CYBER LAW AND COMPUTER ETHICS

Cyber Law

The term “Cyberspace” was used in 1984 by the author William Gibson in his scientific novel `Neuromancer` to describe virtual world of computer such as the Internet, computers, computer network, telecommunication, etc.  Today, cyberspace has become synonymous with the Internet. However, cyberspace is known as World Wide Web (WWW). The cyberspace is governed by a system of law and regulation called Cyber Law. So, the law is defined as: “The law which governs the legal issues in the cyberspace regarding the Internet or WWW (World Wide Web) for digital data processing  and transaction.

Legal recognition of e-commerce practices has come a long way from initial adoption of the United Nations Commissions on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model law on Electronic commerce by the General Assembly of the United Nations in early 1997.

Cyber law includes a wide variety of legal issues related to the use of communication technology, such as the use of Internet as well as any other form of computer, digital processing and related devices. The major components included in the cyber law are:

• Electronic and Digital Signature Law
• Computer Crime/Cyber Crime Law
• Intellectual Property Law
• Data Protection and Privacy Law
• Telecommunication Law

 

Electronic and Digital Signature Law

The digital signature is a security mechanism system in the cyber space for digital data processing and their transformation. It requires two keys, one public key and another is private key, which are used o encrypt messages before transmission and to decrypt them on receipt time using the hash algorithm.

The digital signature allows the user to attach a code on the document of electronic records or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in various e-sectors for the data transformation, such as e-mail, e-business, e-banking, etc. It is necessary to keep the uniformity standard and guarantee in all activities of the e-sector. So, to control such standard, it needs a powerful and comprehensive law, which is called digital signature law. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act of the USA is one of the parts of cyber law.

Computer Crime/Cyber Crime Law

Cyber crime refers to illegal actions involved in any computer, computer system or over all computer networks like the Internet. Our dependency on the computer and Internet is growing day by day, which has made us potential victims of computer threats. It can increase computer crimes, such as theft of computer hardware and software, theft of data, destruction of data by computer virus, hacking the computer, etc. Some countries have enacted legislation that specifically deals with computer crimes. Others have adopted their existing laws to reduce computer crimes and offence the computing world.

Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual property is a very wide and includes literacy and artistic, films, computer programs, invention, designed and marks used by traders for their goods or services.

The term `intellectual property` which is related to cyberspace and its various components is covered by cyber law. It includes various laws such as copyright law which is related to computer software, computer source code, trademark law which is related to domain names, semi-conductor law which is related to the protection of semi-conductor design and layout. In addition to this, patent and trademarks law are also included in it, which is related to computer hardware and software.

Data Protection and Privacy Law

Data protection and privacy refers to the process of ensuring the preservation, integrity and reliability of data. Important valuable data and information are processed and stored in the computer system. Only authenticated person should process, copy, delete, transmit and receive the respective data and information. To manage this system, data protection and privacy law is enacted. Data protection and privacy are important to computers. To perform this operation many nations have made laws relating to data protection and the privacy. It is really critical to protect the fundamental rights and privacy of an individual due to the nature of the Internet and the amount and information that may be accessed from it. So, these would play a vital role on insecure networks such as Internet.

Telecommunication law

The transmission and reception of information of any type, including data, television pictures, sound, and facsimiles, using electrical or optical signals sent over wires or fibers or through the air are called telecommunication. Cyber space does not only cover the Internet and computers, but it also covers that place where two or more cables or wires meet. So, telecommunication systems also come in the field of cyberspace and it is also necessary part of cyber law.

International Cyber Law

When the information technology started for the first time in the world, there was no law about it. But in the course of time many problems and evils appeared. For this amendment of these evils and problems or to control the situation, people realized the need of law according to the time. At first, America started making laws as follows.

• Fair credit reporting Act in 1970: This law has made provision of the rights to see own credit record without paying.
• Freedom of Information Act in 1970: The right provided by the state to the public to see the information.
• Federal Privacy Act in 1974: The right provided to the state to see the record of individual, if wished.
• Video Privacy Protection Act in 1988: No one can see and use the other’s personal record without the court’s order.
• Copyright Act 1992: The law to stop unauthorized copy. The penalty is 5 years in custody and a fine of US dollar 250,000.

Cyber Law of Nepal

“The Electronic Transaction Act and Digital Signature Ac-Ordinance” is popularly known as “Cyber Law” of Nepal. The government of Nepal has passed this law on 30^th Bhandra 2061 B.S (15 September 2004). This law has provided new trust to the Information and Technology (IT) sector and IT professionals are hopeful that it will create a favorable situation for conducting IT business. The major interesting provisions of this Act are:

• Provision of legal status to digital signatures and electronic record for introducing e-banking, e-shopping, e-commerce, etc.
• Provision for license regarding the IT customers and their duties & responsibilities.
• Provision of formation of judicial body to listen the computer related crimes and their duties, rights and responsibilities.
• Provides punishment to a hacker who damages programs or data residing in other computer or network or illegally copies them.
• Likewise, the interpretations of the service of network facilities, telecommunication and their obligation, duty service and clarification have been mentioned.

Apart from this, the law mentions what kind of punishment the person gets in computer crime, fraud, disclosure of secrecy, fraud license, theft, destruction, spreading false message, etc. If a person does such crimes, he/she will be fined as well as imprisoned.

Computer Ethics

Computer is a very powerful machine; it has great working capabilities. If we are using the computer, we must maintain the computer capabilities and try to get optimum utility. To maintain the computer capabilities, every user should follow the computer ethics. Computer ethics refer to a kind of international law that gives awareness to the user regarding the immoral behavior and activities in the computing field. So, computer ethics is defined as “to follow the rules and regulations of computer technology and not to harm other computer users knowingly or unknowingly”. If we do not follow the computer ethics, it can create a great problem for society, our community, institution, nation and us. It may also affect in the international level. Keeping bad intention, one should not do the immoral acts like stealing a digital signature or password of the internet, destroying or deleting software, data file, information, personal record, etc. The major provisions included in the computer ethics are as follows:

• You should not use computer to harm other people.
• You should not search the file of record of other people.
• You should not destroy, steal and use the computer password of other people.
• You should not steal, destroy and use the digital signature.
• You should not destroy, erase or edit the personal or group records.
• You should not disclose the secrecy of computer.
• You should not spread false and illegal information.
• You should not copy or use software for which you have not paid.
• You should not use computer to steal.
• You should not use other people’s computer resources without authorization or proper compensation.

 

In European countries, cyber law and computer ethics have been introduced since 1970 but in Nepal, cyber law was introduced only from 30^th Bhadra 2061 B.S. (15 September 2004).  However computer ethics have not been applied properly till now.