Ethical and Social Issues in ICT

Cyberlaw: The law which governs all the legal issues of cyberspace, controls cybercrime, provide legal status to online transaction, and covers several activities related to the internet is called cyber law.

Importance of cyber law:

1. To control cybercrime.
2. Mitigates misuse of technology.
3. To flourish the IT industry in the nation.
4. To legalize online transactions.
5. To adopt and use new and modern technology.

Cyber law in Nepal was introduced in 30th Bhadra 2061 BS (15th September 2004 AD). The name of the cyber law of Nepal is “Electronic Transaction and Digital Signature Act – Ordinance.

Provisions of cyber law of Nepal

1. Identify and punish cyber criminals.
2. Help to provide legal status to the IT industry.
3. Implementation of IT in governmental activities.
4. Monitors data privacy and misuse of technology.

Cyber ethics and crime

Computer ethics: The moral principles and values or the code of conduct that must be followed by every computer user are called computer ethics. Commandments of computer ethics.

1. Do not use a computer to commit crimes.
2. Always use computers for the welfare of human beings.
3. Don’t use a computer to steal data and files.
4. Don’t use computers to publish fake news and information.
5. Don’t use a computer to bear false witness.

Cybercrime: The criminal activity or a crime committed by using a computer, the internet, or any electronic means and media is called cybercrime. Cybercriminals are also considered a criminal hence, cyber law has the appropriate provision for punishing cyber criminals. For eg, piracy, hacking, cyberbullying, phishing, salami saving, pornography, data diddling, spreading computer viruses, etc.

Terms to understand:

1. Intellectual property right: The law through which the creation(music, art, writings, etc) made by the creator gets an actual reward and not being misused without proper compensation.
2. Patent right: The law through which the inventor protects his/her invention(technological) from being used without proper compensation.
3. Digital signature: It is the technology used to ensure the correct delivery of messages over a network. It uses private and public keys for the encryption and decryption of data.
4. Encryption: The feature by which readable data and messages are converted into unreadable code and vice versa is called decryption.
5. Trade mark: The sign or symbol used to represent a brand.
6. Trade secret: The main secret principle or philosophy of running a unique business.
7. Hacker: The person who enters another system without proper authorization.