Introduction
Cyberspace is a common terminology in the computer world that is used to refer to the virtual computer world. The computer world is characterized by a lot of information floating within cyberspace or the computer system’s network. Cyberspace can be defined, in general terms, as a domain of “electronics and electromagnetic spectrum” for the storage, modification, and data exchange through systems that are linked to each other and the associated physical infrastructure. Cyberspace from this definition can exist on land, space, air, and even in the sea. It is sometimes described as a global information grid (GIG) because of the internet systems that connect the world through electronics and more especially, computers. Today, with growing literacy, more people have access to computers than ever before. This increased access has led to increased crimes over the internet.
Every society needs some regulations to control the behavior and acts of its members to be maintained within what would be described as normal. To achieve this, rules and regulations are put in place to be followed and in case one fails to do so, there is an outlined form of penalty or punishment. This controls the people and keeps them orderly by the use of a law system. The same applies to cyberspace just like in normal space to limit and avoid crimes of cyberspace and abuse of freedom.
Cyber liberalization
In cyberspace, people are generally free as compared to real-life situations. There is however a need to regulate cyberspace activities. Everybody enjoys their freedom in the computer world (cyberspace and the internet). There is no control, self-organization, or decentralization over what one on does the internet and cyberspace. There is therefore a need for user intervention as the net cannot control or care for itself. In such freedom, there is a high likelihood that people will not be responsible (Baase, 2009).
Cyberspace crimes
There is no restriction to internet usage in the world today as there is the freedom to cyberspace. However, people are bound to misuse this freedom and commit cybercrimes. Cybercrimes are activities that would cause the destruction, degradation, or disruption of an adversary or competitor’s information technology. Cyber exploitation is the act of stealing information from an adversary or from someone else in cyberspace. Other crimes in cyberspace include data breaching, destruction of infrastructure among others. Therefore, there is a need for laws to control, limit, or eliminate crime and hostilities in cyberspace. Part of the defense plan was recently developed by the Obama administration. This plan provides protection for infrastructures like financial systems, electric grids, and transport networks from people who have cyber attacking habits. In this proposal, homeland security was to work with the states in controlling cyber crimes.
Since these computer network systems are created by using other electromagnetic energy, it leaves the national security vulnerable to attack through the internet and therefore, withholding many of its systems from the internet connection (Ryan, 2003).
Cyberspace laws
Laws have been developed to regulate and constrain cyberspace activities just like these laws constrain and regulate real-life behaviors. Just the same way the globe has become a village and people can strike business deals digitally over the internet, crimes have also diversified to the same level with the growing technology. There are generally four categories of regulations in cyberspace. These are Law, Norm, Architecture, and Market. Interaction within these four regulations is what builds cyberspace to be what it is. These laws tend to treat cyberspace as if it were physical space. The laws are not internationally uniform as each country develops its own laws. Thus, there are variations in these laws, although not extreme variations.
Cyberspace laws include the main code which is that of hardware and software. The software has codified information that determines or limits how people interact through space. This code sets terms and conditions which one has to understand before entering. Before accessing the software, one is usually required to use some code in the form of a password and this to a great extent protects the software from unregistered members. In most hardware, people have used the same for privacy reasons so the content of their computer is only accessed by a certain caliber of people who qualify for the same in some way.
There are many arguments that have been put across against these laws and regulations for cyberspace. In some of these arguments, it is claimed that the government should leave the Internet community to manage itself without interference. The community has many declarations with these claims. For instance, Barlow (1996) argued, to put it in his own words, that;
Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own social contract. This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different…human beings possess a mind, which they are absolutely free to inhabit with no legal constraints. Human civilization is developing its own collective mind. All we want is to be free to inhabit it with no legal constraints. Since you make sure we cannot harm you, you have no ethical right to intrude on our lives. So stop intruding (Barlow, 1996, Par. 5)
. Other people in their articles argue that there should be some form of compromise between the two sides. Lawrence Lessig for example argue that, “the problem of the law is to work out how the norms of the two communities are to apply given that the subject to whom they apply maybe in both places at once” (Lessig, 2006, 190). Everyone is however bound by the internet and cyberspace governing laws of whichever state he or she travels.
Regulation in other parts of the world
Some countries may restrict the types of material availed on the internet for their citizens. The law in the United States of America does control some “internet material access”; but it does not “filter” what is available on the internet (Ryan, 2003). Using Lessig’s code, most of the Middle Easterd the Asian countries like Saudi Arabia and China use any of the code combinations to deny accessibility of some of the material on the internet by their citizens. These countries today have a high degree achievement of their aim of restricting the material accessible to their citizens. Many people have been vocal about these regulations restricting the type of material accessible to these nations but they have not had a strong argument. An example is Pavan Duggal a cyber law expert and Supreme Court advocate in India complaining against “Information Technology Act 200” he found many flaws with this Act and has raised issues concerning the amendments passed in 2008 (Ryan, 2003).
