Dec 12

Dangers of mobile banking

Posted in crime, cyberlaw, internet, law, mobile, phone

Many internet “experts” talk about  mobile internet and banking, but the security of these systems is suspect.

Rs 86000 stolen from ICICI bank account through mobile banking.
From:http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=12_12_2009_001_029&mode=1

Mobile phones are not secure, I have received strange SMSes from JustDial and DNA ,  better to be low tech and safe.

Related : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/LATEST-NEWS/Rs-500cr-land-row-Builder-hacks-into-partners-email/articleshow/5260031.cms

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Dec 8

Personal information for sale

Posted in cyberlaw, government, internet, law

From http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/yahoo-spy.pdf

Federal law (See 18 U.S.C. § 2706) requires law enforcement to reimburse providers like Yahoo! for costs incurred responding to subpoena requests, court orders, or search warrants.

• Basic subscriber records: approx. $20 for the first ID, $10 per ID thereafter
• Basic Group Information (including information about moderators): approx. $20 for a group with a single moderator
• Contents of subscriber accounts, including email: approx. $30-$40 per user
• Contents of Groups: approx. $40 – $80 per group

Yahoo is not the only company indulging in these activities.  This is the reason having a personal profile on any kind of networking website like Facebook, Orkut or Linkedin is risky,  you never know how it will be used or misused.  Better to spend a little money and get  your own website.

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Nov 26

RTI act

Posted in government, law

Over the last week, I have realized how much freedom of speech you have in India and how much better most large Indian companies are compared to certain foreign organizations in so called democracies.

Even if Rs 3 is wrongly deducted , you can hope to get it back in India from a well run company,  but outside India, you are unlikely to be treated fairly and decisions are taken unilaterally. Their lawyers  will claim to have made payment, but will not be able to provide any supporting evidence.

If  you are dealing with a government organization,  you can use the

Right to Information Act

It takes time, but you will get the information you need.

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Oct 23

Data interception and email

Posted in business, cyberlaw, internet, law

Online shopping is relatively safe since most ecommerce stores use a secure (https:// ) connection .   Most people use email for personal correspondence , sending jokes and other trivial information, so  email security  solutions are not easily available.  But if you use email for sending confidential information like pricing or potential buyer information, the current  solutions are inadequate.   Your well funded competitor will hire a hacker who will intercept, delay and modify your emails and the damage can results in losses of thousands of dollars or more.

http://www.anonic.org/online-security.html

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Sep 13

Controlling mainstream media

Posted in government, internet, law

Interesting article on how the mainstream media is controlled  -  Operation Mockingbird

http://www.kidmercuryblog.com/t1659/

Many of the influential bloggers and media persons are not as independent as most people think, they are controlled using various methods.

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Aug 1

Income tax Efiling

Posted in government, internet, law

File your income tax returns online

https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/index.do

If you do not have a digital certificate, you have to take a printout and send it by ordinary post and hope it reaches in time.   In a year, the process  should be streamlined.

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Jul 19

Email interception

Posted in cyberlaw, internet, law

The other problem I face is email interception and it has become worse in the last week, as  I am not receiving many of the emails.  A good article on email interception is

http://www.anonic.org/email-security.html

http://googlehackz.blogspot.com/2007/10/ur-e-mail-can-be-intercepted-check-how.html

This is not just limited to small ISPs however; in the case of a large ISP it is much more likely that it is a
renegade employee intercepting messages than the ISP itself, but the ease of interception is just
the same.

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Jun 23

Cyberlaw

Posted in internet, law

I am planning to spend at least  the next few months studying the legal options available to me, since I have been troubled by cyber criminals for some time now.   Some useful links are:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/167161/google_india_says_it_is_not_responsible_for_parent_company.html

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_google-india-not-liable-for-material-on-blogger-it-tells-hc_1267453

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Blogs-cannot-be-controlled-all-the-time–Google-India/479992/

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4688722.cms

http://www.ciol.com/News/News-Reports/Blogger-not-under-our-control,-says-Google-India/23609121356/0/

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=2&contentid=20090623200906230256346982673c3e8

These articles contain useful information about lawyers and activists who fought cases against Google India

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