Month: February 2010

Cell phone use is out of control. Mobile phones ring at weddings, funerals, movie theaters, you name it. Everywhere you go: elevators, banks, libraries, airports, you are forced to overhear all sorts of conversations and arguments. Not only that is annoying but disturbing and rude.

Some people answer their cell phone for personal  or irrelevant matters in the middle of  work, presentations and lessons. Today people are defining new rules in what is personal and what is not. The boundaries between the intimate and public are constantly changing.

A lot of people agree that the worst cell phone habit is having loud conversations in public. Cell phones are great to stay connected and at reach but users sometimes people lose perspective of themselves and of their surroundings.

There should be a cell phone use etiquette such as with emails. While there are some folks who cannot miss a call, for example expectant fathers, almost everyone can turn the vibrate option or silent mode when in a meeting.

Here are some useful advices:

Never answer a cell phone call during a business meeting, presentation or lecture. Maintain a 10 foot zone from anyone when talking. Never talk in elevators, libraries, cemeteries, theaters, waiting rooms, places of worship or in other enclosed public spaces such as buses. Don’t have any emotional conversations in public -please. Don’t use loud and annoying ringtones. You are not a teenager looking for attention anymore. Don’t talk while shopping, driving, standing in line or banking. Use an earpeace in public areas so you can modulate your voice. Inform the person you are calling you are talking on a mobile phone so they can expect disconnections and distractions.

One of the biggest additions to any room in the house has got to be the carpet. However it’s also considered one of the biggest dirt magnets around. That doesn’t mean that it’s not a worthwhile investment though. Instead, it just requires proper carpet care to keep it clean, chic and attractive.

Now, vacuuming is probably the most preferred method of getting dust off a carpet. If the carpet is found in an often used room however, this may prove to be a little difficult to do. If you’re faced with this predicament, vacuuming once a week is fine. If you have wall to wall carpeting in the room, split it up into quadrants and clean them one by one. Every few weeks, just take extra time to clear up hard to reach places like radiators and backboards so that the grime doesn’t build up there.

In the event that the dirt has gotten deep into the carpet fibers, the next best form of carpet care is to steam clean your carpet. This can be done either by a professional carpet cleaner or with the use of a deep cleaning machine. Do this every six months to a year to avoid deep seated dirt and grime that can ruin your carpet for good.

Then there are the inevitable stains. Keep paper towels or a rag nearby so that in the event of a stain, you can blot it out quickly and prevent the moisture from seeping in. Never use a hair dryer or an iron to dry up a stain as it will only make a permanent mark on the rug. Whatever you do, don’t rub on the stain either as it’ll just cause a smear. Instead, try using water or diluted vinegar to take the stain out. It’s much more economical and it won’t damage the fibers on the carpet. If the stain is particularly stubborn, get a damp cloth and weigh it with something heavy overnight to absorb most of the spill before cleaning.

For particularly stubborn stains, mold and mildew, go for non-chlorine bleach or lemon juice and salt. If the fabric is white, brush it with a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water. Using a mild cleaning product is best as it doesn’t harm that carpet material. Leave the harsher chemicals for only the most obstinate of stains.

If you prefer to use chemical-based cleaners as opposed to home remedies, remember to read the label and follow the instructions carefully. This also goes for if you’re trying out a new gadget to remove them. Keep in mind that one wrong step might end up just doing more damage.

Lastly, remember that prevention is always the best carpet cleaning tip to keep not just a carpet but anything clean. I’d suggest using an entrance mat, one for outside the house to get the bigger pieces of dirt off people’s shoes, and one for inside the house so that people can get conscious about the dirt that they’re tracking in. This way, guests are given the proper time to remove their shoes and resort to slippers.

Many small businesses previously run on a local scale are now global because of smarter use of computer technologies. Their enterprises were based on sound business ideas, but their businesses were running on a small scale. By integrating their business plans with smarter use of computer technologies, they have made big.  While their business plan remained the same, only better application of computer technologies made them global.

You are already a successful businessman running your business in your local territory. Now, if you can deliver your business products or services by using smart interactive latest computer technologies, you can easily deliver your products or services globally. It is not that difficult.

Today, you may be a budding entrepreneur with a promising business idea. You too have to look for newer and smarter ways for integrating your promising business idea with latest computer technologies of today. Today, in a good information technology forum, you find all the resources and information that you need to develop your own tailor-made computer applications. Today, globalization and computer technology together can make your business grow very big. At this point, it may appear somewhat crazy to some of your friends. Online information technology forum can be your place of frequent visit where you will constantly find fresh chunk of new computer technology related ideas.

If you are part of a SMEs, you should explore newer computer technology solutions that will help you deliver your products or services in improved ways. It can be by using more of online cheap services. For instance, if you are a quality text-book publisher for students, you can consider of e-delivery of your text books to your customers. In this way, you will meet the learning needs of your customer students much better as well as save your own cost.

