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All you need to know about Cyber law in India

Cyber law plays a vital role in the matter of cybercrime, misuse of internet, etc. In the present era of advanced technology, some people are using the internet for various criminal activities like internet scams, internet hacking, etc. These illegal activities relating to the internet is termed as cybercrime. To stop cyber crimes and to punish those cybercriminals, the Government of India introduced Cyber Law. Cyberlaw controls the issue relating to the misuse of the internet.

You may be also the victim of cybercrime, thus it is necessary to know about cyber law. In this blog, we will help you know more about cyber law.

What is Cyber law?

Cyberlaw is considered as “law of the internet.”  This Law deals with an issue relating to the Internet and cybercrime. The primary object of this law is to prevent various cybercriminal activities. Cyberlaw provides legal protection to people and organizations who use the internet for professional and professional purposes. It protects information access, privacy, communications in a matter of the use of the internet, websites, software, etc.

Cyberlaw provides legal recognition to electronic documents. Considering the continuous growth of cybercrimes in India, it is necessary to make a law like cyber law.

In India, Cyberlaw is contained in the Information Technology Act, 2000 which came into force on October 17, 2000.

The need for Cyber Law

In today’s techno-savvy environment, the internet is treated as a research and information sharing tool. Since the number of internet users is on the rise, it gives birth to Cyber Crimes. All issues relating to cybercrime or internet crime are dealt with through Cyber Law. So, to get the remedy against Cyber Crime, the need for Cyberlaw arises.

Offenses Covered Under Cyber Law

Cyberlaw intents to remove all types of cyber offenses. Following offenses are covered under Cyber Law:

• Identity theft
• Unauthorized access to any system and internet
• Online gambling
• Defamation
• Sale of Illegal articles by posting information on the internet and websites
• Cyber Pornography
• Breach of privacy and Confidentiality
• Theft of Computer hardware
• Violation of Privacy
• Cyber terrorism
• Hacking with a computer system and data alteration.
• Credit card/Debit card issue
• Cyber Defamation

Importance of Cyber Law in India

Cyberlaw is important in a country like India where the internet is used to a large extent. The law is enacted to save people and organizations from Cybercrime and other internet-related crimes. It protects the privacy of every individual and organization. Before the enactment of Cyberlaw, no specific law existed in India to deal with cybercrime. As per rules and regulations of the Cyberlaw, a person who commits cybercrime is liable to get punishment. If anyone violates and breaks the provisions of the law, then it allows another person or organization to take legal action against that person.

How Cyber Law Gives You Protection?

The requirement of Cyber Law can arise as under:

• Since nowadays all the transactions related to shares are done in Demat form. Hence, anyone who is associated with these transactions requires Internet and protection under Cyber Law in case of any fraudulent transaction.
• Most of the companies in India keep their official data in electronic form. To avoid the misuse of such data, a company can need the assistance of this law.
• Due to the rapid growth of technology, various Government forms like ITR return, Service tax returns are filled in electronic form. Anyone by hacking the government portal sites can easily misuse those forms. Only under cyber law, you are eligible to get remedy against this type of fraud.
• People are using credit cards and debit cards for shopping purposes. However, some frauds through the internet clone those credit cards and debit cards. Card cloning is a technique where someone with the help of the internet easily obtains your card details. With the help of Cyberlaw, you can easily trace such criminals.
• Digital Signatures and e-contracts are the most common methods of transacting business. Anyone who is associated with such digital Signatures and e-contracts can easily make fraud by misusing them. Cyberlaw protects you against such type of fraud.

What are the advantages of Cyber law

The primary purpose of Cyber Law is to stop Cybercrimes. However, there are certain advantages of Cyber Law and following are some of them:

The regulatory framework of Cyber Law

Parliament passed the Information Technology Act, 2000 to provide a legal infrastructure for e-commerce in India. The Information Technology Act,2000^[1] now becomes the law of land in India which in general terms is also known as Cyber Law. The following Act, Rules, and regulations are included under cyber laws.

1. Information Technology Act,2000
2. Information Technology (Certifying Authorities) Rules,2000
3. Information Technology (Security Procedure) Rules, 2004
4. Information Technology (Certifying Authority) Regulations, 2001
5. The Indian Evidence Act, 1872
6. The Bankers Books Evidence Act, 1891

The penalty under Cyber Law

Under this law, there is a provision for imposition of penalty in case of any non-compliance. The following are some of the penalty provisions as prescribed under the law.

Particulars	Penalties
Tampering with Computer source documents	Imprisonment up to three years, or with fine which may extend up to two lakh rupees, or with both
Sending offensive messages through communication service	Imprisonment which may extend up to three years with fine.
Violation of Privacy	Imprisonment up to three years, or with fine which may extend up to two lakh rupees, or with both
Publication for fraudulent purposes	Imprisonment up to two years or with fine which may extend up to one lakh rupees, or with both
Publishing of Absence information in electronic form	Imprisonment up to ten years, or with fine which may extend up to two lakh rupees, or with both

There are some other penalty provisions also. To know more about the offenses and penalties under this law you can visit https://meity.gov.in/content/offences.

Supreme Court Judgment on Cyber law

Conclusion

After various discussions above, we can say that people largely depend on the internet and it gives rise to cybercrime. Cyber crime has a very serious impact on society. Cyber crime affects social disorganization and economic losses. People also suffer from the effects of cybercrime. To stop the continuous growth of cybercrime, Cyber law came into force. Cyber law is the appropriate law to provide a remedy against Cybercrime. At present, people who commit cyber crime offenses think twice about the cyber law, before committing any such offenses. The law helps in decreasing the rate of cybercrime offenses.

We hope we tried to cover various major parts of Cyber Law. In case you require further information, then you can drop a mail at info@emterslice.com or can directly contact us.