Information Technology Civil Judicial System, Is it working?

All of us know that online transactions have gained the momentum it desired and many people are finding benefits of it. There are few black sheep’s in this business also and to take action agonist them Information Technology Act was introduced as Special Act by Parliament of India. There are sections 43 and 43A which specifically deals with Civil Liability and for appealing under these sections Adjudicators have been prescribed under Information Technology Act. These Adjudicators are Information Technology Secretary of respective State governments.

To appeal against decisions of these Adjudicators, the Cyber appellate Tribunal has been constituted under said act.

So we presume that the set up is very fine and must be in order.

But reality is very different. The most progressive state Maharashtra, which was in many ways a trend setter in I T Adjudication till Mr. Rajesh Aggrawal was Adjudicator, has conducted only two hearings in last two years.

Amazing!!!!! A state with 47 cases registered in 2014, 59 cases in 2015 and 18 cases till March 2016 could conduct only one hearing in entire Year speaks itself about the way government is looking towards I T Civil Litigation's.

And it’s no good to speak about CYBER APPELLATE TRIBUNAL which is yet to see new Chairperson since last many years.

The Information Technology Department Maharashtra neither is bothered about updating its website in relation to I T Act cases nor interested in ascertaining how much Court fees is paid to it towards such litigation's.

It has to be mentioned very sadly that A country whose Prime Minister is encouraging use of Technology in every possible manner is unaware about I T Civil Judicial System.

Its no good for a country where cyber criminals are targeting innocent people who are left remediless by such Judicial apathy.  

Regulators needed for PAYMENT GATEWAYS!!!!!

Last fortnight a leading Mobile Payment gateway from India unveiled its projections to 5,00,000 online seller base by March 2017 as compared to current seller base of 1,70,000.This portal alone facilitates 300 million payment transactions per day and has set a target of 1 billion by 2020.

As I presume this ONLINE BUSINESS IS HIGH VOLUME AND LOW MARGIN BUSINESS.

When margins are low there are possibilities of compromises with the security or quality of the services customers receive. As these online companies can not compromise with bandwidth and high resolution servers they are most likely to save by compromising on security measures. These companies are for profit and not for charity and scrutinizing their business module it looks more probable that they might be compromising on security.

Section 43A of Information Technology Act mandates these service providers to follow reasonable security practices and guidelines to protect sensitive personal data and information of the users.

Another point of worry about these payment gateways, which have mushroomed recently, is very few legal or technical compliance required from government end. In a rush towards fulfilling its well deserved mission of Start up India government seems to be neglecting inherent threats in cyberspace. The cyberspace is used by entrepreneurs, end users who are techno illiterate and simultaneously by cyber criminals who are highly comfortable with technology and rather are highly techno savvy.

All are cohabiting in same cyberspace and when these payment gateways are carrying out almost a billion transactions per day collectively, the cyber criminals are bound to found out vulnerabilities in the same and exploit them for their financial gain. The biggest losers in this scenario presently are the innocent online payment gateway users and more interestingly people who don’t even opt for these payment gateways for their any transaction.

Shocked????

How people who don’t even opt for online payment gateways can be falling prey to such frauds???

The modus operandi noticed is very simple. These fraudsters obtain credit/debit card details and cvv code from such innocent people and utilise same for fraudulent transactions through these payment gateways. Payment gateways are least bothered about origin of payment or destination of beneficiary. What they are bothered about is their transaction fees and nothing else.

There are many cases where payment gateways are unable to provide complete authenticated details of beneficiaries. This is alarming situation and currently cyber criminals are exploiting it very effectively. The amount of such frauds can not be estimated with limited information available with my organisation but I am sure its figure will be unimaginable by anybody. If you prefer to guess you are welcome.

It’s high time that Payment Gateways must be brought under some sort of Regulatory mechanism!!!

This regulator will be entrusted to look into all such matters where Payment Gateways are found to be involved in some sort of fraudulent activities. For want of such regulatory mechanism, unnecessarily Good Payment Gateways are also being tarnished.

To avoid this situation and make people believe in this online payment mechanism the formation of such regulator is NEED OF HOUR.