Florida Electronic Security Act
#Illinois Electronic Commerce Security Act
#Texas Penal Code - Computer Crimes Statute
#Maine Criminal Code - Computer Crimes
#Singapore Electronic Transactions Act
#Malaysia Computer Crimes Act
#Malaysia Digital Signature Act
#UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce
#Information Technology Act 2000 of India

Information Technology Guidelines

#ABA Digital Signature Guidelines
#United States Office of Management and Budget

Enforcement agencies

The Information Technology Laws of various countries, and / or their criminal laws generally stipulate enforcement agencies, entrusted with the task of enforcing the legal provisions and requirements.

India

A live example of such an enforcement agency is Cyber Crime Police Station, Bangalore [http://www.cyberpolicebangalore.nic.in/] , India's first exclusive Cyber Crime enforcement agency.
*Other examples of such enforcement agencies include:
*Cyber Crime Investigation Cell [http://www.cybercellmumbai.com/index.htm] of India's Mumbai Police.
*"Cyber Crime Police Station" [http://www.cidap.gov.in/cybercrimes.aspx] of the state Government of Andhra Pradesh, India. This Police station has jurisdiction over the entire state of Andhra Pradesh, and functions from the Hyderabad city.
*In South India, the Crime Branch of Criminal Investigation Department, Tamilnadu police, India, has a Cyber Crime Cell at Chennai.
*In East India, Cyber Crime Cells have been set up by the Kolkata Police as well as the Criminal Investigation Department, West Bengal.

United States Federal Agencies

Many United States federal agencies oversee the use of information technology. Their regulations are promulgated in the Code of Federal Regulations of the United States.

Over 25 U.S. federal agencies have regulations concerning the use of digital and electronic signatures. [ [http://www.isaacbowman.com/esign-and-the-code-of-federal-regulations-cfr Federal Agency Digital and Electronic Signature Regulations] ]

ee also

*Cyber law
*Computer forensics

References

* [http://perry4law.blogspot.com/2005/09/critical-analysis-of-proposed-it-act.html Critical analysis of proposed Information Technology Act, 2000 amendments]
* [http://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/bareacts/informationtechnology/index.php?Title=InformationTechnologyAct,2000 Information Technology Act,2000 of India]
* [http://perry4law.blogspot.com/2006/10/proposed-it-act-2000-amendments-boon.html The proposed IT Act, 2000 amendments: Boon or bane]
* [http://gstj.org/Cyber%20Censor.pdf Global School of Tech Juris White Paper on Censoring the Indian Cyberspace]
* [http://gstj.org/Cyber%20Voyeurism.pdf Global School of Tech Juris White Paper on Cyber Voyeurism Perverts Dot Com]
* [http://www.naavi.org/cl_editorial_06/edit_oct_21.htm You Be The Judge]
* [http://www.mid-day.com/news/city/2001/october/16106.htm] Natural Porn Killers - Jayesh and Sunil Thacker (Mid Day - October 7, 2001)
* [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1171868083.cms] HC admits cyberporn complaint as PIL (Times of India, July 13, 2001)
* [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1124348984.cms] Cyberporn panel set up, HC wants minors protected, Sunil Thacker invited as a special invitee (Times of India, September 30, 2001)
* [http://www.indiacensored.com Indiacensored.com]

External links

* [http://www.cybercrime.gov/ US Department of Justice - Cyber crimes]
* [http://www.cert.org/ CERT]
* [http://perry4law.blogspot.com/ Cyber Law Forum]
* [http://cyberlawindia.blogspot.com/ Cyber Law in India]
* [http://www.gstj.org/ Global School of Tech Juris Pioneering Cyber Law Institute]
* [http://www.naavi.org/ Indian Portal on Cyber Law]
* [http://cyberforensicsinindia.blogspot.com/ Cyber Forensics in India]
* [http://www.crime-research.org/ Computer Crime Research Center]
* [http://www.unesco.org/cgi-bin/webworld/portal_observatory/cgi/page.cgi?d=1&g=Enabling_Environment/Cyber-Crime_and_Misuse_of_ICT/index.shtml Cyber crime and misuse of ICT-UNESCO]
* [http://www.ncfs.ucf.edu/digital_evd.html Digital Evidence]
* [http://www.computerforensicsworld.com/ Computer Forensics World]
* [http://ssrn.com/abstract=909781 "Model Information Technology Contract Terms and Systems Implementation Contracts in Europe" . European Newsletter, June 2006 Lestrade, K.OSt.J., SJDr, Dr. Edward]
* [http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/ AHRC Research Centre for Studies in IP and IT Law] at Edinburgh Law School