Cyber Democracy on Test
The ongoing war between Mumbai police and Cyber cafe owners has taken an
interesting twist and placed a challenge on the Citizens. In what should be
considered as a land mark decision, the Mumbai High Court has ordered that the
controversial report of the expert committee which has suggested photo ID cards
for Cyber Cafe owners to be placed on a web site so that public can send their
comments on the report to the Court.
Naavi.com therefore requests every Netizen who has a view on the subject to take
a little time off and file his views.
Here is a challenge to the concept of Cyber Democracy. All Netizens should
realize that all Courts will not be as progressive as Mumbai High Court in
seeking public opinion in such cases. We have a duty to respect the confidence
that the Court has put on the Netizens.
More..here
Cyber Democracy Website launched
Naavi.com has been advocating Regulation of Cyber Space which promotes harmony
between Cyber Society and the Meta Society. In pursuance of this objective,
Naavi.com has always advocated public participation in the regulatory process.
Some time back, Naavi.com promoted a "Netizen's Forum" which took the lead in
mobilizing public opinion on the Information Technology Bill and the
Communication Convergence Bill.
In a step to strengthen the concept of "Netizen's Forum", and to create an
organization around it, Naavi.com has now launched a website
www.cyberdemocracy.org.
The site will start enrolling members for the Cyber Democracy Movement and
prepare to undertake larger responsibilities to be an interface between the
regulated Netizens and the Regulators.
The Movement is not for promoting laissez-faire on the Internet, but for
promotion of Cyber Regulation which will have a high degree of voluntary
Compliance from the society.
Visitors are invited to become members and contribute to the development of the
idea.
Naavi
February 25, 2002
Submit Your Comments on the Expert Committee's Report on Cyber Pornography
On February 13, 2002, the Mumbai High
Court passed an order in Suo Motu Writ Petition 1611 of 2001. By that
order, the report dated 30.1.2002 submitted by the Special Committee
appointed in September 2001 was directed to be made available to the
public online for download, to enable comments and suggestions. The
order requires that the online editions, in PDF and HTML formats,
should be available also on this suit.
Accordingly, in compliance with that order, VSNL have uploaded the
entire Committee report at
http://internet.vsnl.net.in/offers/highcourt.html
THE HIGH COURT HAS SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED THAT ALL COMMENTS AND
SUGGESTIONS ON THIS REPORT MUST BE RECEIVED WITHIN FOUR WEEKS (BY
MARCH 30, 2002).
Comments can be sent to
cyberreport@bombaybar.com
directly or to Naavi for
consolidation and submission.
PDF Versions are
downloadable here:
Part1 (800 KB)
Part 2 (4MB)
TRAI Recommends Introduction of Internet Telephony in India
In a major policy breakthrough, TRAI, (Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India) announced that it is in favour of introducing Internet Telephony in
India. The decision was conveyed in its report on Internet Telephony submitted
after a long public consultation process through the Web and otherwise.
Details available at
http://www.trai.gov.in/internet-telepnoney-index.htm (P.S: The page may be
infected with W32/Nimda.htm virus. Naavi.com is alerting TRAI and hopefully
Virus would be eliminated there after.
Alternatively,
mirrored information available here.)
Spain to Make Spam Illegal
Spain is considering making it illegal to send commercial e-mails without the
permission of the clients.
Even in India, Spam has long passed the stage of being only an irritant and
unwelcome consumer of band width to Porno and Fraud promotion. Use of
unsolicited mails to propagate anti society messages is hurting the delicate
balance of regulatory frame work between the Meta Society and the Cyber Society.
The freedom and popularity of Internet is at stake because of the misuse of the
e-mail facility.
If this is not checked, just as a section of experts in Mumbai endorsing the
need for Photo Identity Cards for Cyber Cafe use, any other group may
suggest that photo identity be made mandatory for having any
e-mail account.
There is therefore a need to get a law inserted to ITA-2000 making Spam
punishable in India.
More Details
from Europemedia.net
US Court to Judge..Have Copyright Laws Gone too Far?
The US Supreme Court agreed to intervene and examine if the US Congress has over
stepped the limits of Copyright Protection and violated the right of people to
information.
The recent proposal of the Congress to extend the Copyright protection from 70
years after death of an author, by another 20 years is at the center of the
controversy,
The outcome may determine when hundreds of thousands of books,
songs and movies will be freely available on the Internet or in
digital libraries.
Related
Article in CNN
Sony Play Station Ruling
The recent Court ruling on the Sony Play Station, in UK is likely to have
implications on the inter operability of DVD players in different systems and
the devices which make this possible.
The issue here was the sale of chips that could make PS2 work on PAL TV system
used in Europe and Australasia as against alternate systems used in Japan and US
and if they were violative of the Copyright Act for contributory infringement.
The verdict favours such a view and hence can have effect on DVD s as well sold
from US, if they are played in Japan over another system.
