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Domain Name Ownership & WHOIS Info

Cyber Lawyer — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:04:26 +0000

Do you own a domain ? If yes, then read on…

A Domain Name has become an important asset for an organization, as it represents a business/brand name online and has a goodwill attached to it. So loosing it, especially after a number of years of use, may give you jitters for a lifetime !

When you get a website made by a Website Designing Company … it is necessary to have control not only over it’s Hosting account but Domain as well. Mostly, website owners are unaware of the fact that Domain Name control panel and Web Hosting control panels are mostly different. And the website development/hosting companies just provide access to the Hosting but never to the Domain Name Control Panel (which includes the transfer key), fearing they may lose a customer.

As a result, in many such cases the domain owner ends up losing the Domain. Because, firstly you never had control over the Domain and secondly, such companies use their own details in WHOIS info of the said domain… i.e. according to the public records, such company is owner of your Domain Name. So later, when a dispute arises… and in case you never retained the receipt, I am afraid you can’t do much !

Though, in case you have been victim of such an action, we can help you legally in claiming back the Domain. Please contact us here. And the existing Domain Name owners, you need to follow two simple steps, to make sure that you are the rightful owner of the Domain and remain so in the future…

1) Firstly, get hold of your Domain Name Control Panel details and if the company is not making available the same or is unable to provide it for whatever reasons, you should endevour to get hold of the Transfer Key or Secret Key of your Domain and get it transfer to a different company/registrar.

2) Secondly, you should check for the public records of the Domain, i.e. WHOIS info… and in case, you already have control over the Domain Name… you can change the details from within the Domain Name Control Panel.

You can check your domain name WHO IS here … and verify the ownership. Though, in some cases, the WHO IS information is protected by a feature called “Privacy Protect” and not visible, which is available for free @ ArcherSoftech.com with generic domain extensions like .Com, .Net, .Org but not with .IN or .Co.In domain Names, depending upon individual Domain Policies. In case of any such doubts, please contact your domain registrar.

If you are looking for registration of a new Domain Name or transfering of Domain Name, with an exclusing control panel so that you retain the ownership for always, please visit us here. Thanks !

India-US sign MOU on deal with cyber crime

Cyber Lawyer — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:28:37 +0000

India and US have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to fight cyber crime jointly by timely exchange of information between the Computer Emergencies Team of both Countries, namely Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). The agreement was signed by Jane Holl Lute, Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Homeland Security ( DHS) and India Department of Information Technology Secretary R Chandrashekhar in July 2011.

The MoU will establish the best practices for exchange of critical cyber security information and expertise between the two governments through the respective agencies. The MoU helps fulfill the commitment of both nations to advancing the global security and countering terrorism, one of the pillars of the US-India Strategic Dialogue, launched in July 2009.

more @

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-07-19/news/29790778_1_cyber-security-cert-fight-cyber

Speak Asia Fiasco

Cyber Lawyer — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:23:33 +0000

Speak Asia, the biggest online scam in the country, has finally landed into the Police Net, by the arrest of its COO and other executives for running a Ponzi scheme, after they dodged the investors for over few months period by making dubious claims. Though they were released on bail after 3 weeks. A complaint was made against Speak Asia for allegedly duping over 15 lakh investors across India to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore.

The fraud has been pegged at 2,000 crore and it has been claimed by Home Minister R.R. Patil that efforts will be made to return the money to the Investors, in view of a new law passed in this respect. The investors are required to apply to Economic Offence Wing in their city. Though, only time would tell, whether it would be practically possible or not, as money has already been funnelled abroad as reported by Media. The Speak asia has also claimed that they would soon implement an exit policy which would enable those panelists who wish to end their association with the company, to get an early refund. Further, surprizingly in a message on the website, Speak Asia CEO still claims soon to be back in business and continued relationship!

more @ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/speak-asia-fraud-rs-2-000-crore/825777/

Privacy Law & India

Cyber Lawyer — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 05:43:36 +0000

Till late, privacy was governed by the consitution of India, considered as fundamental right guranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India and many precedents have been laid in this regard by Supreme Court of India. And it has also been included to some extent under section 43A Information Technology Act, which deals with sensitive personal data contained in a computer system.

But after controversial radia tapes leak, Government of India has decided to introduce an exhaustive law on privacy, known as “Right to Privacy”, which will soon be introduced before the parliament. This law provides for stringent punishment, including revocation of licences of telecom service providers, for illegally intercepting telephone calls and making their content public. This would be punishable with five years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 Lakh.

The Bill defines “right to privacy as confidentiality of communication, family life, bank and health records, protection of honour and good name and protection from use of photographs, fingerprints, DNA samples and other samples taken at police stations and other places”. [courtesy: Deccan Chronicle]

The said bill would also be a blow to the illegal snooping done upon the citizens of India mostly by various private agency. Though, Government Employees won’t be spared, as head of the department would be held responsible in case of found circulating the intercepted data in public. Though, still Goverenment would enjoy privileges in the interest of the security of the state, etc. According to a recent statistics released by Google, Indian Government has been ranked third in Snooping through google, as reported by the Economic Times. Though only 22 percent of the requests have been accepted by Google, which resulted in removal of google search results, blogs, videos, etc.

The Bill may also serve as a proper guide to International Organizations like Google, whose Google Street View project has been stopped from taking any further pictures in the city of Bangalore for the Google Earth software.

