Caught in the web

Social networking is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. India is the third largest user of Internet and second in terms of using social networking sites. While there are positive use of social networking sites there have been umpteen incidences where social networking has proved to be a bane. In India, there has been an exponential rise in the use of social networking sites in all walks of life. If statistics have to be believed, the present election was won due to the rampant use of social networking sites.  India has almost 21.3 crore active users on the Internet but still there is lot to desire as far as its usage is concerned. More than 7 crore Indians today are hooked on social networking sites, not aware that they could become soft target of cybercrime. Awareness among law enforcement agencies to curb cybercrime has been very dismal. There have been instances where contents posted on social networking sites are debated; whether it is humour or is it cognizable? The contents uploaded by a girl about a politician on social networking website in Maharashtra in 2012, was talk of the country and also courted few arrests, but in reality the arrests were unwarranted as it was an opinion and comes in the gamut of freedom of speech. This is not being clearly defined in the cyber space and hence cops many times falter on deciding about the offence being cognizable or non-cognizable. Having said that, a very illustrious family from Goa became a victim of cybercrime. Derogative contents were uploaded about the victim’s family and created unrest among them. The cops did not register the offence since it was felt that the contents were uploaded in a lighter vein and didn’t call for an offence to be registered. The accused went scot-free. The intervention by the Chief Minister of Goa later could not help much, as by this time the contents were removed from the website and there was no way that the contents could be recovered back from the service provider.  Cyber space is being used for discrimination among the caste, creed, religion etc. Messages are being broadcasted against sections of people to create unrest and political rivalry. A North Indian boy was killed in Mumbai, blame was put on a political party. Soon the Internet was full of vandalized and obscene contents, not only against the political party but also against people from the State. There is a thin line in deciding what is right and what is wrong in cyber space? What is good for me, may not be good for others. Once again, during the recent elections it was found that social media was used to promote discrimination based on religion and birth origin. This is absolutely baseless and the political parties have to understand that before any content is uploaded, they should be aware of the liability for law and order problems. Punishment against the erring persons should also be carried out. Maharashtra has been prominent in the list of misuse of social media. In 2012, during an investigation of cybercrime matter it was found that individuals from a certain caste were being targeted. Derogative contents were uploaded on the website. The ultimate aim was to ensure that these people pack their bags and return to their place of origin. During investigation it was found that the person who was made a suspect/accused was actually not involved. Every political party and its core members should be made to understand the do’s and don’ts and then allowed to make use of the cyber space. Many of the big political parties do not understand the code of ethics and it is these parties who use social media for their benefit and create unrest.  There have been lot of directives issued to the cops for arresting the offenders promoting vandalized and obscene contents on social media. Section 154A of IPC and 66A of the IT Act are being invoked. Both of these are toothless wonders and lack the punch of defining ‘what is offensive material?’ There has to be clear mandate and crystal clear ideology in defining the provisions in the above sections. The law and the judiciary system has to work on these provisions and give clear cut guidelines for courting arrests of those who flout the rules. Almost 95% of the cops are not aware that for making an arrest under Section 66A of the IT Act, permission of a person of the rank of Inspector General of Police is required. These guidelines are put forward by CERT-IN (Computer Emergency Response Team).  There have been certain measures taken by law enforcement agencies to guard the Internet domain and have monitoring system in place. Tools and technologies are put in place to watch this sphere, but it may not provide the desired results. It shall be a violation of privacy and freedom of speech of an individual. Surveillance, rather than curbing cybercrimes, shall give rise to higher end technological crimes. Till the time basic systems are not in place, cyber evil mongers shall merrily use the space in a destructive manner. The Government has to take serious stand to ensure that cyber space is used in a constructive manner. Some of the remedial measures would be:  Ban the use of proxy servers Educate the law and the judicial system Compulsory education about cyber security at undergraduate levels and ensure that each and every individual is made to understand the dangers and safety of cyber space Make all social networking service providers accountable and have a cyber-regulation policy in place wherein all the content is moderated before being uploaded Ensure that all social networking servers are located in India. Facebook, Twitter servers are all American technology and it takes months together to seek information from them. Many times, these service providers wear the blanket of privacy policy and don’t provide information for arresting the offenders Make it mandatory for all service providers to store information up to 3 years and also provide information to law enforcement agencies within 24 hours of receiving the request Make it mandatory for all law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to understand the importance of cybercrimes and develop a curriculum & compulsory training to ensure that unless and until they are aware of this subject they shall not be continued in the service Ensure that the forensic lab is agile enough and provides relevant information required within 15 days of receiving a request. At present it takes 3-4 years for forensic report to come. This not only dampens the matter but also motivates cyber criminals to commit more crimes Appoint cyber security specialist for collecting evidence and also recording statements as experts for cybercrime matters Empower Police Sub Inspector to investigate cybercrimes, at present the IO is Police Inspector and above Of late, there have been a flurry of arrests, especially of individuals/organization posting anti Prime Minister matter. This is unwarranted and should be stopped. During the recent election it has been seen that every political party used cyber space to blame each other. The law should be equal and if arrests are made against individuals posting defamatory contents against the ruling Government, then the same should be meted out against those individuals who have tainted and posted defamatory contents against other parties. By creating a fear, cyber evil mongers won’t stop but rather instigate hacking and other destructive techniques, making it tough for the law enforcement agencies to nab them. What we require is a well-defined policy and charter containing the laws of the land understood by the officials first and then the netizens. India has a pool of talent and it is this highly prized talent that needs to be used to ensure that we have our own indigenous servers rather than banking on US and other nations, which are not only difficult to track but also non-cooperative in investigation process.  