Related
Article in NewScientist.com
Stop This Cyber Cafe Bashing
An expert panel constituted by Mumbai High Court has come to the conclusion that
the only way to prevent Cyber Cafes being used to see Pornographic web sites, to
introduce a system of ID Cards for Cyber Cafe users. The High Court has called
for public comments in this regard.
Naavi.com thinks that there are better ways to control Pornography at Cyber
Cafes than by making "Visa" mandatory for entry to cyber space through Cyber
cafes.
Detailed Article
Yet Another E-Mail Case busted by TN Police
Close on the heels of the recent success in cracking the Nagercoil E-Mail threat
case, TN Police has cracked yet another E-Mail threat case to the TN Chief
Minister. In a swift move, the offending E-Mail has been traced to an young
person in Hyderabad who has since been taken into custody.
After Maruti, Its Bharti..
In a recent ex-parte interim order of the Delhi High Court, an individual Vijay Kumar Bharti has been
prevented from using a domain name registered by him as www.bharti.com and the
rights to use www.bharti.com and www.bharti.net has been transferred to the Company Bharti
Televentures Ltd. The exparte interim order was passed on the basis of an
application made by the Company....
The order gives a new meaning to the rights of individuals and makes them
subordinate to the rights of a Company. ...
In the interest of protecting the fundamental rights of individuals in India and
elsewhere there appears to be a need to seek appeal against this decision of the
Honourable High Court and I urge Cyber Savvy lawyers to take up this cause.
Detailed Story Here
British Telecom Is Treading a Dangerous Path
The news of British telecom pursuing its Patent on Hyper Links in the courts of
USA has raised many an eyebrows all round the world. After Amazon Patent and
Napster Copyright Cases this has stirred the hornet's nest....This is likely to
turn out to be a land mark case determining the principle of patentability of
fundamental innovations....
What can also be explored is whether "Pending grant of the Patent, the Patent
Controller in India can be moved for issue of a provisional order on
compulsory licensing on a contingent basis to avoid confusion in the minds of
the public and stagnation in scientific development during the course of
litigation in USA.
Detailed Article
India's First Digital Certificate?
It has been reported that Safescrypt, a joint venture of Satyam Infoway and
Verisign is ready with its software for issue of Digital Certificates from their
Indian computer resources.
Hopefully the Controller would confirm the license for Safescrypt so that a
legally valid Digital Certificate would be available from India soon.
Report on the Launch
A New Telephone Crime Reported
A new type of telephone related crime akin to "Computer hacking" and "IP
Spoofing", has been reported from Mumbai and Telephone users in India need
to be on guard as this can not only mean financial loss but also a false
implication for an outward call made from your telephone number probably
by terrorist organizations.
Following is the message received from a friend of the public in this regard.
"Beware if you receive a telephone
call from an individual who identifies himself/herself as a Telephone Service
technician who is conducting a test on that telephone line, or anyone else who
asks you to do the following:
They will state that to complete the test the recipient should dial nine zero,
the hash (90#) and then hang up. Doing this gives full access to your phone
line, which allows them to place long distance international or chat line calls
billed to your account.
The information, which the police have, suggests that many of these calls are
originating from local jails. The information has been checked out by the police
and is correct.
DO NOT PRESS 90# FOR ANYONE"
Naavi.com thanks Mr Ramamurthy for having brought
to the notice of the public and welcomes any comments on the report and
incidents of occurrence.
February 4, 2002
TN Police bust E-Mail Crime
In a quick investigative burst, TN Police achieved success in arresting
two persons who were involved in sending a murder threat by E-Mail to
TN Chief Minister Smt J.Jayalalithaa and Education Minister Sri Thambidurai.
In a first of its kind Cyber Crime investigation in interior Tamil
Nadu, the Police were able to trace out the source of E-Mail to a Cyber Cafe and
follow it up with the identification and arrest of two persons in connection
with the crime. It has been reported that a special crack team from Chennai has
visited the Crime scene and gathered the necessary evidence for ensuring further
prosecution.
What is sad however is that the persons who seem to have perpetrated the crime
appear to be young persons in their teens. Did they do it knowing fully the
consequences? Or was it a teen age mischief?..only time will tell.
It is however time for us to start thinking.. how we can make the Cyber Savvy
youth of our country realize that any crime using a Computer may not
be just fun but can land them in jail spoiling their future permanently.
Parents and School Teachers should also realize that they have a responsibility
thrust on them not to just teach our youth how to use the Computers but also
teach them how to use Computers responsibly.
It is in pursuance of this objective that
Cyber Law College
is offering a
Course on Cyber Laws for Teenagers so that our wiz kids into responsible
Netizens.
Naavi
February 4, 2002
Search Engines ..Walking on a Suicide Path?
Search Engines were one of the best friends of the Cyber Society. Are they now
degenerating under Commercial pressures?..
Read the detailed article from Naavi
here.
