Information technology law

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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 gamut 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".

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] Legal enactments - examples

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 [1], 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."

The impact of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 has been limited and with the adoption of the Council of Europe adopts its Convention on Cyber-Crime, it has been indicated that amending legislation would be introduced in paliamentary session 2004-05 in order to rectify possible gaps in its coverage, which are many.

The CMA 1990 has many weaknesses, the most notable is its' inability to cater for, or provide suitable protection against a host of high tech attacks/crimes which have became more prevalent in the last decade. Certain attacks such as DDOS and BOTNET attacks can not be effectively brought to justice under the CMA. This ACT has been under review for a number of years. Computer crimes such as electronic theft are usually prosecuted in the UK under the legislation that caters for traditional theft Theft Act 1968 [2], because the CMA is so ineffective.

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 extraterritorial 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 16 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.

[edit] Electronic Signature Laws

[edit] Information Technology Law

  1. Florida Electronic Security Act
  2. Illinois Electronic Commerce Security Act
  3. Texas Penal Code - Computer Crimes Statute
  4. Maine Criminal Code - Computer Crimes
  5. Singapore Electronic Transactions Act
  6. Malaysia Computer Crimes Act
  7. Malaysia Digital Signature Act
  8. UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce
  9. Information Technology Act 2000 of India

[edit] Information Technology Guidelines

  1. ABA Digital Signature Guidelines
  2. United States Office of Management and Budget

[edit] 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.

[edit] India

A live example of such an enforcement agency is Cyber Crime Police Station, Bangalore[3], India's first exclusive Cyber Crime enforcement agency.

[edit] 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. [1]

[edit] Information Technology Lawyer

An information technology attorney is a professional who handles a variety of legal matters related to IT. The attorney gets involved in drafting, negotiating, and interpreting agreements in the areas of software licensing and maintenance, IT consulting, e-commerce, web site hosting and development, and telecommunications agreements, as well as handling dispute resolution and assisting with the client\'s Internet domain name portfolio. An information technology attorney works with engineering, IT, and other business units and ensures that customer information gathered by company is collected, stored and used in compliance with privacy policies and applicable laws. Duties also include providing high quality, specialized and practical advice in business-to-business and business-to-consumer arrangements and advising on issues like IT outsourcing arrangements, software and hardware supply and implementation agreements. An information technology attorney contracts for web site developers and consultants in relation to on-line projects. Provides support and maintains confidentiality/know how agreements. Contracts for Internet service providers and data protection advice. An information technology attorney should have a JD degree or a LLM degree with admission to the local state bar.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Federal Agency Digital and Electronic Signature Regulations

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_law"
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