Introduction:
Law and technology are the twin shields for data. In this age of data, technology and knowledge, data has become a way more valuable asset, with anything and everything created, stored and shared electronically through smart devices or over the web. Data has become the instrument through which companies acquire clients and take over the large a part of the market.
However, the threats and security issues related to data are as substantial as its significance to I.T. companies. These threats aren't limited to the knowledge technology sector but have moved into the legal domain further. Data hacking, piracy and data theft cost millions for legal and knowledge technology companies to guard and restore their company data from cybercriminals. Company profits became captivated with what proportion companies are willing to spend on protecting their data.
Data Theft and Law:
Social media platforms became the foremost convenient way people steal identification information just like the photographs, sign, date of birth and whereabouts. Fake accounts are created by using this information to commit the crime of fraud, fraud or harassment. Platforms like Facebook has started a profile picture safeguard feature to guard users’ pictures, Snapchat and Instagram have a 24-hour timeline and so the stories or pictures of users gets destroyed automatically.
There are many questions that arise when data theft is restricted by law, for example, does the Indian law cover data theft? what's the protection given to data under the Indian law? Is data theft against the law in India? These questions don't seem to be only a primary concern for I.T. companies, but it's also important for the legislation to stay up with the change in types and techniques of crime.
The Information Technology Act, 2000 defines data as ‘a representation of knowledge, knowledge, facts, concepts or instructions which are being or are prepared in an exceedingly formalized manner. This data is meant, being or has been processed during a automatic data processing system or network in any form that has computer printouts, magnetic or optical storage media, punched cards, punched tapes, or stored internally within the computer memory’.
Data theft is an act of copying, stealing or removing someone or company’s counseling without authority. Data theft constitutes crimes like fraud, stealing customer record, or theft of belongings or trade secrets. the foremost common varieties of data theft in India are theft of mastercard information, banking passwords, ATM card information, theft of company’s trade secrets or other sensitive information through email frauds, external devices like USB drive, hard disks, etc.
Section 43(b) of the data Technology (Amended) Act, 2008 states that someone would be guilty of information theft, if he downloads, copies or extracts any data, database or information from a computer, ADP system or network or data held or stored in any removable data-storage medium, without permission of the owner or anyone who is accountable of the pc system or network.
The crime of knowledge theft under the IT Act is cognizable and bailable, and also the person guilty of information theft would be punished with a fine for up to Rs. 5 lakhs, imprisonment of up to three years, or both. The crime would be cognizable, non-bailable and compoundable if Section 379 and Section 420 of the Indian legal code are applicable.
The Copyright Act, 1957 includes computer databases within the meaning of 'literary work' further. Thus, copying or distributing the database would be considered as an infringement of copyright and therefore the copyright owner can file a suit for injunction and compensation against the person. Such infringement or concealment would be punished with a fine of up to Rs. 2 lakhs, imprisonment of up to three years, or both.
Does India have sufficient Laws?
The problem of information theft which has emerged united of the key cyber-crimes worldwide has attracted little attention of law makers in India. Unlike U.K which has the information Protection Act, 1984 there's no specific legislation in India to tackle this problem, though India boasts of its Information Technology Act, 2000 to handle the ever-growing menace of cyber-crimes, including data theft. The reality is that our IT Act, 2000 isn't well equipped to tackle such crime.
Net neutrality case study-
Net neutrality is that the principle that Internet service providers treat all data on the web equally, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, style of attached equipment, or method of communication. As an example, under these principles, internet service providers are unable to intentionally block, weigh down or charge money for specific websites and online content. This is often sometimes enforced through government mandate. These regulations are often mentioned as "common carrier" regulations. This doesn't block all abilities that Internet service providers need to impact their customer's services.
Opt-in/opt-out services exist on the tip user side, and filtering is done on a neighborhood basis, as within the filtration of sensitive material for minors. Net neutrality regulations exist only to guard against misuse. As of August 2015, there have been no laws governing net neutrality in India, which might require that everyone Internet users be treated equally, without discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, kind of attached equipment, or mode of communication. There have already been some violations of net neutrality principles by some Indian service providers.
The govt. has once more called sure comments and suggestions regarding net neutrality as of 14 August, and has given the people in the future to post their views on the my gov forum. After this, the ultimate decisions regarding the controversy are going to be made. On 28 November 2017 the TRAI released its recommendations on Net Neutrality. With that, India is one step closer to making sure that net neutrality is enforced nationwide.
Conclusion:
These are the laws which are applicable in today’s era for the prevention of knowledge theft. Though these laws are made by the legislature there's no proper implementation of those laws. Neither the executor body nor the caretakers have taken these laws seriously. On the opposite hand, once we speak about the citizens, they're even hardly responsive to these laws.
• References:
2. https://www.indiankanoon.com
3. http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l267-Data-Theft-in-Cyber-Space.html
4. https://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/it-rules-2021-dbhattacharya