Lawful Interception In India Missing

Lawful interception of Internet, mobile and other technology related communications is a big challenge for Indian government. Indian government is trying to do the same that can best serve its interests. However, in its zest to ensure technology communication interceptions in India, Indian government is landing up in doing “unlawful interceptions”.

The lawful interception law is needed in India and the same is still missing despite contrary governmental claims. Till now, phone tapping in India is not constitutionally performed. The truth is that big brother in India is violating Indian constitution and even courts are silent on this aspect.

Indian government has been taking many steps that are strengthening its e-surveillance and censorship capabilities without meeting the constitutional requirements. For instance, the central monitoring system project of India,  national cyber coordination centre (NCCC) of India, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), national counter terrorism centre (NCTC) of India, Aadhar project of India, etc are all proposed without any legal framework supervising and justifying their functioning.

On the one hand the home ministry is mulling lawful interception law of India and on the other hand it has forced Blackberry messenger service to be an e- surveillance tool in India.  Telenor’s security clearance was blocked by home ministry recently and even the FIPB rejected Telenor’s joint venture proposal as pre mature. 

Civil liberties in India and technological revolution are considered mutually exhaustive in India. Initiatives like surveillance of Internet traffic in India are executed without any procedural safeguards and constitutional rights. E-surveillance in India is presently done with virtually no legal framework. Whatever rules that have been framed in this regard by Indian government, they are clearly violating the constitutional freedoms and rights.

As a matter of fact, civil liberties protection in cyberspace in India have been totally ignored and false claims of national security are raised to suppress civil liberties in India. ICT policies and strategies of India are grossly defective and clearly violating human rights in cyberspace. In fact, there is a dedicated resource titled websites, blogs and news censorship by Google and Indian government that is making a database of various censorship and results manipulation activities in India.

Indian government must ensure civil liberties protection in Indian cyberspace as that is its constitutional as well as human right obligation. Further, parliamentary oversight of intelligence agencies of India is needed. Till now there is no parliamentary scrutiny of the intelligence agencies in India. The sooner these initiatives would be taken the better it would be for the larger interest of India.

US India Cyber Security Relationship Needs Rejuvenation

International community is taking cyber security very seriously. Even NATO had requested cyber security cooperation from India. Indian cyber security and international cooperation must be rejuvenated in the context of contemporary developments. Keeping this is mind, the Indo US cyber security relationship needs improvements.  

United States is presently engaged in serious cyber security initiatives at national and international levels. At the national level, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has been proposed to be enacted. It is claimed that CISPA would boost the cyber security capabilities of US.

However, the US White House has issued a dissenting Statement of Administration Policy on Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). After reading various media reports and dissenting opinion, one may ponder whether CISPA really a remedy or a bad idea.

Meanwhile, India has its own share of problems. Unable to deal with the technology and foreign technology companies, Facebook, Google, etc may be forced to install servers in India. Even the foreign direct investment (FDI) issues have also been impacted by the national security concerns. FDI in telecom sector of India may be modified by the national security requirements of India.

In the recent past, the India US cyber security cooperation agreement was signed. It was a part of broader India US homeland security dialogue to boost counter terrorism and cyber security capabilities. Similarly, US has already made clear its international strategy for cyberspace. Even the White House is mulling federal cyber security law.

However, international organisations must play a more direct and pro active role to fight cyber crimes. This is more so when we have no universally acceptable international cyber law treaty and international cyber security treaty. This is resulting in conflict of laws in cyberspace and India is getting impatient in this regard.

If US India cyber security cooperation has to be successful, both India and US must sort out many crucial differences. The sooner it is done the better it would be for the interests of both countries.

Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012 By DIPP

It is very cumbersome and inconvenient to report all links to our previous posts on the topic consolidated FDI policy of India 2012 in every subsequent post. Therefore, Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) have decided to report the previous posts in this regard at this post.

This post would act as the base for all previous posts on this topic and we would keep on updating this post from time to time to make it updated, holistic and composite. We hope our readers would find this arrangement more useful and convenient.