The four main regulations as mentioned above are:
Law; many of the internet actions are required to be maintained under the law. These include both images posted on the internet and the transactions made over the internet. Areas around Fraud, child pornography and gambling are restricted. Generally, any activities that are considered illegal in physical space are equally illegal in cyberspace. These forms of crimes are subject to similar forms of legislation on both spaces. Scandals involving government operations over the cyberspace are also treated with equal magnitude as they could be treated on physical space.
The market; markets equally regulate some forms of activity over the internet. These mainly are associated with the monetary cost attached to a given activities. Real space market conditions have effect only on the commercial part of the internet transaction and limited influence over the less commercial portion. The internet offers an effective market place for the information on market related facts and further information on the commodity in the market. This may vary from one state to another and depending on one’s place of residence they apply as well as those of the other person’s place of residence if the transaction is occurring between two people from different countries. They are mainly aimed at controlling internet fraud and checking the cost of cyberspace commodities and services. This allows one to compare and contrast the available commodities allowing one to make the best choice. For those selling their commodities over the internet, it offers easy advertisement of the same.
Social norms; just like there are limitations in our social activities and interactions in the physical world, there are similar regulations in the cyberspace. Although some conducts, behaviors and activities online may not be prohibited specifically by the architecture code or the applicable legislation, these conducts and activities will be prohibited by the social norms and requirements of society (that is physical space). Depending on whichever community one decides to associate him or herself with, they are inclined to adopt a given pattern of behavior (Spinello, 2002).
Architecture; Under this regulation are the directions on how information is allowed or not allowed to flow or be transmitted over the internet and in cyberspace. Every piece of information acquired from the internet is through software which filters the information and is bound to limit what kind of information is transmitted. This software checks for certain keywords and blocks any information containing these keywords.
E-governance
This is a form of running the government business, information, transactions, services and interactions digitally with information flowing between the governments, government arms and the citizens through cyberspace.
There are several developments in e-governance and the UN has adopted this form of governance for its annual events. In its e-governance, the UN has a section where it analyzes the readiness of the various governments of the world. This is determined using two specific indicators; i) the government’s readiness to adopt e-governance and ii) the level of e-participation of the particular government. They use this survey in the annual event to asses its one hundred and ninety one member’s participation in e-governance. This survey checks such variations as telecommunication infrastructure, website assessment and endowment of human resource. These help determine the readiness index of the countries and the United Nations then determine the twenty most ready nations (Baase, 2009).
Besides normal working effectiveness of the cyberspace, security concerns are a major concern. Security issues are however high on the agenda of IT. This influences how confident people are when using your IT system. Cyber space crimes are however very high as the criminals understand that successful attacks or crimes in cyberspace are very profitable to them. They will hence keep developing new ways of bridging the security system in order to commit their crimes. This therefore requires the owners of these information technology systems to remain highly vigilant. Any time one needs to have system enhancement, they should have high security standards as one of the most basic requirements. Every IT operator therefore needs a strategy on maintaining the security of their system. It is important to have a highly secure perimeter while at same time ensure the computers of the business users are securely protected. It is important for the business users to be aware of the security status and hence observe the basic security checks in their day to day events and activities. One has to broadly think of all aspects of their infrastructure (the networks, desktops and computers accessing one’s system remotely) defended for them to have holistic security. It is not possible to eliminate the risk of security but it is possible to manage and mitigate the security bridge though. “Defense in depth” is said to be basic for a successful strategy for security and not rely on a single strategy for the whole system but different types for different parts such that if someone breaches the security system they are not able to access the whole system (Spinello, 2004).
There are shortcomings of the information technology system and the most noteworthy of all is that the Act does not make reference to protection of “intellectual property” from patents, trademarks and copyrights on the internet. It does not also cover issues of cyber squatting and name infringement. This inhibits investing in the IT infrastructure. The penalty extends to persons who are not necessarily citizens of the country. The Indian Information Technology system hinders property transactions over the internet as the government has to perform stamp duty on the commodities. This Act fails to address the international or cross border taxation yet this may lead to international contracts. It does not address issues of privacy on the internet like exclusion of solicited commercial mails also known as spam mail and unauthorized data collection over the internet. It also does not cover issues of cyber laundering of money that can easily be used by terrorists (Ryan, 2003).
