Need legal structure that balances freedom of expression, cyber regulation: Ashwini Vaishnav – The Indian Express

India needs a legal structure that balances the right to freedom of expression and regulation of cyberspace, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Monday.

He said the pandemic had forced a consensus on the issue in India, and its outcome could be a dynamic legal structure.

We need to overhaul our legal structure in a big way. I dont think any incremental changes will help. The change has to be substantial, structural and fundamental, and that is where the conflict starts, Vaishnav said, addressing the second national conference on Cyber Crime Investigation and Digital Forensics, organised by CBI.

On one side is the right to freedom of expression and privacy, which is said to be sacrosanct The second conflicting thing is that there has to be regulation, control in order to stop fraudulent activity, which is committed in the garb of the right to privacy and freedom of expression, he said. That is the balance society has to strike.

Vaishnav said India is already arriving at that balance.

Luckily, during Covid-19, the world has changed fundamentally, he said. The way of thinking has changed. The balance is now coming in the thought process of the society. Take the case of South Korea, Australia, almost every state in the US or the EU. (A) large number of legal, societal interventions are happening basically trying to bring back the balance between right to privacy on the one side and need for regulation on the other.

The minister said, We, in India, are also trying to create that societal consensus. Its happening. In Parliament, the Opposition, which used to be vocal about the government trying to intrude into peoples lives, is today asking for more regulations. This will eventually give way to a legal structure that is dynamic, in tune with the times, and addresses aspirations of the younger generations, as well as keeps people safe, keeps social media accountable.

Vaishnav emphasised the need for use of more technology to combat cybercrime, and said universities must come forward with solutions for this. Crimes perpetrated by technology will have to be countered by technology, he said.

The minister also referred to the impact of the threat of cyber attacks on todays technology-driven infrastructure such as railways, power systems, etc. He called for organisational measures at various levels whether it is a student managing her/his own password or the WiFi router in a family; a small business or a large corporation or a government department, all organisations will have to think more about protecting the cyberspace.

Vaishnav also dwelled on the need for capacity development and said that extremely persistent efforts will have to be taken for creating capacity in cyber investigation, cyber forensics, cyber law, cyber technology, cyber security.

CBI director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal said the agency has over a period of time gathered reasonable expertise in cyber crime investigations. He said CBI is the lead agency in the investigation of cyber crimes and functions as the point of contact for law enforcement agencies of more than a hundred countries.

Follow this link:

Need legal structure that balances freedom of expression, cyber regulation: Ashwini Vaishnav - The Indian Express