37, 20th Main, B.S.K.Stage I, Bangalore-560050
Phone: 9343554943 : E-Mail:: clc@naavi.org or naavi@vsnl.com
Web: www.cyberlawcollege.com
Karnataka Cyber Law Awareness Movement [KCLAM]
A Brief Introduction
Karnataka Cyber Law Awareness Movement (KCLAM) is a programme of Cyber Law Literacy undertaken by Na.Vijayashankar (Naavi) through Cyber Law College a virtual education center founded by him.
Under this programme it is envisaged that efforts will be made to for Karnataka to be the “Most Cyber Law Literate State in India”. This is one of the objectives of the United Nations Initiative of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) whose second summit is to be held in November 2005 at Tunisia.
KCLAM is a comprehensive programme which includes several initiatives some of which have already been under implementation. The initiatives already taken include
- Publishing of books on Cyber Law in Kannada:The book titled “
“ written by Naavi has already been published in 2005 meant for the use of Cyber Café owners and High School Students. (More such initiatives are planned in the coming days, including developing an official Kannada translation of the Information Technology Act 2000)
- Creating a Kannada Website : A Website www.naavika.org has been created as a portal on Cyber Law in Kannada. (Content is to be expanded with the assistance of other writers on the subject).
- Lectures on Cyber Law at Colleges: Lectures have been held by Naavi at Law Colleges in Hubli, Hassan, Mangalore in the month of March this year to create a higher level of awareness on Cyber Laws in the teaching community. (More such lectures are planned at Law Colleges and Technical Institutions).
- Seminars and Workshops: Seminars on the subject of Cyber Laws and related aspects are planned in Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Mangalore, Davanagere amongst other cities for the benefit of the corporate executives and professionals such as Lawyers and Chartered Accountants.
- Police Education: Lectures are planned at for Police personnel at various places in Karnataka subject to suitable arrangements being made by the Police department. (Initial discussions had with Cyber Crime Police Station in this regard).
- Sensitizing the Judiciary : Subject to the requirements of the Judiciary, awareness lectures are proposed to be organized to sensitize the judiciary on the Challenges posed by Cyber Crimes.
- Cyber Law Courses: At present, Virtual Courses are being conducted by Cyber Law College on Cyber Laws for the benefit of Lawyers and other professionals. This was extended to conducting of offline courses in Bangalore thrugh KLE Society’s Law College in last November.
- Creating Young Responsible Netizens: Cyber Law College proposes to conduct certification courses for High School Students to create Cyber Law Awareness at an early stage. (There is a proposal under consideration with Government of India to make such education mandatory)
- Creating an Identified Digital Society: Cyber Law College proposes to initiate a programme for the increased use of Digital Signatures in the electronic transactions by Government officials, Police and general public and to integrate the programme with a “Low cost Citizen ID Card” to develop a “Netizen-Citizen ID card” at affordable costs.
- Development of an Educational and Research Center in Cyber Law: A trust in the name of “Digital Society Foundation" (DSF) has been recently formed in Bangalore under the chairmanship of Naavi. DSF will take some of the educational activities of Cyber Law College further.
In addition to the above state specific activities, it is proposed that certain Pan Indian and International initiatives are taken from Karnataka in the Cyber Law related areas. Such initiatives include
a) An International domain name service “Verify4lookalikes” to resolve domain name disputes arising out of trade mark disputes. ( Naavi has already begun a pilot project in this regard under www.verify4lookalikes.com)
b) An international “Cyber Evidence Archival Center” to assist Law Enforcement and Netizens in archiving Cyber Evidence (Naavi has already begun a pilot project in this regard under www.ceac4india.in)
c) An International “Online arbitration and mediation center” (www.arbitration.in) for dispute resolution particularly for the domain name disputes and to facilitate the work of all the adjudicators appointed under ITA-2000 (Naavi has already begun the initial process in developing the required software)
d) An International system for creating skilled manpower for Conducting Cyber Law Compliance Audits in the form of “CyLawCom Examiners” (Already in progress through Cyber Law College).
e) Facilitating the setting up of the first “Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal (CRAT)” in India at Bangalore in accordance with the provisions of Information Technology Act 2000 and organizing an all India conference of “Adjudicating Officers” under ITA-2000. (All IT secretaries of different states are the designated adjudicating officers. CRAT is yet to be set up in India and the Ministry of Information Technology has the responsibility for the same)
With all the above initiatives, it is intended that Karnataka would be a trend setter in India for creating a “Responsible Cyber Society” through a combination of various initiatives.
It is envisaged that these activities will provide a general boost to the Cyber Law related activities in the state and provide increased business opportunities to Legal and IT Security professionals.
While some of these initiatives will be undertaken by the undersigned under Cyber Law College and other associate institutions, I seek Government of Karnataka support in the following projects in particular.
a) Development of a Cyber Evidence Archival Center in Bangalore .
b) Development of the use of Online Proceedings for adjudication
c) Development of Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal (The role of Naavi in this regard is limited to catalyzing the process)
The projects have been conceived in such a manner that once they go on stream, funding should be available from Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India and probably from the United Nations though WSIS.
Other Developments
The above project has been under implementation by Naavi, Cyber Law College and Digital Society Foundation and the efforts will continue. Under the project Cyber Law Courses have been established in Hubli, Mysore and Mangalore besides Bangalore. Cyber Law awareness lectures have taken place at several places including small towns like Nanjangud and Nitte and far off places such as Gulbarga and Belgaum.
In 2009 the concept has been further expanded with the introduction of the next mission "Bengaluru as Information Security Capital" of India. The new mission named "Bangalore Information Security Awareness Movement or BISAM" is now in operation. Under this mission a series of activities are planned in Bangalore in the Information Security area in association with other like minded organizations so that a high level of Information Security awareness can be built in the city.