… more of latest news in this month’s CyberLawTimes Newsletter @ http://www.cyberlawtimes.com/newsletter.html

Draft Rules under Section 43A & Section 79 of IT Act for public comments

Cyber Lawyer — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:39:49 +0000

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India have put up draft rules under section 43A and 79 of Information Technology Act, 2000 on its website: mit.gov.in for public comments by 28 February, 2011.Section 43A provides for compensation for failure to protect sensitive personal data by body corporates, who are expected to implement and maintain resonable security practices and procedures as prescribed by Central Government. In this regard, the draft rules lay down for compulsory Privacy Policy by body corporates and also provide for restriction on disclosure of information to third party, which cannot be made except with prior permission of the information providers. Further, reasonable security and practices are expected to be implementd by adoption of “The International Standard IS/ISO/IEC 27001 on Information Technology – Security Techniques – Information Security Management System – Requirements”.

Section 79 provides for exemption from liability of intermediary, if the intermediary, among other factors also observes due diligence while discharging his duties under this Act and also observes such other guidelines as the Central Government may prescribe in this behalf. In this regard, the draft rules lay down that intermediary to have proper terms and conditions of use of its website, user agreement, privacy policy, etc.

Section 79 also includes role of cyber cafes as intermedaries, in this regard also draft of cyber cafe guidelines have been put up by ministry for public comments. It includes provision for Identification of User, Log Registers, Management of Physical Layout and computer resource and inspection of cyber cafe.

South Delhi Police nabs hackers for online banking heist

Cyber Lawyer — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:08:08 +0000

Three persons, including two foreign nationals, were arrested for allegedly hacking into e-banking accounts and buying expensive electronic items through these accounts. The accused were nabbed in south Delhi and eight laptops, 10 digital cameras and 17 BlackBerry cellphones worth around Rs 10 lakh was recovered from them.

The arrested have been identified Praveen Gupta (27), a Nepali national, Promise Eke (27), a Nigerian living in Malviya Nagar, and Tashi Wang from Sikkim and living in Munirka.

“Recently, many international group of hackers have targeted people in India. Members of these gangs often have bases in Mumbai and Bangalore. Posing as bank executives, they call up people and seek account details. Sometimes they also send fake SMSes, seeking account details. The three persons whom we arrested belonged to one such gang,” said DCP (south) HGS Dhaliwal. ”The accused decoded their victims’ e-banking account passwords and login IDs and purchased gadgets from an e-commerce website. The gadgets were delivered to them through courier.” added another Police Officer

The said act of Hacking is punishable under section 66 of Information Technology Act, 2000.

RBI makes Additional Password a must for online shoppers

Cyber Lawyer — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:13:47 +0000

Yesterday, RBI issued notification in respect of online security measure introduced last year, which made every online shopper to have second password mandatory before c successful transaction could be completed. But it was restricted to CNP transactions only .

But wef 01 January, 2011 RBI has decided to extend this requirement of additional authentication/validation to all CNP transactions including IVR transactions. These Directions are issued by the Reserve Bank of India, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 18 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

source: http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=6055&Mode=0

Important Judgments Aug-Sept 2010

Cyber Lawyer — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:13:44 +0000

Downloads are not performances, rules US court

A music download is not a performance of a work and therefore does not demand an additional licence and fee, a US court has ruled. A stream of a file is a performance, though, the court said.

Read More
Argentine court overturns ruling on search engines’ liability for links

An appeals court in Argentina has ruled that search engines are not responsible for the content of sites that they index. The court overturned a lower court’s ruling against Google and Yahoo! Argentina.

Read More
Swiss court rules IP address-tracing software breached data protection law

The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that software which identified the internet protocol (IP) address of unauthorised music uploaders broke data protection law.

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Spanish court clears YouTube of copyright liability for uploaded videos

YouTube is not liable for copyright infringement because users have uploaded video material from Spanish television station Telecino, a Madrid court has ruled. YouTube is not obliged to monitor all content and weed out infringement, the court said.

French court orders ISPs to block gambling site

A French court has told internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to a gambling site that is operated out of Gibraltar and does not have a licence to operate in France, according to news agency Agence France Presse (AFP).

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Headlines are not copyright-protected, rules Australian court

Headlines cannot be copyrighted because they are too insubstantial, short and trivial to qualify for copyright protection, an Australian court has ruled.

15 Countries (including India) Draft Cyber Arms Control Proposal for United Nations

Cyber Lawyer — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:11:04 +0000

With computer networks increasingly viewed as a realm for spying and warfare, the U.S., China, Russia and a dozen other countries have outlined principles on how to improve so-called “cybersecurity.”

Diplomats finalized a set of proposals to the United Nations Friday. The steps include developing international standards for conduct over the Internet, sharing information about each country’s cybersecurity laws, and helping less-developed nations strengthen their computer defenses.

Diplomatic progress on cybersecurity has stagnated in recent years, but U.S. President Barack Obama made the issue one of his administration’s priorities.

Russia has proposed a cybersecurity treaty similar to international restrictions on chemical weapons. The U.S. previously has rejected the idea.

Other countries that agreed to Friday’s proposals were Belarus, Brazil, Britain, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Qatar, South Africa and South Korea.

source: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/15-Countries-Outline-Principles-on-Cyber-Security-98661289.html

Pakistan blocks Facebook and Youtube

Cyber Lawyer — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:28:45 +0000

A Pakistani court ordered temporary blocking of Facebook.com on Wednesday due to the controversies over a competition for caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. And the next day on Thursday, similar order has been passed for the blocking of YouTube.com… the Pakistan Government has urged the international community to address the issue at the earliest, as it is an extremely sensitive and emotional matter for Muslims across the world.