Today, e-delivery of books allows students to access learning inputs in various flexible ways. They can opt to take a hard copy from their computer printer. They can also use contents in their classroom PC monitor as and when required. Moreover, it will save them from taking text books physically to different locations if they have their laptop or PC available. You can try such a business model in consultation with your financial analyst and technical support consultant at your information technology forum. This will give you the bigger picture.

If you are more interested in serving community than just making money, today you can make a powerful contribution to the society by delivering your products and services in a more cost-efficient way through internet. There are many social entrepreneurs today who are using a good  information technology forum  and computer technology exactly for this.

Referring a good online information technology forum will help you to know how you can market your business products or services making most of Web 2.0 technologies.  You should explore your own ways of using fast, interactive Web 2.0 computer technologies such as Really Simple Syndication (RSS). RSS is an easy way to distribute a list of headlines, update notices, and web-based contents to a wide audience. It can make your communication system very fast. Webcasting using tools such as Elluminate and Instant Presenter is yet another innovation. These are only some of the latest in computer technology tools that you should explore for your own customized plan.

You too can now make your small business grow global. A good  technical support plan drawing upon sound information technology forum strategies can give you many times more business revenue. Your net profit will be phenomenal.

 

Indian Approach towards the Fight against Cyber Crime

INTRODUCTION

 

Internet in India is growing rapidly. It has given rise to new opportunities in every field we can think of, be it entertainment, business, sports or education. Internet also has its own disadvantages. One of the major disadvantages is Cybercrime – illegal activity committed on the internet. The internet, along with its advantages, has also exposed citizens to security risks that come with connecting to a large network. Computers today are being misused for illegal activities like e-mail espionage, credit card fraud, spam’s, software piracy and so on; criminal activities in the cyberspace are on the rise. As the cases of cybercrime grow, there is a growing need to prevent them.

Legislation   

 

Information Technology Act (IT Act) 2000

 

The government of India introduced the Information Technology Act, on 17th October 2000. Information Technology Act (IT Act) 2000, is the India’s only cyber law. The IT Act is aimed to provide legal recognition for transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly referred to as “electronic commerce”.

 

India has done a good job by enacting a cyber law. It is the 12th country of the world having a cyber law. It covers areas like e-governance, e-commerce, cyber contraventions and cyber offences.

Information Technology ACT 2000 Effects in Combating Cyber Crime

 

According to Section 75 of the Act, the Act applies to any offence or contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of his nationality, if such act involves a computer, computer system or network located in India. The IT Act prescribes provisions for contraventions in Chapter IX of the Act, particularly Section 43 of the Act, which covers unauthorized access, downloading, introduction of virus, denial of access and internet time theft committed by any person. It prescribes punishment by way of damages not exceeding Rs. 1 crore to the affected party. Chapter XI of the IT Act discusses the cyber crimes and offences interalia, tampering with computer source documents (Sec. 65), Hacking (Sec.66), publishing of obscene information (Sec.67), unauthorized access to protected system (Sec.70), breach of confidentiality (Sec.72), publishing false digital signature certificate (Sec.73).

The implications of IT Act 2000 provisions for the e-businesses would be that email would now be a valid and legal form of communication in India that can be duly produced and approved in a court of law. Companies shall now be able to carry out electronic commerce using the legal infrastructure provided by the Act. Digital signatures have been given legal validity and sanction in the Act. The IT Act also addresses the important issues of security, which are so critical to the success of electronic transactions.

One of the first cases where the accused was convicted under the IT Act provisions was the case of State of Tamilnadu V. Suhas Kutty. The case related to posting of obscene, defamatory and annoying message about a divorcee woman in the yahoo message group. E-Mails were also forwarded to the victim for information by the accused through a false e-mail account opened by him in the name of the victim. The posting of the message resulted in annoying phone calls to the lady in the belief that she was soliciting. The accused was found guilty of offences under section 469, 509 IPC and 67 of IT Act 2000 and the accused was convicted and was sentenced for the offence to undergo RI for 2 years under 469 IPC and to pay fine of Rs.500/-and for the offence under Section 509 IPC sentenced to undergo 1 year Simple imprisonment and to pay fine of Rs.500/- and for the offence under Section 67 of IT Act 2000 to undergo RI for 2 years and to pay fine of Rs.4000/-.

Eight years have passed since the act was enacted and in these eight year’s technology has changed at a much faster pace. Though law cannot possibly be expected to keep pace with changes in technology, still there are few areas in the current cyber laws which need some attention.

Some Important Shortcomings of the Information Technology Act, 2000

 

Pornography

The term ‘pornography’ when used in relation to an offence is not defined in any statutes in India. But Section 67 of the IT Act lays down the law that obscenity is an offence when it is published or transmitted or caused to be published in any electronic form. The expressions, ‘publishing’ or ‘transmission’ have not been specifically defined under the IT Act.

 

Even the punishment for pornography is not sufficient in India and in the proposed amendment in IT Act the imprisonment is being reduced to two years from the present five year imprisonment. Though legislations worldwide contain severe provisions for child pornography there is no mention of child pornography in the Indian Act. It is interesting to note down that the Information Technology Act prohibits publishing of pornography but viewing of pornography is not an offence under the act.

