Exploring the Nuances of Cyber Law
EXPLORING THE NUANCES OF CYBER LAW
I– Why and what of cyber law?
Cyber law, or the law dealing with cyber-space, popularly called ‘internet’ or ‘net’, is the buzz word today in law school curriculums and across the generation of old lawyers across the world. Why? Because this is more to do with technology rather than law alone. Imagine a law providing definition of ‘meta tag’, something which any computing geek can tell you. Then the law defining an ISP. Sounds hilarious and then absurd. Why should the law attempt to define these terms when they are well known and understood in the same manner across the globe? Why purpose would be served even if the law were to define the same? The slow and steady moving law can never compete with the level of technology existing at any point of time and the speed with which it grows. So what is the point of making a law, which by the time is come to govern, it is already outdated. These and other oddities of cyber law make it an interesting subject indeed.
Well, it seems there is a purpose. The purpose is ‘regulation’, something which the law exists for. The purpose is to identify the course of events, as they take place on the cyber space, and then provide a mechanism to determine rules affixing responsibilities and liabilities on the participating actors in the transactions. Take for example a simple and every day case of a cyber-café. A goes in Xena Computings and used the café for an hour. In this time, he views Z government’s site and tries to interfere with the site-coding. He is unable to change the things and so he leaves. Now should the government whose site has been fiddled with do something? Let us say that Xena Computings is situated in Z country only but A is of Y country. Can anything be done?
Well here comes the role of cyber law. It firstly defines unacceptable code of conduct on the cyber-space (something like cyber offences) and then prescribes a mechanism or procedure to deal with the situations
I– Why and what of cyber law?
Cyber law, or the law dealing with cyber-space, popularly called ‘internet’ or ‘net’, is the buzz word today in law school curriculums and across the generation of old lawyers across the world. Why? Because this is more to do with technology rather than law alone. Imagine a law providing definition of ‘meta tag’, something which any computing geek can tell you. Then the law defining an ISP. Sounds hilarious and then absurd. Why should the law attempt to define these terms when they are well known and understood in the same manner across the globe? Why purpose would be served even if the law were to define the same? The slow and steady moving law can never compete with the level of technology existing at any point of time and the speed with which it grows. So what is the point of making a law, which by the time is come to govern, it is already outdated. These and other oddities of cyber law make it an interesting subject indeed.
Well, it seems there is a purpose. The purpose is ‘regulation’, something which the law exists for. The purpose is to identify the course of events, as they take place on the cyber space, and then provide a mechanism to determine rules affixing responsibilities and liabilities on the participating actors in the transactions. Take for example a simple and every day case of a cyber-café. A goes in Xena Computings and used the café for an hour. In this time, he views Z government’s site and tries to interfere with the site-coding. He is unable to change the things and so he leaves. Now should the government whose site has been fiddled with do something? Let us say that Xena Computings is situated in Z country only but A is of Y country. Can anything be done?
Well here comes the role of cyber law. It firstly defines unacceptable code of conduct on the cyber-space (something like cyber offences) and then prescribes a mechanism or procedure to deal with the situations