Cyber Laws For CxO
Be Aware... Be Empowered
January 2010
Editor
Naavi
www.naavi.org
Publisher
Ujvala Consultants Pvt Ltd
www.ujvala.com
Contents
News Snippets
Seeds of a Cyber World War emanate from China:
Two developments from China have raised lots of concern to Cyber Space watchers. Firstly, China introduced a special Domain Name registration system which is a prelude to banning all unregistered domain names from access in China. This could isolate the Chinese population from the global information network so that they would not be influenced by the democratic thoughts.
Simultaneously the fight between Google and Chinese Government has led to the threat of Google withdrawing from China. This is a symbolic fight of one US corporation which has the biggest footprint in the Internet to resist the Chinese authoritarianism spreading in the Internet.
At this point of time it is not clear where the fight is heading. It could see either one of the parties buckling down under pressure or rallying of democratic forces behind Google to challenge China in Cyber Space. Though US may not like to have a conventional war with China, it may like to see a shadow war being fought in Cyber Space by rallying around Google. Uncertain days are ahead of us and Indian Corporates would do well to recognize this “Cyber China-Country Risk “ and factor it in their corporate policies.
Tech Mahindra Buys Back Patent Rights from UPaid:
When Satyam Computers received a notice from UPaid in 2008 demanding a compensation of US $ 1 billion on account of the failure of their Patent case in US attributed to a possible forgery of two signatures in a Patent support assignment form signed by Satyam employees, the Indian Corporate world realized the threat of huge vicarious liabilities due of non compliance of laws and lack of awareness of laws in employees.
After Mahindra’s took over Satyam, it is now reported that Tech Mahindra has worked out a compromise with UPaid with a payment of US $ 70 million. It also appears that Tech Mahindra has negotiated a worldwide royalty free license to some of the patents of UPaid, besides withdrawing all pending legal actions initiated by it. On the face of it, the settlement appears to be hugely advantageous for Tech Mahindra.
Indian Industry gives a Thumbs Up to ITA 2008
A study conducted by Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and KPMG in association with CERT-IN, 86% of the 150 respondents expressed a view that that ITA 2008 will establish a strong data protection regime. 77% of the respondents also consider that it provides assurance to its International partners. "Employee Non Seriousness" was identified as the highest concern with 64% of respondents highlighting the same.
Source Code Theft Case on Chinese Government
A law suit by a Californian Company has named seven Computer makers including Sony, Lenovo, and Acer along with the Chinese Government accusing them of willingly joining a Chinese Government plan to spread a software known as Green Dam Youth Escort, throughout the country. The Company, Cyber Sitter has stated that its 3000 lines of source code have been pirated to create the said software. Each of the computer makers complied with a Chinese government requirement to install Green Dam on new computers, or to include a CD containing the program with each new computer. The lawsuit claims that the computer makers eventually found out that the software included pirated code, but continued to comply with the government directive.
UK Domain Name Agency Blocks 1219 Domains
Nominet, the body responsible for the .uk internet addresses disconnected over 1,219 websites without any orders from a court based only on police assertions about criminal activity on the sites.
Many website owners were surprised that Nominet was prepared to disconnect so many sites on the evidence of police claims alone. Nominet maintained that it acted because there had been a breach of the contract agreed by the people behind the websites by providing false particulars about the owners of the domain names.
Internet is a Legal Right of the Citizens
Finland has passed a law making Internet, a legal right of the Citizens. What is interesting to note is that more than 95% in Finland already have Internet connectivity. Their present law requires that internet operate at a minimum of 1mbps with a caveat that it increase to 100mbps in next 5 years. France has already declared internet a human right. Finland is the first country in the world to establish Internet as a legal right.
HIPAA Suit filed on Health Net Inc
Health Net a health insurance company lost a laptop containing medical records of up to 1.5 million in unencrypted form. The Company reported the lost records in November 2009 after 6 months of internal investigation.
Now a suit has been filed by Connecticut state attorney, both for security breach as well as not notifying the affected customers. The complaint also seeks a court order blocking Health Net from continued violations of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) by requiring that any protected health information contained on a portable electronic device be encrypted.
This case marks the first action by a state attorney general involving violations of HIPAA since the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) authorized state attorneys general to enforce HIPAA.
[Collected from various sources]
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