Internet Phishing: Techno-Legal Approach

The advancements in information technology has undoubtedly benefited the net users in gathering information for different purposes. The large-scale access to websites by different groups has also concurrently encouraged different forms of cyber crimes such as phishing, cyberbullying, cybersquatting and hacking causing damages to the economic and personal interests. Among different forms of cyber crimes the practice of phishing is considered as a criminally fraudulent process where the fake websites prompt the users to disclose their personal information on the pretext of authenticity or security through an electronic communication with a webpage similar to the legitimate one.

Phishing is most commonly carried out by e-mail or instant messaging. The other popular means of phishing are the creation of malicious website content. Such content in a fake website is hosted and operated by the phisher himself with ill motives to gain personal advantages. The emergence of the social networking sites has also facilitated the access to personal information. Lack of complete knowledge of the computer systems, absence of security indicators, visual deception text, images masking underlying text, windows masking underlying windows and lack of precautionary guidelines for the users are the some of the key areas which phishers exploit to gather personal information. Bank customers and companies offering online payment services are frequently targeted by the phishers to obtain sensitive data.

The menace of phishing has to be combated efficiently and effectively to protect the interests of net users. The application of several techniques and precautions including strict enforcement of cyber laws can considerably reduce the phishing activity. Adoption of strong anti-phishing tools at the client end, server end, enterprise level through a combination of information security technologies and techniques with high level of constant monitoring and investigation might bring down the phishing attacks. Tools like strong e-mail filters which reject spam mails, multilevel authentication, desktop technologies, and browser plug-ins are cost-efficient and can be used as anti-phishing kits in reducing the phishing attacks and financial losses.

The paper, "Cyber Warfare: Jokes, Hoaxes, or Hypes?", by Xingan Li discusses the potential impact of cyberwar and its relation to other deadly means of weapons like nuclear war, chemical and biological weapons. The development of cyber domain has become a platform for terrorist and extremist groups to expand their criminal activities. It emphasizes the various modes of cyberwar and its effect on the society. It explains the importance of cyber security and the enforcement of cyber laws to overcome potential threat of cyber warfare.

Tabrez Ahmad in the paper, "Copyright Infringement in Cyberspace and Network Security: A Threat to E-Commerce", discusses the legal issues connected with the copyright, cybersquatting, domain name and jurisprudence. The lack of appropriate laws and gaps in the enforcement of cyber laws has further increased the problems of the copyright holder. The growth of network technologies and e-commerce has complicated network security issues and hence the need for framing appropriate policies by the government to effectively tackle the issue of copyright infringement on the Internet.

The paper, "Formulating Specialized Legislation to Address the Growing Spectre of Cybercrime: A Comparative Study", by F Cassim refers to various forms of cybercrime practices prevalent in different countries and suggests the means to overcome such problems. The growth of information technologies has prompted many developed countries like the US, the UK to amend legislations to prevent cyber crimes. The other developing and underdeveloped countries have also realized the necessity of strong legislations, and initiated various steps to counterattack the menace of cyber crimes.

Michael Risch in the paper, "Virtual Third Parties", throws light on the Third Party Beneficiary (TPB) doctrine in the virtual worlds, the rights they possess, and discusses the disputes in the virtual worlds. It highlights that in transactions such as exchange of virtual cash, property, sound and pictures in virtual world involve third parties in the contractual relationship between the user and virtual world provider. The article advocates that the TPB doctrine protects the non-parties and it confers right on the nonparty to sue for breach of a contract. It discusses the contractual provisions such as anti-cheating, property ownership, legal compliance, anti-harassment and identification clauses which lead to disputes. This paper concludes that TPB doctrine allows participants to claim their rights and no new law is required to entertain TPB claims.

James B Speta in the paper, "The Shaky Foundations of the Regulated Internet", emphasizes the relevancy of the Comcast order to regulate the Internet. It refers to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) authority on the Internet, its claims on Internet jurisdiction and its role in the Internet age. This paper examines the policy matters concerned with the regulation of Internet and existence of limited jurisdiction is not a feasible method to govern Internet age.

The paper, "A Comparative Study of Shrink-Wrap License", by Jiao Xue focuses on the computer-related litigations of various countries and the means to resolve such disputes. This paper refers to various cyber laws of the US, the UK and China and their role in the regulation of cyber crimes. It further focuses on the problems and interests of the software users and identifies the gaps which require urgent changes in the cyber laws.

The paper, "Online Auctions: An Overview", by L Padmavathi traces the evolution of auctions by highlighting its mechanism, advantages and challenges. It refers to the various issues and legislations related to online consumer protection in several countries and critically examines the PayPal option of payment at eBay and states that PayPal protects both the buyer as well as the seller from fraudulent practices. This paper makes a note of various legislations that protects online consumers.

-- C Sri Krishna
Consulting Editor