Today the
business has shadowed the geographical boundaries of world. Now it is the age
of globalised business. In the present era of communication revolution,
information can be sent from one end of globe to another end within seconds. Gone
are the days of using diaries and posting letters.
It is
possible to perform different business transactions without being presenting
physically the parties involved. Now with a single mouse click, you can buy the
best roses of the seasons from a distant shop or book a hotel room from the
home computer or you can pay your telephone bill from your bank account without
even going to the bank branch. All this is performed through Internet and
termed as e-business just like e-mail. The websites involved are called business
portals and are responsible for marketing, executing and safeguarding different
business transactions through their sites. Electronic commerce can be between
two businesses transmitting funds, goods, services and/or data or between a
business and a customer and even between two customers.
"Electronic Record" means date, record or date generated,
image or sound stored, received or sent in an electronic form or micro film or
computer generated micro film. . Information captured through electronic means, and which may or
may not have a paper record to back it up. It is also called machine readable
record.
A digital signature is an electronic signature that can be used to
authenticate the identity of the sender of a message or the signer of a
document, and possibly to ensure that the original content of the message or
document that has been sent is unchanged.
Paper signatures v/s Digital Signatures
|
Parameter
|
Paper
|
Electronic
|
|
Authenticity
|
May be
forged
|
Cannot be
copied
|
|
Integrity
|
Signature
independent of the document
|
Signature
depends on the contents of the document
|
|
Non-repudiation
|
Handwriting
expert needed
Error prone
|
Any
computer user
Error free
|
M-Commerce is
the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices
such as mobile telephone and personal digital assistants (PDAs). M-Commerce is
a platform where a mobile customer can avail various banking and other related
commercial facilities through his mobile phone. The main areas of m-Commerce
use are in text messaging or SMS, mobile payment, financial & banking
services, logistics, goods/services buy/sell information services and wireless
customer relationship management etc.
The advent of personal computers brought the
storage, retrieval and processing capacities of computers to Government
offices. By the late 1980s, a large number of government officers had computers
but they were mostly used for ‘word processing’. Gradually, with the
introduction of better softwares, computers were put to other uses like
managing databases and processing information. Advances in communications
technology further improved the versatility and reach of computers, and many
Government departments started using ICT for a number of applications like
tracking movement of papers and files, monitoring of development programs,
processing of employees’ pay rolls, generation of reports etc. Recent
technological developments has enabled the entire business functions to go
online using technologies and tools like Cloud computing, ERP, CRM, Business
Intelligence, RFID, Bar coding etc.
With the
affluent power of technology, comes the misuse of technology. Hence the law
relating to ‘information technology’ cam into existence as the Information
Technology (IT) Act, 2000 which came into force on 17th October, 2000. It is
the first Cyber Law in India. It is mainly based on the UNCITRAL Model
Law. The United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted the Model Law on Electronic Commerce
in 1996. This Model Law provides for equal legal treatment of users of
electronic communication and paper based communication.
Following
course of action is required to prevent the misuse of technology:
• Need international co-operation
• Mutual co-operation between countries
• Transfer of technology between countries
• Deportation of criminals
• Educate the masses
• Spreading awareness about crimes (related to
Ecommerce, digital signature,M-cmmerce and electronic Record )
• Training and educating policemen
• More and more stringent norms
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