Cyber defamation has become a common crime. Many of the times, defamatory profiles are created on social networking sites by committing identity theft. Hacking passwords and then posting contents have become a past era. Today cyber criminals use proxy servers to hide their identity. The death of 27 year old techie in Pune was an aftermath of defamatory contents being posted about freedom fighters and politicians on social networking sites. The techie was in no way involved in the crime and was killed by anti-social elements, who were not only fanatic but also ruthless. The cops investigated the source of profile and contents and it was revealed that the defamatory contents were uploaded using proxy server and hence the exact location from where the contents were uploaded could not be tracked. At this juncture we don’t have any technique to investigate cybercrime cases where proxy servers are being used. It becomes very easy for a criminal to use such type of techniques to create disturbance in law and order and also to extract revenge to settle personal grudges. There have been instances that Facebook has not been co-operative in providing information to the law enforcement agencies. As a country, we have not taken corrective and stringent action against Facebook and not made them liable for any case. In all probability Facebook may be taking advantage of the IT Act in which Section 79 pronounces that Service Provider is not liable in certain cases. Section 67(C) of the IT Act makes it mandatory for the service provider to store the information for a period, which has not been explicitly defined. Section 43(A) of the IT Act also makes it mandatory for all service providers to have adequate security policy in place, but it is a big question whether these practices are being really followed? In a country of more than 1.2 billion population only a handful of cybercrime cases have been logically concluded. The use of digital signatures, email and mobile authentication are some of the remedial procedures to ensure that identity thefts are being minimized and the wrong person is not booked.  Today we are also caught on the wrong foot by the use of mobile messaging applications such as Whatsapp, Wechat etc. More than 3 crore Indians today are in the fever grip of Whatsapp. Messages, videos, audio and images are being transmitted at the tip of the finger. Confidential messages and videos are being transmitted to a server placed in US. Although Whatsapp policy says that they don’t store any information, but it is yet to be verified. Identity theft is a common crime committed using Whatsapp and collecting digital evidence becomes extremely difficult. A boy in Mumbai was a victim of identity theft. After breaking-up with his girlfriend, the boy came to Pune in search of a job and was working with an IT company. He changed his SIM card as well as his mobile device. The old device was sold. One day he was called up by the cops for an enquiry against him of sending obscene contents to his ex-girlfriend. The girl lodged a complaint stating that she has been getting obscene contents from the boy’s number. During the police investigation, the boy stated that he has been victimized and also provided documents to prove that he has blocked his old SIM card long time ago. The cops were puzzled and on further investigation it was found that when the old mobile device was sold by the so-called accused, he did not delete his Whatsapp account. One should take care that while changing a mobile device, the contents from the old device should be erased and restored to ‘Factory Settings’ and if one changes his mobile number, Whatsapp account should also be deleted. Whatsapp registers a user with his mobile number and the registration information is saved on the mobile handset, not on the SIM card. Therefore, if you insert a new SIM in the handset, existing Whatsapp on the handset can be used to send messages, which will appear to the recipient to have been sent from the former mobile number. Ignorance by the end user can put him in lot of legal hassles. Also, it should be noted that if any user in a ‘Whatsapp group’ commits a crime, then other members can be called by law enforcement agencies for an enquiry and in some cases arrest could also be made. It is very important to be aware that before you become a member of a group, you should follow the code of ethics and also make others in the group aware. Promoting pornography, obscene contents, and hatred among religions, defamatory contents are cognizable offences. Every individual should read the terms and conditions of the app before installing it. Investigating agencies have a tough time in catching the offenders promoting offensive contents. Whatsapp never provides any detail to law enforcement agencies and as a result, because of lack of evidence the perpetrator of crime goes scot-free.  All said and done, the cyber space is a threat to mankind unless and until proper investigative techniques are put in place. Call Monitoring System (CMS) is an attempt to breach privacy. No subscriber today is safe from the darker clutches of Internet and telephone space. Rather than snooping into the calls of an individual, the Government have a robust system to curb misuse of technology. Stringent law should be put in place for the snoopers and fast track court should be in place for the offenders. The Government should take common men in confidence before such type of systems are implemented on a larger canvas.  With a bit of common sense, most of the social media crimes can be eliminated. Never panic if your cloned or fake profile is discovered. Report it to the law enforcement agencies and insist on a FIR being lodged. Never upload contents, which are pornographic or objectionable. Promoting hatred and disharmony among people is a cognizable offence and can be dealt with serious punishment. Don’t vent your anger in cyber space by uploading defamatory contents against your rivals. Never post personal information and only tag friends whom you know. Never accept and add strangers in your friend list. No content in cyber space is safe. Never upload your family and personal photos. No social networking site gives you security for the photos being uploaded. Your photo could be misused and could be uploaded on unwarranted websites creating lot of mental and physical agony. Post contents, which are authentic. Any content found to be fake and fictitious can be used as evidence in the court of law and could lead to an offence. Deleting a profile does not mean that the contents are permanently removed. The contents are archived and are stored forever.Â

Author Name: DR. Harold D'Costa