Till now we have covered the following posts in this regard:

(1) Consolidated FDI policy of India 2012 by DIPP: objectives,

(2) Consolidated FDI policy of India 2012 by DIPP: definitions,

(3) Consolidated FDI policy of India 2012 by DIPP: general provisions,

(4) FDI in limited liability partnerships (LLPs) in India 2012,

(5) Permissible direct and indirect foreign investment in an Indian company,

(6) Foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) and FDI policy of India 2012,

(7) Prohibited sectors under the consolidated FDI policy of India 2012,

(8)  FDI in agriculture and animal husbandry under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012,  

(9) FDI in mining sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012,

(10) FDI in petroleum and natural gas sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(11) FDI in micro and small enterprises (MSEs) sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(12) FDI in defence sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(13) FDI in broadcasting sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(14) FDI in print media sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(15) FDI in civil aviation sector of India under consolidated FDI policy Of India 2012

(16) FDI in courier services sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(17) FDI in construction development sector of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(18) FDI in industrial parks segment of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(19) FDI in satellites and private security agencies sectors of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(20) FDI in telecom services, ISPs and telecom infrastructure providing sectors of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012 and FDI in telecom sector of India and national security issues,

(21) FDI in wholesale trading and e-commerce sectors of India under consolidated FDI policy of India 2012

(22) FDI In Asset Reconstruction Companies Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

(23) FDI In Banking Sector Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

(24) FDI In Commodity Exchanges Sector Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

(25) FDI In Credit Information Companies (CIC) Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

(26) FDI In Infrastructure Company In The Securities Market Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

(27) FDI In Insurance Sector Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

(28) FDI In Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) Sector Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

(29) FDI In Pharmaceuticals Sector Of India Under Consolidated FDI Policy Of India 2012

Latest Techno Legal Initiatives Of Perry4Law Organisation And PTLB

Perry4Law has launched certain techno legal initiatives that are of public importance. These initiatives basically cover areas like trainings and education, online disputes resolution, e-courts,

Perry4Law is the legal segment of Perry4Law’s Organisation and Perry4Law is taking care of the technology laws and ICT related legal issues. Perry4Law Organisation is the umbrella body that governs the organisational issues at national and international level.

Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is the premier techno legal segment of Perry4Law Organisation that takes care of basic level techno legal trainings. Perry4Law Techno Legal ICT Training Centre (PTLITC) is providing domain specific and highly expertise based techno legal trainings of Perry4Law’s Organisation.

Now Perry4Law Organisation has launched few more techno legal dispute resolution initiatives. These include initiatives named Electronic Courts, E-Judiciary, ODR India, Online Arbitration, etc.

With this disputes pertaining to technology, domain names, cross border commercial transactions, etc could be resolved in a speedier and cost effective manner. We hope all stakeholders would find these initiatives useful.

Virtualisation, Cloud Solutions And Encryption Usage In India

Virtualisation, cloud solutions and encryption are three issues that are interrelated. These aspects are interrelated through various applicable laws in India that all virtualisation and cloud computing companies must follow to avoid legal liabilities.

The present trend in India in this regard is not very encouraging. Virtualisation and cloud computing service providers are either not aware of applicable Indian laws or they are working in gross regard of the same. Even requirements of Indian laws pertaining to encryption usage in India are not followed in proper manner.

Virtualisation and cloud computing service providers in India must not only follow the encryption laws of India but they must also ensure cyber law due diligence in India. This is more so when the cyber law due diligence for companies in India has become very stringent and foreign companies and websites are frequently prosecuted in India for non exercise of cyber due diligence.

Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) have provided the projected cyber law trends of India 2012. According to this trend, cyber due diligence for cloud computing, social media, virtualisation services, etc would be required to be exercised frequently in India by various technology players.

Further, although we have no dedicated legal framework for cloud computing in India as on date yet legal and regulatory issues of cloud computing in India would arise in future. In fact, cloud computing in India is legally risky. Further, e-discovery for cloud computing in India would also bring its own share of techno legal issues.

Companies dealing in virtualisation and cloud computing services must ensure that they are complying with various techno legal requirements in India.