[India] Ministry scripts draft cyber laws for subscribers

["Irfan Khan" <KhanIA@super.net.pk>]

Ministry scripts draft cyber laws for subscribers 
Harshad Oke 

MUMBAI 17 JULY 

CYBER transactions carry their own risks, but with a little care 
especially on the part of subscribers, heart burn at a later stage 
can be avoided.
 
The draft cyber laws, a brain child of commerce ministry, have laid 
down sufficient guidelines outlining the duties of the subscribers. 
This is essential as in the months to come, e-commerce will catch up 
in a big way in India. 

One of the first guidelines laid down by the draft cyber law pertains 
to generating a key pair. Electronic commerce transactions are made 
secure by a set of passwords, out of which one is a ''public key'' 
and the other is a ''private key'', known only to the subscriber. 
This key pair is really the key, as it establishes a secure process 
for transacting on the Net. Once generated, the subscriber will have 
to register his public key with the certification authority and 
design a private key using a trustworthy system. However, if a 
subscriber generates the key pair using a system approved by the 
certification authority, then there is no need to register. 
But to really set that mouse zapping, a subscriber will have to 
obtain a digital certificate, which is akin to establishing a digital 
persona. The draft laws make it incumbent on the subscriber to convey 
his acceptance of the certificate by allowing the authority to 
publish it. By accepting a certificate, the subscriber has to take 
care guarding it. This is a rudimentary step towards controlling 
cyber crimes. This imposes a higher duty of care upon a subscriber 
than that imposed on the holder of credit or ATM card. Draft laws al-
so suggest persons who intentionally or negligently disclose private 
keys should be held liable to a higher standard than those 
responsible for involuntary disclosure. 

http://www.economictimes.com/today/18tech04.htm