Monday, July 15, 2002		Book Review

Know more about the IT Act
Ali Hasnain

Handbook on Cyber Laws by Vakul Sharma, Macmillan India Limited, Rs.195 (hard-bound edition)

TECHNOLOGY and law are like legendary hare and the tortoise. Whatever lead start technology may take, the law somehow manages to catch up with it. What does it mean for the end user? Just when we thought he had triumphed over all technical jargon and concepts floating around for his limited purpose, he finds himself accosted with a litany of legal gibberish, which in this case happens to be the Information Technology Act of 2000.

No need to despair! This is where Vakul Sharma, the enterprising legal consultant from Chandigarh comes to your rescue with his Handbook on Cyber Laws.

The book is effective for rudimentary and basic understanding of cyber laws. It is divided into 10 chapters most of which deal with different facets of the Internet and the inherent legal repercussions of each.

Sharma races through the important provisions of the Act in a plain and simple manner, which would probably draw appreciation from the average Netizens with no background in law.

The book offers pointers for budding Net entrepreneurs suggesting necessary clauses for "back end" contracts like Domain Name Registration, Web Designing, Content Development, Server Hosting, Web Hosting agreements etc. A table of e-business models is also available chalking out the benefits to both companies and customers.

The various terms and conditions of Websites on which we never condescend to waste our Net hours make interesting reading. All those who have taken so eagerly to Net banking, Net trading etc. may want to reconsider their actions after going through some of the disclaimers and terms and conditions. Although one is left wondering whether using Web services would bind the end-user to a legally valid contract. If the service is an electronic version of an existing physical world business, the end user's acceptance of the terms and conditions can easily be made out by their actions (a good example would be using the baazi.com site to buy and sell goods). On the other hand, where a Website is being used for a specific service provided on the Net itself without any physical world ramifications, a valid contract may only be made out where the Net identity can tally with the person's physical world identity. The same may be easy to prove once digital signatures become the norm.

By far the most popular service on the Net is electronic mail. How secure is this as a means of communication? Is it tamper-proof? No it's not. Not just that your e-mail may not be as private as you may like to believe. So what is the answer? Cryptography may help.

The chapter on cryptography (symmetric and asymmetric) is very informative. Sharma takes pains to explain Key pairs, the difference between symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, message validation etc. The chapters on privacy, cyber crimes and copyright violations are well researched and exhaustive. The absence of a chapter on e-taxation is slightly surprising and perhaps jurisdictional issues could have done with a chapter for themselves.

The more serious student of law may not feel satiated. The book is unpretentious and does not claim to be a precise, detailed and exhaustive commentary on cyber law. All in all it's a good book for the uninitiated a "do it yourself guide" as the author suggests.