 

Data Protection in Internet Banking

 

The Information Technology Act talks about unauthorized access but it does not talk about maintaining integrity of customer transactions. The act does not lay down any duty upon banks to protect the details of customers and clients. U.K has a data protection law which was enacted 10 years back that is in 1998 under which banks or any person holding sensitive information may be held liable for damages if it fails to maintain adequate security protection in respect of data.

 

Spamming

 

Recently the Government of India revealed that as much as 76 per cent of e-mails originating from India are spam’s, although the country accounts for only one per cent when compared with top 25 spam-producing nations. The business of spamming is not only lucrative but is also unregulated to a greater extent. The laws for the prevention of spam in India are missing. Even the IT Act, 2000 fails to address this issue.

 

USA and the European Union have already enacted anti spam legislation.

 

In the United States spam is legally permissible according to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 provided it follows certain criteria. If the spam fails to comply with any of these requirements, then it is illegal.

 

Article 13 of the European Union Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC) provides that the EU member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that unsolicited communications for the purposes of direct marketing are not allowed either without the consent of the subscribers concerned or in respect of subscribers who do not wish to receive these communications, the choice between these options to be determined by National Legislation.

 

Identity Theft

 

The IT Act, 2000 does not have any specific provision to deal with Identity theft. It is clear that Indian politicians just do not understand the problem associated with personal identity theft that India employees of outsourcing firms commit. In the face of the controversy generated over leakage of personal information of UK customers through an Indian web marketing firm, prime minister of India has asked the Information and Technology department and industry association Nasscom to consult all stakeholders and give suggestions for changes in the existing laws and, if necessary, to ensure that any breach of secrecy, illegal transfer of commercial and other privileged information and any other form of cyber crime is made a punishable offence.

 

These are some of the important shortcomings of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Though an amendment was proposed in the Act in 2005, the bill has still not been passed and moreover the bill also fails to address these issues and shortcomings. It seems quite evident that by the time the bill is passed, it would have become obsolete and ineffective.

Challenges to Legislative Measures

 

Cyber law in India is in its infancy and is struggling hard to meet the contemporary Information and Communication Technology (ICT) requirements. ICT Trends in India-2006, ICT Trends in India-2007, Cyber Security Trends-2007, etc have proved that India has not paid enough attention to the legal framework for the information society and legal enablement of ICT systems in India. To worsen the situation we have a weak cyber and ICT security in India. Cyber and ICT security in India is an ‘ignored world’ and the same is not going to improve due to the faulty cyber security strategy of India. This precarious situation has lead to an insufficient critical ICT infrastructure protection in India. The critical ICT infrastructure protection and management in India have still not got the attention of government of India and private industry players. In short, the ICT strategy of India needs rejuvenation so that we may have a sound cyber law and effective ICT and cyber security.

 

To compound these problems, many victims of cybercrime are unwilling to file their cases with the authorities. The true magnitudes of cybercrime, as well as demographic statistics on perpetrators and victims, are unknown because most incidents of cybercrime go unreported. The reason behind this is that the victim is either scared of police harassment or wrong media publicity. For minority and marginalised groups who already bear the brunt of media bias, reporting online harassment to the police may simply draw further unwanted attention.

 

The good news is that, despite these limitations, cyber crimes are detected and culprits are being punished. In October 2002, the Delhi High Court restricted a person from selling pirated Microsoft software over an Internet auction site. Some of the big cities in India where cyber crime cells do exist, there is potential for improvement. There is an immense need for training, and more cities need to have such cells.

 

Conclusion

 

There is an urgent need for unification of internet laws to reduce the confusion in their application. For e.g. for publication of harmful contents or such sites, we have Indian Penal Code (IPC), Obscenity Law, Communication Decency law, self regulation, Information Technology Act 2000 ,Data Protection Act, Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code etc but as they deal with the subject vaguely therefore lacks efficient enforceability mechanism. Due to numerous Laws dealing with the subject there lays confusion as to their applicability, and none of the Law deals with the subject specifically in total. To end the confusion in applicability of Legislation picking from various laws to tackle the problem, i would suggest unification of laws by taking all the internet laws to arrive at Code which is efficient enough to deal with all the problems related to internet crimes. Although these legislations talk about the problem but they don’t provide an end to it. There’s need for a one Cyber legislation which is co-ordinated to look after cyber crimes in all respects. With passage of time and betterment of technology in the present date, has also resulted in numerous number of Information technology related crimes therefore changes are suggested to combat the problem equally fast.

Computer is becoming an integral part of our life in our growing world. It allows you to connect the world with the click of a mouse. Computer loan funding to provide financial support, you’re looking for a computer.

Computers are everywhere necessary, whether a home or your workplace. Even there is a huge demand for computers at school to give your children a better platform to learn new things. Popularity of computers has increased day by day and has already been more popular than television.

Computer financing is a loan for the purchase of computers. Computer financing came with an idea to allow everyone to have a computer. You can also use the computer to finance the modernization of your computer by adding new devices print, scan, improving the storage capacity or memory.
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