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Showing posts from May, 2021

Challenges In E-Taxation

Conducting business in cyberspace can bring about issues for the tax administration to determine which jurisdiction is entitled to tax over goods or services conducted over the Internet. This is an international problem hence I will look at different authors from different jurisdictions to expand on which issues are most common. The reason why I will be looking at taxation issues in cyberspace is that oftentimes discussions regarding tax and cyber law or cyberspaces have been separated. [1] Most authors find this to be harmful to the development of e-commerce as we can see now that we are moving into the Fourth Industrial Revolution and more businesses are going online. That brings about the question of how companies are taxed if they are. This is what this article will focus on. Taxation Issues There are many challenges identified in these spaces. Some of them are: ●       Identification issues : Tax administrators, amongst other things, need to identify whether a transaction

International Cyberspace Law: New Challenges

  Introduction The international legal system is slowly taking into consideration the role of cyberspace. Action in cyberspace requires no time and place. The process of globalization has not only brought achievements in civilization but also challenges embedded in it. It is a fact that national threats have changed under globalization and the internet revolution. The offences are no longer confined to boundaries and offences through the internet have increased. Thus, international cooperation has become essential to avoid such threats. The cyber domain in the context of the transformation of international security has great influence. What can be done? The UN-centric approach should be the core governance model in the global cyberspace: Cyberspace is a domain, which comes with aspects of virtual reality but also covers major aspects of state sovereignty etc. When it comes to cyber issues in respect of the international community, the states should rely on existing mechanisms und

Cyber Warfare: A Psychological Strategy More Than Technical Prowess

In simple terms, cyber warfare is the use of hacking techniques by military forces to target a foreign country’s key systems. It can be used to steal or alter information or to disable the essential infrastructure of the target country. Now, a layman would think, I don’t have any access to the military data or confidential information of national importance. Why do I have to think about cyberwarfare? The simple answer is that the tools used by the military can easily end up in the hands of ordinary cybercriminals. Cyber Warfare attacks can disable financial and organizational systems. They can access, transmit and alter classified data to sabotage networks, websites and services. It is a wide arena that includes everything from highly targeted phishing attacks to distributed denial of service, also called DDOS, to hacking and seizing real-time control of key systems as happened in the case of Stuxnet. It is only a matter of time before more methods and tools are employed by cybercrimin

Revenge Pornography in India

Introduction Nowadays, Humiliation through revenge porn in cyberspace against ex-girl/boyfriend has become prevalent with the advanced technology available. Revenge porn in wider terms can be understood as the sharing of sexual images or nudes without consent, as the spiteful actions of a jilted ex-lover, ex-friend, known person or any social networking site follower, stalker. It is often adopted by individuals who are ‘dumped’ by their partners. The perpetrator satisfies his/her frustration of a broken relationship by publicizing a sexually provocative portrayal of his/her victim, also known as sextortion. The sharing of self-produced visuals and images for the sake of revenge, here the word ‘self-produced’ covers the sexted images, consented video clips and images captured in the compromising positions. This peculiar concept was started in western countries, however in India, the very first case of revenge porn in cyberspace came out in 2001 when a 16-year old schoolboy created a po

End to End Encryption: A puzzle solved

  All of us have seen the flashing notification of WhatsApp “ Your messages are end to end encrypted” . What does this notification refer to? With the internet sprawling around the world, privacy has become a major concern for users. Privacy activists around the world have been demanding the security of the shared data of users [1] on the internet for ages. The majority of the time, the intermediaries [2] which we use to share the information on the internet have the power to access and read into the data being shared by us [3] , making our private data accessible to every possible medium it traverses. End to End encryption provides the user with the assurance of data being kept safe and not falling into the hands of servers, hosts, intermediaries, etc. Encryption in the simplest of languages means modifying data in such a way that no intermediary can read it and only the person whom the data is intended to be given can read it given, he/she has the means to do that. Encryption i

Cyber Literacy Rate in India

  Introduction With an increase in the number of people using telecommunication services, internet facilities and electronic devices in Generation Z (Gen Z) or millennials, somewhere lack the basic awareness that comes along with the gloomy side of internet usage. Since there is no demarcated territory for any user in cyberspace, the tracing of an offender is challenging. This can be avoided only if the netizens are well aware of the process and the risks involved thereby.  Need of Cyber Literacy Just as a common man is expected to know the primary mathematics, basics of tax filing or simple medical awareness for his/her healthy survival; a digital user is expected to know the basics of the same.  Digital hardship has been an ongoing issue in India even before the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, with the advance of virtual learning, internet connectivity has become more of an ‘essential service’ rather than for leisure.  For example: Under ‘Namo Tablet Yojna’,

Instagram Privacy Policy

Privacy policies are meant to be disclosed by the sites or apps to make their users aware of how they are going to use the information they receive. We all use social media platforms to feel connected with the world. Recent data breaches have questioned the privacy policies of apps/sites. Instagram is one of the significant social media intermediaries which have more than 21 crore users in India and they are increasing day by day. So, the question is what the privacy policy of Instagram states?    What data does Instagram collect? The automated system of Instagram collects all the information: 1.  Metadata What we see through their features i.e. Camera- Instagram uses that for suggesting the filters etc., Location of photo, dates. Though the political and religious views could be subject to the legislature of specific countries. The network and connection you use, and if you permitted to sync the contact Instagram can access your address book or call log or SMS log history and accordin