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Book Review
Cyber laws
LEGAL ISSUES IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: C. Ramappa; Macmillan India Ltd., 2/10, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002.
Rs. 285.
REACHING THE global market at minimal cost through e-commerce is a tempting option for Indian entrepreneurs. Many Indian businessmen, big and small, are already into e-business and many more are seriously exploring the arena. But these e-entrepreneurs are concerned about the legal risks associated with e-commerce.
It is not sufficient for the Indian businessmen entering e-commerce, to keep themselves informed of the laws of the Indian physical space alone. They need to be also conversant with the laws of the Indian cyber space. What is some times lost sight of in the process is that it is also essential for the e-businessmen to understand the implications of the laws of other countries that overlap on the Internet space where e-commerce functions. The book under review discusses some of these legal issues that arise in commercial transactions through Internet.
The book focuses on issues such as domain names, intellectual property rights, privacy and consumer rights. It also discusses electronic contracts, jurisdictional issues and cyber crimes to some extent.
The approach of the book is tilted more towards presentation of the legal developments abroad in the form of international conventions and foreign case laws, rather than the corresponding developments in India. As such discussions on Information Technology Act 2000 or other local laws have been kept to the minimum.
One of the prominent areas of discussion that the book has attempted is the law regarding "protecting the consumer on the Internet". The author points out that the legislation in India for consumer protection lags far behind similar legislation abroad and does not adequately secure the consumer's freedom to negotiate reasonable terms. He observes that this deficiency becomes more pronounced in buying on the Internet. He discusses in detail some of the studies done in the U.S. on Internet frauds and many interesting cases. The guidelines applicable in European Union areas are also discussed at length.
The author is a little harsh on the Information Technology Act 2000 when he expresses the opinion that it has not provided for the protection of consumers. Perhaps he does not accept the possible extension of everything contained in the Indian Consumer Protection Act to sale of goods and services through electronic documents by virtue of the provisions contained in Section 4 of the Information Technology Act.
While discussing the legal implications of contracts in e-commerce, he has discussed the United Nations Convention for the International Sale of Goods and the UNCITRAL Model Law.
It appears that if the author had also made appropriate references to Information Technology Act 2000 regarding the electronic contracts the implications of electronic contracts would have been clearer to the Indian readers.
He has devoted separate chapters for discussions on the domain name issues and the IPR related issues applicable to e-business. Here again extensive references can be found to cases in the U.S. and the WIPO recommendations. The UDRP procedure for domain name dispute resolution has also been discussed in detail.
On the IPR front, apart from discussing the WIPO provisions, the DMCA and other laws applicable to the U.S. the author has also devoted some attention to the discussion of the position of copyright legislation in India.
The performer's rights under the Indian Copyright Act have been discussed in detail with the suggestion that "communication through the Internet" should be specifically included in the definition of "communication to the public" under Section 38 of the Copyright Act. The author has also drawn attention to the need for bringing modifications to the Indian Copyright Act to be in conformity with the international treaties. The discussions provide a basic overview of the IPR related problems for the e-entrepreneurs in India.
The book also discusses in some detail the privacy laws applicable in the U.S. and the E.U. countries including the data protection principles applicable to online transactions, again arguing for introduction of appropriate data protection laws in India.
One of the important points which the book has tried to highlight is the problem of "jurisdiction" in disputes arising out of Internet transactions. Some of the U.S. cases which have laid down principles such as "physical presence", "use of local Internet service provider" etc., have been discussed briefly along with the provisions of the Hague Convention.
The book has a brief coverage on "Cyber crimes" restricting the discussions mostly to "hacking", "unauthorised access" and consequential crimes.
The author has also highlighted the inadequacies of "criminal sanctions" for offences as per the Information Technology Act and in properly defining the term "hacking".
The extensive use of case laws made in the book is extremely useful to those who study the development of e-commerce laws across the world. However, the business readers should note to temper their reliance on these case laws since e-commerce laws are still in the development stage and the fast changing environment makes it necessary for accommodating new interpretations almost by the day.
The book is a useful addition to the library of cyber law observers in India including law education institutions, particularly for information on e-commerce laws prevailing outside India.
Na. VIJAYASHANKAR
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