Cyber Defamation
2013-10-22Dr. Harold D'Costa
CEO- Intelligent Quotient Security System,
Sr. Consultant & Trainer
(Maharastra & Goa Police)
With cyber threat looming across the world and the exponential increase in cybercrimes, one of the most pivotal crimes grown is cyber slandering or cyber defamation. With no proper rules and regulations set in the domain of freedom of speech in the cyber world, there are some websites, which are taking undue advantage of it.
Cyber defamation is a crime conducted in cyberspace mostly through the medium of Internet with an aim to defame a person or a company. With increasing use of Internet around the globe, the graph of cyber defamation has shown a growth of almost 52% in 2013 as compared to 2012. Defamation is basically causing injury to the reputation of a person or a company using false statements or actions. Defamation is considered to be a crime in almost all the countries of the world including India.
In the last 6 months there were several cases of defamatory contents being posted on www.consumercomplaints.in. In one of the complaint / query received by us was one of the well-known organization related to health fitness in Pune. The complaint was that there were defamatory and derogative contents posted by ex-employee of the organization. The company summoned the ex-employee and on enquiry it was found that he had never posted any contents and his name and identity was misused to post obscene contents on the website. The contents posted were not only related to professional disputes but also very obscene personal information related to a lady working in the organization. The contents posted almost resulted in the lady committing suicide.
Sites such as comsumercomplaints.in are badly damaging the reputation of the organization as well as creating professional and personal disputes between individuals and organizations. These sites never moderate or authenticate the contents posted on the website. They imbide confidence in the mind of the person posting the contents that they shall help them in sorting the matter with the offender but in reality it is not so. In India there is a law applicable to every web service provider to check and authenticate the contents before it is being posted. The service provider is liable for its negligence and can be booked for cyber defamation landing the officialsof the website into jail for a period up to 3 years and also monetary punishment. Many of the posters are of the opinion that sites such as consumercomplaints.in is an government organization but in reality it is not so. The server of this website is registered in US and any legal action against them as to be initiated through Interpol.
If you are victimized through such sites then you should do the following:
• Note down the website name and the link
• Write email to the administrator for removing the contents
• Approach the police and lodge a complaint with the website name and the link
• Don’t forget to take the print out of the pages before approaching the police
What law enforcement agencies should do?
• Register an offence
• Communicate with the website administrator for removal of the contents
• Seek details of the offender who has posted the contents. Ask for IP address, date and time of posting the content, Email id or mobile number, which was used by the offender to post the contents. If the details are not provided within a stipulated time or if the data is not maintained then the owner / administrator of the website will have to pay a compensation of up to 5 Crores to the victim affected.
• Summon the owner / website administrator and seek explanation about the contents being posted
• The website and the offender can also be booked under 66(A) of Information Technology Act under which up to 3 years of imprisonment could be awarded
• Get in touch with CERT-IN with a request for removal of such type of websites
What common citizens should do?
• Never believe in the contents being posted on such websites
• No contents posted are being moderated therefore the validity and the legality of these websites are not admissible in the court of law
• If any contents posted by you are found to be objectionable then you could be booked and necessary actions could be initiated
• None of these websites are governed and monitored by government officials
• Your competitor could misuse your name or a personal grudge could be taken against you. In such a case make a complaint and give to the police about your identity being misused.
Why sites such as consumercomplaints.in are mushrooming?
• Making lot of money through advertisements endorsed on the website
• There is a big money making racket. Group websites are there which claim that they can remove the derogative contents at a cost. These websites are hand in glove with the parent website
• Get a huge brand for themselves.
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