My views

Addressed the "Kshitij" Symposium in I.I.T. Karagpur on "Cyber Laws and Digital Evidence" on Sunday 29 January 2012.

I read with interest an interview given by Gulshan Rai Head of the elite Indian Computer Emergency Response Team in the e-magazine "CCC News" last week, in which he confesses certain things like "We are not utilising the discretionary powers..." in one place and in another place he says "We are not regulating" the internet traffic at all.

These are the areas on which I was highly intrigued and felt very uncomfortable. Prima facie, it looks like CERT In only a referral agency though the rules and other notifications of the government seem to vest the powers of 'monitoring, intercepting and blocking' with National Nodal Agency which is CERT In. We had always thought that CERT In DOES have the powers to monitor, intercept and block websites. If not so, what does the Head of CERT In mean when he says "We are not using the discretionary powers" and again when he says "We are not regulating". Is it not the duty to a police man or a regulator to say that he is regulating. Can RBI say that "we are not regulating and we are giving independence to all banks" Can TRAI say that "We are not regulating the capital market". All these are points to ponder.

Pornographic Sites and Cyber Crimes

Of late, it is quite depressing to note that pornographic sites are on the increase. Whatever be the complaints against them and the efforts taken by the government, it is becoming difficult to curb the menace completely. The filtering of pornographic sites poses a technical challenge. These websites keep on changing the names, domain addresses and hosting platforms from time to time making it difficult to filter or block such websites. Unfortunately majority of these sites are hosted outside India. Software tools used for blocking are not of much help either. Sometimes they act block some genuine content or slow down the systems.

It is heartening to note that government is aware of the issue and concerns are being expressed at various quarters in the subject. On 12 Aug 2011, Shri Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State Communication and Information Technology, Government of India, in response to a question in Rajya Sabha reportedly gave information about the relevant sections of I.T. Act as amended by I.T.AA s008 (the popular Sections 67, 67A and 67 B) and added that legal framework in the country is adequate enough to tackle the problem. But the question is CERT-In is the empowered body to take action on these complaints. CERT-In does not adequate man-power and does not have the publicity material to make its efforts and to show its strength to the public, especially the wrong-doers and the misguided and misadventurous who port materials in such web-sites or help such web-sites. The Hon'ble Minister could have added these points also in his reply emphasizing that CERT-In coming under Dept of I.T. under the Ministry of I.T.will take steps whenever any complaint is received by it. Such a statement when it comes from the Minister himself will deter those in the 'trade' of porting such lascivious material in such objectionable sites.

•  Workshop on Cyber Crimes planned by CySI.

•  Times of India Chennai Edition carries a big story under the caption: "Honing the Sleuths" In this descriptive article the story focusses on the contents of M.Sc. Cyber Foresnsics and M.S. Criminology courses of Madras University. In the just concluded academic year, this course has witnessed 100% placement thanks to the tremendous employment potential for those with a knowledge of computer security and the subject of criminology. As a Guest Faculty in this course, views of V Rajendran have appeared in Times of India 7 June 2011 page 4. Chennai.