Naavi.org

A detailed 44 minute video including the Question and Answer session is also available here

“Most of us don’t want to learn law primarily for two reasons, one subject being little dry and secondly we feel lawyers are there to take care. After attending this workshop conducted by Guru Na.Vijayashankar (Naavi) and organised by …. ,I realised the subject is fantastic provided taught by a person who himself knows the subject. At the same time as a citizen an IT professional need to know basics . Otherwise we as security professional are dependent on others as first responder for any un toward incident. Can’t claim to be an expert but at least aware. Thanks ….for making me part of this learning experience. My prize possession.”

A Director, Information Security

It was a pleasure to complete two short programs on Information Technology Act 2000 to Information Security professionals during the last two weeks. The Course was conducted over 12 hours and covered the ITA 2000 from a Techno Legal perspective.

One of the participants posted the above comment in his linkedIn profile which I thought I should share with others, just to highlight the need of IT/IS professionals to be also aware of ITA 2000.

For some time now I had restricted to teaching only Data Protection and it was after a long gap that I returned to teaching ITA 2000. It was refreshing. I also felt honoured by several senior IS professionals from major companies in India being part of these programs.

Naavi

To Whomsoever It May concern

Right now, I am asking one question to Mr Modi on why he is ignoring the need to remove the Digital Black Money which is taking roots in India. I hope I will receive the answer if not from Mr Modi, from any of his deputies.

(I am leaving aside the many good things Mr Modi has done during the last one year and ignoring the difficulties that  have arisen due to the COVID Crisis and the continued challenges posed by the anti national opposition.)

I am speaking of the “Crypto Currencies” lead by the “Bitcoin”, which is the digital black money that seems to have encroached upon us and mocking at all the honest tax payers who are contributing to the welfare of the economy while the corrupt are feeling victorious.

“Bitcoin” is an anonymous asset that poses itself as a currency to replace Indian Rupees. Once rupee is converted into Bitcoin, it can further be converted into many other crypto currencies all of which are anonymous. They can also be converted into some foreign currencies and convertible into any other foreign currency. It therefore facilitates havala transactions in a jiffy.

Bitcoins and other crypto currencies are held in  wallets which are as easy to set up as an e-mail account. There is no need to go through any stringent KYC process and people can use an anonymous Proton mail account and an online pseudonymous mobile number for additional authentication if required.

Bitcoins can be loaded onto the wallets and withdrawn through an exchange. Exchanges may have different forms of conducting KYC. After the various controversies some Indian exchanges have introduced some system of KYC but it would not be difficult to open benami accounts in these exchanges and transfer the bitcoins to other benmi wallets outside India. Even if the first account is identifiable, subsequently the Bitcoin can be transferred to an anonymous wallet, re -bought at a loss and account closed booking a capital loss while the original asset is converted into a benami wallet. It is a very effective money laundering operation.

Currently the exchanges in India are doing Bitcoin transactions following the helpful decision they extracted from the Supreme Court on the RBI’s prohibitory circular. It is therefore now possible to use the exchanges to link to Indian Bank accounts and transfer rupee balances in Banks into Bitcoins and later change it to other crypto currencies and foreign exchange without any control from RBI. Neither RBI nor any other department of the Government have tried to re-issue the RBI circular or ask for a review of the decision of the Supreme Court. Hence exchanges are now free to do their business of converting Indian rupees of investors into Bitcoins.

Initially the benami bank deposits will get converted and later, even honest tax payers will also start converting their rupee deposits into crypto currencies. The stock market investments will also get eroded to some extent and all other benami assets including gold may get converted into the crypto currencies.

Once we allow the termite of Bitcoin to settle down, it will gradually eat away all the rupee assets in our Banks and create a crisis in our financial systems.

Since Bitcoin is the currency of choice for “Bribery”, the entire community which is corrupt and want corruption to continue will not raise their voice against Bitcoin. The Cyber Crimes will also proliferate since Bitcoins are the currency of choice for ransomwares and operations in the deep web. The terrorists will also be happy since they can pay the sleeping cell operators in India through Bitcoins and not take the trouble of printing fake currencies.

In summary, Bitcoin is a perfect black money and presently it is allowed to be used freely in India.  One of the failures of your administration has been your inability to ban Bitcoins and Crypto Currencies.

I am sure that there are many excuses for not doing it and also shift the blame to RBI. None of the excuses however indicate that it is not possible to ban Crypto Currencies. Some experts are misguiding the Government that instead of “Banning” we should “Regulate”. It is easy to “ban” but tougher to “regulate”, though it is possible to achieve “Banning” through “Regulation”. But the Government is not keen on pushing through the draft bill which is already with the Ministry of Finance and under the cover of the Covid, Bitcoin is establishing itself.

Banning Crypto Currencies is like “Demonetizing the Virtual Currencies” and should have been done along with the demonetization of the high denomination currencies.

I wish the Government takes note of this failure and try to address this at least in the next session of the Parliament.

Naavi

Dear Friends of this Blog,

This Blog has been running since 1998 and on various occasions made comments on Cyber Law as it has been emerging in our country. These were meant to develop Cyber Jurisprudence in an area where even the Courts are learning.