Regulatory norms in Indian Cyberspace
India is one of the good examples of countries that have put in place related to cyberspace. Introduction of the internet to the world has made it easy for communication to be done between people over the cyberspace. This then made it necessary for the formulation of laws to govern and regulate the distribution of material and information over the internet. India’s cyber laws are in the Information technology (IT) Act 2000. The Act came to effect from May 2000. India was ranked the twelfth nation in the world that adopted cyber laws. The second chapter requires a subscriber to the cyberspace to confirm a record of electronics by him or her using his signature. Chapter three of the Act discusses the need for electronic governance where material used shall be stored in digital for future reference. Chapter four outlines a scheme to be used in regulating cyberspace by the responsible authorities. A controller would be selected to oversee and supervise the activities of the authorities of cyberspace and at the same time he or she would strategize and give direction to the activities of cyberspace. He or she would control and determine the form of interaction between the citizens and with other people outside the country. This would generally require him to develop a form of regulation to manage the internet activities of the citizens. Chapter six discusses the details of digital signatures and certification of the same. The duties of the people who subscribe to the usage of cyberspace are also outlined in this section. Chapter seven of the Act discusses the various penalties that would be awarded for various forms of crimes committed over the cyberspace or rather over the internet. It involves identifying the right officers to adjudicate over the criminals or offenders of the crimes. This officer was to be granted the power to adjudicate over the offenders by the civil court. Chapter eight of the Act talks of establishing of cyber regulations that will be followed by the people and a body to oversee that these are followed. Those people who would not adhere to the appellate would be charged accordingly. Chapter nine of the Act talks of various cyberspace offences and further outlines that the investigation of these offences would be done by police officers. The Act further talks of a constitution of a committee of advisory staff on the regulations of the cyberspace issues. This committee would advise the government on issues of cyberspace and incase there was need for any adjustments and amendments in the Act on cyberspace these committee would be consulted (Spinello, 2002).
Advantages of Cyberspace Laws
The provision of cyberspace laws has played a major role in boosting crime control in the cyberspace and protecting people from fraud and theft. This will eventually eliminate any fears when people perform business contracts or any money related deals over the internet. With firm security systems in place, people will be able to make large money transactions over the internet or within cyberspace without fears of losing their monies.
The cyberspace laws have also led to the development of a legal framework within which information can easily flow without denial and therefore has led to increased levels of people being informed worldwide. Since transaction within cyberspace and communications leave records that are electronic in nature, the Act allows the government to have records of the transactions preformed without loss of track as they are maintained in digital form and can easily be traced for future reference. This point means that for tracking reasons, emails would be addressed as formal evidence in past business transactions. With the legal infrastructure in place, many companies now have an upper hand in performing electronic commerce which will be faster to effect and consequently raise the profit margins of the company. The Act makes it possible for the government to issue notifications over the internet thus enabling electronic governance to some level. The Act would make record filing easy by allowing companies to file applications and any forms and documents with any office without necessarily being to that office.
This Act addresses important issues of cyber space security making electronic transactions easy and more reliable. There are various processes of the act of security that would need to have been followed by any person getting into an online transaction in cyberspace and once these are followed then the person is protected from any form of fraud. In case of any breaks to ones computer system, the companies are, under the Act, required to have a remedy in place to protect the system from damage or to control the damage level inflicted in the system. Besides, this one is required to have back-up data for security reasons such that in case the system is breached and one’s data interfered with, then they can easily bounce back into shape.
Conclusion
The countries all over the world have a legal framework for their ICT, IT and general cyberspace. Some of the common crimes that have come to existence with the introduction or widespread distribution of cyberspace include; those of financial fraud, Credit Card Fraud, obscene material publication like pornography, cyber stalking, and theft of software and data. Some of these crimes are quite grave. For instance, children in the world are becoming more and more exposed to the internet and this has led them to accessing obscene material such as pornography. As a consequence of this, they are exposed to early sexuality and become vulnerable to getting in to these habits even before they understand what it entails. Later on they are exposed to sexually transmitted disease including HIV and AIDS and early pregnancies. Cyberspace is, to a great extent, a high degree development in society. There is a need however to control its distribution as it comes with negative impacts that if not checked may greatly affect the society. There is a need therefore for further legislation to improve the ICT security system.
References
Baase, S. (2009). A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet, 3rd Ed, New York: Pearson Education. Print.
Barlow, P. J., (1996). A declaration of the independence of cyberspace. Web.
Lessig, L. (2006). Code. New York: Lawrence Lessig. Print.
Ryan, D. and Shephed, R. (2003) Cases and Materials in Cyberlaw CD-ROM. (Reprint). New York: Wyndrose Technical Group. Print.
Spinello, R. A. (2002). CyberEthics: Morality and law in cyberspace. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc. Print.
Spinello, R. A (2004). Readings in CyberEthics. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc. Print.