Significance and Effectiveness of Cyber Laws in India

1. Introduction
"​The modern thief can steal more with a computer than with a gun. Tomorrow's terrorist may be
able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb​".
– National Research Council, USA Computers at Risk 1991
When Internet was developed, the founding fathers of Internet hardly had any inclination that Internet
could transform itself into an all pervading revolution which could be misused for criminal activities
and which required regulation.
The usage of internet services in India is growing rapidly. And now, the Internet has become a part of
our daily lives. Being technology driven, the dependency on e-services and its benefits has increased
rapidly in the recent past.

Aim
Nowadays, there are many disturbing things happening in cyberspace. Due to the anonymous nature of
the Internet, it is possible to engage into a variety of criminal activities with impunity and people with
intelligence, have been grossly misusing this aspect of the Internet to perpetuate criminal activities in
cyberspace. Hence the need for cyber laws.
This research project aims to study the significance and effectiveness of the already present cyber laws
in India by analysing various cases, issues and judgements related to the same.

​Hypothesis
It is indeed high time to intrigue whether the existing laws and norms in India are sufficient enough to
tackle the various cyber crimes getting introduced into the cyber world day by day.

2. Literature Review
Cyber Laws and its Significance
Cyber Law incorporates almost all aspects of transactions and activities involving the internet, World
Wide Web and cyberspace. Every action and reaction in cyberspace has some legal perspectives.
Cyber Law encompasses laws relating to:
1. Cyber Crimes
2. Electronic and Digital Signatures
3. Intellectual Property
4. Data Protection and Privacy
In India, cyber laws are contained in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) which came into
force on October 17, 2000. The abuse of digital solutions has also given birth to a range of new age
crimes that are addressed by the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA-2000, or the IT Act) is an Act of the
Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) notified on 17 October 2000. It is the fundamental law in India
dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce. The original Act contained 94 sections, divided into
13 chapters and 4 schedules. The laws apply to the whole of India. Persons of other nationalities can
also be indicted under the law, if the crime involves a computer or network located in India. A major
amendment in this act was made in 2008. It introduced the Section 66A which penalized sending
‘offensive messages’. It also introduced the Section 69, which gave authorities the power of
‘interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource’. At the
same time it also introduced penalties for child porn, cyber terrorism and voyeurism.

3. Research Methodology
The present study shall collect, collate and analyze different judicial decisions of various courts.
Besides this, the study shall encompass different reports, books, law journals, statues of legislature.
Critical analysis of statutory enactments that is IT Act, 2000 as well as analysis of various statutes
operating in the field shall be made. The Judicial pronouncements of various courts in India would also
be examined.

4. Research Questions
Evaluating existing Cyber Laws: Do they suffice in Indian context?
5. Tentative Chapterisation
1. Introduction
2. Cyber Threats
2.1. Classification of Cyber Threats
2.2. Scenario of Cyber Crimes in India
3. Cyber Laws and Information Technology Act, 2000
3.1. Indian Law Regime to Combat Cyber Crime
3.2. Major Provisions of the IT Act, 2000 and Amendment, 2008
3.3. National Cyber Security Policy
3.4. Cyber Crisis Management Plan
4. Cyber Jurisdiction
4.1. Judicial Response to Combat Cyber Crimes
5. Analysis of judgements
6. Conclusion and Suggestions

6. References
1. Animesh Sarmah, Roshmi Sarmah, Research journal(2017), “Study of cyber crime and cyber
laws in India”.Volume: 04 Issue: 06.
2. Abdalla Haji Faki, Case study of Zanzibar legal issues, Cybercrime and Analysis of Laws.
3. Cyber Laws, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of
India.
4. Cyber Laws of India, www..vikaspedia.in, India Development Gateway (InDG), MeitY
5. FICCI - EY Report, “Confronting the New Age Cyber Criminal”, 2018.
6. Lakshmanan, Annamalai(2019): “Literature Review on Cyber Crimes and its Prevention
Mechanisms”. 10.13140/RG.2.2.16573.51684.
7. National Cyber Security Policy (2018), www.digitalindia.gov.in
8. Overview of cyber laws in India, www.caaa.in
9. Rohas Nagpal,IPR & Cyberspace, Introduction to Indian cyber law.
10. S. Ghate; P. K. Agrawal, “A Literature Review on Cyber Security in Indian Context”, Journal
of Computer & Information Technology, Volume 8, Issue 5, Page Number 30-36, 2017.
11. Shreya Singhal Versus Union of India, Supreme Court civil jurisdiction, No.167 of 2012.
12. State of Cyber Security and Surveillance in India, www.cis-india.org
13. Sharma, Vatsla, “Efficacy of existing laws in combating cyber crimes in India: A critical study”