#10 CYBERLAW

CYBERLAW

Malaysia has set a vision to move towards a knowledge-based society and economy
 National Vision - where ICT as driver for restructuring of economy and employment.
 Prerequisites include access to infrastructure and development of Information, knowledge and applications.
Licenses for Certification Authorities (CA)
 Controller and the governing body which issued:
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia

 Company that already licensed certification authorities (CA) in Malaysia
Digicert
MSC Trustgate

 Digital Signature Act


What the Act is about:

 Provides for the regulation of the public key infrastructure
 The Act makes a digital signature as legally valid and enforceable as a traditional signature
 Copyright serves to protect the expression of thoughts and ideas from unauthorized copying and/or alteration
 With convergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), creative expression is now being captured and communicated in new forms (example: multimedia products, broadcast of movies over the Internet and cable TV). These new forms need protection.


 Copyright (Amendment) Act

What the Amended Act is about:

The Copyright (Amendment) Act amends the Copyright Act 1987 to extend copyright law to the new and converged multimedia environment
 There is now clear protection accorded to multimedia works.
 The transmission of copyright works over the Internet now clearly amounts to infringement
 Technological methods of ensuring works (and authorship info) are not altered or removed is also protected.

 Telemedicine Act
Why the Act exists:

 Healthcare systems and providers around the world are becoming interconnected. People and local healthcare providers can thus source quality healthcare advice and consultation from specialists from around the world, independent of geographical location. Conversely, interconnectivity also allows for non-quality healthcare advice and consultation from around the world. The Act serves to regulate the practice of teleconsultations in the medical profession.


 Computer Crimes Act
Why the Act exists:

 As computing becomes more central to people’s life and work, computers become both targets and tools of crime. This Act serves to ensure that misuse of computers is an offense.

What the Act is about:
The Act makes it an offense to:
 Enter or attempt to enter into computers and computer systems without authorization;
 Damage or alter data/information in computers or computer systems by planting viruses or other means;
 Aid others in committing the above two offences;
 Give passwords to people who are not authorized to receive it.
 Communications and Multimedia Act
Why the Act exists:
 Convergence of technologies is driving convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, computing and content.
 Previously, each of these industries was regulated by several different pieces of legislation
 The old regulatory framework cannot cope with convergence and inhibits the growth of the new converged industry.
 Communications and Multimedia Act
What the Act is about:
 The CMA provides for a restructuring of the converged ICT industry.
 Creates a new system of licenses and defines the roles and responsibilities of those providing communication and multimedia services
 Provides for the existence of the Communication and Multimedia Commission, the new regulatory authority
 Policy Objectives of CMA


To establish Malaysia as a major global hub for C&M information and content services;
To promote a civil society where information based services would enhance the quality of life.

To grow and nurture local information resources and cultural representation that facilitate national identity and global diversity.

To regulate for the long-term benefit of the end user

Future Cyberlaws must recognise the people development component and crucial for a K-Economy.The existing Cyberlaws created the necessary impact but constant review is necessary.

#9 Legal and ethical issues in Computing

Legal and Ethical Issues in Computer Security

Why Laws
The laws of computer security affect programmers, designers, users, and maintainers of computing systems and computerised data banks.
These laws provide protection, but they also regulate the behaviour of people who use computers.

Before recommending change, however, professionals must understand the current state of computers and the law.

Objectives of Understanding Legal Section

Therefore, there are three motivations for studying the legal section
– to know what protection the law provides for computers and data;
– to appreciate laws that protect the rights of others with respect to computers, programs, and data; and
– to understand existing laws as a basis for recommending new laws to protect computers, data, and people.
Protecting Programs and Data

• Copyrights
Copyrights are designed to protect the expression of ideas. Thus, a copyright applies to a creative work, such as a story, photograph, song, or pencil sketch. The right to copy an expression of an idea is protected by a copyright.

Copyright gives the author/programmer exclusive right to make copies of the expression and sell them to the public. That is, only the author can sell copies of the author’s book (except, of course, for booksellers or others working as the agents of the author).

Copyrights for Computer Works

Can a computer program be copyrighted?
YES. The algorithm is the idea, and the statements of the programming language are the expression of the idea.
Therefore, protection is allowed for the program statements themselves, but not for the design: copying the code intact is prohibited, but reimplementing the algorithm is permitted.


Patents
Patents are unlike copyrights in that they protect inventions, not works of the mind.

The distinction between patents and copyrights is that patents were intended to apply to the results of science, technology, and engineering, whereas copyrights were meant to cover works in the arts, literature, and written scholarship.
Patents - Computer Objects
The patent has not encouraged patents of computer software.
For a long time, computer programs were seen as the representation of an algorithm was a fact of nature, which is not subject to patent.
There was a case on a request to patent a process for converting decimal numbers into binary. The Supreme Court rejected the claim, saying it seemed to attempt to patent an abstract idea, in short, an algorithm. But the underlying algorithm is precisely what most software developers would like to protect.

Trade Secret

A trade secret is information that gives one company a competitive edge over others. For example, the formula for a soft drink is a trade secret, as is a mailing list of customers, or information about a product due to be announced in a few months.
The distinguishing characteristic of a trade secret is that it must always be kept secret. The owner must take precautions to protect the secret, such as storing it in a safe, encrypting it in a computer file, or making employees sign a statement that they will not disclose the secret.

Comparisons

Employers hire employees to generate ideas and make products. Thus, the protection offered by copyrights, patents, and trade secrets applies to the idea and products.
However, considering the issue of who owns the ideas and products is much more complex.


Why Computer Crime is Hard to Define?


Understanding
Neither courts, lawyers, police agents, nor jurors necessarily understand computers.
Fingerprints
Polices and courts for years depended on tangible evidence, such as fingerprints. But with many c omputer crimes there simply are no fingerprints, no physical clues.
Form of Assets
We know what cash is, or diamonds, or even negotiable securities. But are 20 invisible magnetic spots really equivalent to a million dollars?
Juveniles
Many computer crimes involve juveniles. Society understands immaturity and can treat even very serious crimes by juveniles as being done with less understanding than when the same crime is committed by an adult.


Type of Crimes Committed

Telecommunications Fraud

It is defined as avoiding paying telephone charges by misrepresentation as a legitimate user.
Embezzlement
It involves using the computer to steal or divert funds illegally.
Hacking
It denotes a compulsive programmer or user who explores, tests, and pushes computers and communications system to their limits - often illegal activities.
Automatic Teller Machine Fraud
It involves using an ATM machine for a fraudulent activity - faking deposits, erasing withdrawals, diverting funds from another person’s account through stolen PIN numbers.
Records Tampering
It involves the alteration, loss, or destruction of computerised records.
Acts of Disgruntled Employees
They often use a computer for revenge against their employer.
Child Pornography and Abuse
They are illegal or inappropriate arts of a sexual nature committed with a minor or child, such as photographing or videotaping.

What are Ethics?
Society relies on ethics or morals to prescribe generally accepted standards of proper behaviour.

An ethic is an objectively defined standard of right and wrong within a group of individuals.
These ethics may influence by religious believe. Therefore, through choices, each person defines a personal set of ethical practices.

A set of ethical principles is called and ethical system.


Differences of The Law and Ethics


Firstly, laws apply to every one, even you do not agree with the laws. However, you are forced to respect and obey the laws.
Secondly, there is a regular process through the courts for determining which law supersedes which if two laws conflict.
Thirdly, the laws and the courts identify certain actions as right and others as wrong. From a legal standpoint, anything that is not illegal is right.
Finally, laws can be enforced, and there are ways to rectify wrongs done by unlawful behaviour.