Cyber Jurisprudence need not be considered only as what can be ascertained in the words of wisdom contained in a Court judgement as many law teachers may believe. I believe with my 40 plus years of teaching of law both in the Banking field and Cyber Law field that many times Courts depend on the views of the advocates who put across their views and the judges donot take an independent view of their own. Though in the higher courts, the judges are free to do so, they only respond when there is a constitutional view and even here, some judges swear by what is written in the Constitution and some say they have the power even to re-interpret the words written in the Constitution.  As a result the Courts do what they like to do  and some times give a slip to what is good for the society.

The Courts have supported Constitutional amendments from the earlier version to “Secular” version but will not support the reversal. Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad often speaks of the “Original Constitution” that had the pictures of Rama and Krishna, as he did in his lecture recently in the NLSUI- Madhava Menon Lecture series. But he does not say why today Indian constitution bars the teachings of Ramayana or Bhagavadgita openly in our schools. Every body have their own constraints including Mr Modi and Amit Shah or even the Chief Justice of India.

But we the Citizens of India in whose proxy name the Constitution is being protected by the Government and the Courts are often denied our right of expression.  Each one of us who have some vested interest try to be diplomatic in our expressions so that we donot offend one section or the other. The silence of the majority is therefore the bane of our society.

I have been speaking in good faith about many developments in the Cyber Law area in India through these columns trying to draw the attention of different decision makers.

As a citizen of India, I have felt it is my duty to draw the attention of Ministers as well as the Judicial authorities on many occasions so that they can do what is right for the society.

However, the persons in power who need to do their duty often are happy to keep quiet. Many of them may agree with what I say but donot have the opportunity to speak out or the courage to speak out.

I have therefore decided to open a series of articles under the series “To Whom So Ever It May Concern” (TWSEIMC) in which certain things relevant to the field of Cyber Jurisprudence would be discussed.

I hope like minded citizens join me in this campaign and try to draw the attention of the authorities  so that those who have the power can do what they can within the legal boundaries.

This series is not going to discuss purely political matters but try to restrict it to professional discussions.

Looking forward to your support.

Naavi

Today I will be speaking on Youtube live on Sec 65B of Indian Evidence act.

Interested persons can watch the session at

www.youtube.com/clue4evidencefoundation

From 12pm onwards

Topic: Legalities in Admissibility of Digital Evidences

Naavi

P.S: I presume that the Youtube live did not work due to some technical problems at the organizer’s end. I am sorry that many of the readers of this column were disappointed. If I get a copy of the recording, I will post it. Otherwise, I will record another lecture and post it. If any other organization wants to have a similar talk, I will be happy to speak once again.

I m providing a link to the video of the talk. In one place there is a small disturbance of about half a minute. Please ignore. I intend to receive queries if any and host another video if required.

The Bitcoin community in India is gloating over the predicament of RBI which had to confirm in an RTI reply that “as on date, no prohibition exists on any Banks providing the Bank accounts for Crypto Exchange companies or Crypto Traders”.  The above is a reproduction of an article in bitcoin.com that reflects this victory of black money merchants over RBI.

After getting the support of the three honourable judges of the Supreme Court and with neither the RBI nor the Central Government interested in taking any action to counter the effect of the Supreme Court judgement that directly promotes Black Money, Cyber Crime, Terror Financing  and Money Laundering.

Crypto Exchanges convert INR to Bitcoin or other Crypto Currencies, convert one crypto currency to another and convert crypto currency to a foreign currency like US dollar or Japanese Yen.

Hence for all those people in the Finance Ministry, the MeitY who are remaining silent at this open promotion of Digital Black money, the honest, tax paying citizens of India are asking the question whether you would like any Indian to keep his assets in the form of Indian Rupees or want all of us to convert our rupee balances to Bitcoins and make it available for havala transactions?

It is unfortunate that even Mr Modi our beloved PM and the so called Iron man of the day Mr Amit Shah have been rendered impotent against the might of Bitcoin and Black Money. Mr Ravishankar Prasad and Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman are not interested in making any move because they are not strong enough to challenge Black Money in any form.

Otherwise with one notification under Section 1(4) of Information Technology Act, Government could have added “Crypto Currencies” as one of the categories of electronic documents that are not recognized as an electronic document and removed the legal cover for the instrument. It could have added an explanation to Section 66F that promoting Crypto Currencies as currencies convertible  from INR could have been declared as “Cyber Terrorism” since it strikes a terror in the minds of all honest tax payers that the country is being taken over by black money merchants.

The RBI could have filed a case against any body projecting the Crypto Currency as a Currency not withstanding the Supreme Court judgement because the same judgement has upheld the right of the RBI to regulate the Crypto Currency.

Mr Modi should realize that Bitcoin on the loose is a threat greater than the  COVID 19 and he is either not being advised properly or has lost interest in checking the menace of Black money in India.

Perhaps Mr Modi has lost his battle on Black Money as much as Naavi is loosing the battle against Bitcoins.

Naavi