The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Legal framework inadequate to tackle cyber crime: Ganguly

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Sunday, Jul 27, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Legal framework inadequate to tackle cyber crime: Ganguly

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The legal framework in the country is inadequate to face the threats posed by cyber crime, which have emerged as a challenge to human rights, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Justice A.K. Ganguly said on Saturday.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Legal issues in cyber crime,’ organised by the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, he said crime in cyber space was intruding into the privacy of the common man, which was a violation of human rights. The law was slow to keep pace with changing trends in information technology. The nature of cyber crime was also changing.

“This is a very serious threat, as it puts privacy at stake. Most of such crime are not reported. Information technology is ruling the world today. It has brought about substantial erosion in the traditional forms of governance. The judiciary has little role to play…the area of crime detection lies in the hands of the police and enforcement agencies,” Mr. Justice Ganguly said.

Justice AR. Lakshmanan, Chairman, Law Commission of India, said if information technology was going to be the integral part of life, it would be imperative to ensure that its abuses were curbed and punished.

Information technology’s legitimate and beneficial uses should be promoted and encouraged in public interest.

He said creating an institution awareness of cyber threats, responsibilities and solutions were essential to curbing cyber crimes.

Mr. Justice Lakshmanan said the law should necessarily respond to social changes if it were to fulfil its function as a paramount instrument of social order. Tamil Nadu IT Secretary C. Chandramouli said that gone were the days when sites were hacked for intellectual satisfaction; now it was being done with a criminal intent as part of an organised crime. Mr. Chandramouli said the government was keen on creating an environment of cyber space in which the storage of data and transaction was safe.

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