TECHNOLOGY LAW

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LAW concerns the law of information technology, including computing and the internet.

Technology law is perhaps the hottest , most in –demand branch of the legal profession today . you may not have  heard about it , but tech law helps keep you and your  information safe . it also ensures a fair and competitive market place for seller and buyer, and may soon provide answer to some of modern society biggest  question, such as robotics and artificial intelligence. So, with that in mind , here’s  what you need to know about technology law.

The information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA – 2000, or the IT Act) is an act of the Indian Parliament (no.21 of 2000) notified on 17 October 2000. It is the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce. 

Technology law  is the  body of law that governs the use of technology . It is an area of law  that oversees both public and private use of technology. The practice of technology law can mean a lot of different thing depending on  whether  the attorney works for the  government or works in private industry. 

A BOON OR A BANE

The scope of technology is multiplying day by day. With each passing day, humans are coming up with newer methods to use technology to benefit them and to make their life easy. Technology is giving rise to many new things like E-Payment , E- shopping, E-courts, E-filings, E- classroom, virtual offices, block chain  , cloud computing and  many more.

More developments give rise to more scope and newer  ways of  committing crimes. Such crimes have to be bought  under legal regulation and punishments for crimes have to be established . This needs a lot  of understanding of Technology and predicting all the possible methods  of committing crimes.

The point to be noted here is, all these new technological developments  are not well regulated in India and even across the globe. Not much has been achieved so far to bring all these  aspects and developments in technology under the legal purview. This is not good since it gives ample space to the criminals to  commit crimes and get away with it or with being sentenced to a frivolous punishment. This encourages  more and more  and more  technology related crimes. Crimes committed by using technology as a medium is known Cybercrime and the law governing them are known as cyber law. 

In India, the meaning of the ‘Cyber Crime’ is not defined in the Information Technology Act , 2000. It is not defined  in any of the legislation in India. The information technology act 2000 is  only law that majorly   deals  with  technology and its related issues. 

WHAT DOES  TECHNOLOGY LAW INCLUDE ?

Technology law also focuses on INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, a complex branch of the legal system that deals  with disputes over who  ‘owns’ intangible ‘property’ . such as creative works, patents, copyright and trade secrets.

The main focus for technology law is software licensing. For many large and small businesses, computer software is a critical past of maintaining their service and satisfied customer. But as  technology evolves, so does  the software. This forces businesses  into updating their existing programs or sourcing costly  alternatives which inevitably disrupt their commercial  activities.

There are lot of career opportunities for anyone with a degree in technology law. One of the more  traditional routes is securing a role  in a private firm which specializes in tech law. You will then guide and represent clients, helping them to seek solution to their digital problems. This varied and interesting role could  involve advising companies on new  legislation, making sure they stay compliant at all times.  Alternatively, you may find yourself  supporting them through a legal dispute or even representing their interests in a courtroom.

Other graduates go on to work for charities , government organizations, or the regulating bodies that write the rule book  for the digital space . banking is the another popular career choice for tech lawyers.  Since the crash of 2008 and the revelation surrounding some rather dubious practices , bank and other financial institute are under huge pressure to protect their customer ‘s interest and personal information .

CSO ONLINE REPORTS hacks and data thefts, made possible by insufficient  security , cover-ups ,or avoidable mistakes have cost firms  a whopping $ 1.23 billion and counting.  Given much is at stake for companies , they are more than willing to pay high salaries to the right people in the field of technology law.

Studying  technology law is a great option for anyone looking to build an interesting , varied, and  well paid career. It’s  also one of the fastest growing areas  of the legal profession and is set to play the fundamental role in what the future will look like. So if you want to have you say, get enrolled in a program before the start of the next  academic year…

IS TECHNOLOGY LAW AND CYBER LAW IS SAME ?

There is no difference between the two. The Act itself  deals with the cyber issues including use of a computer  and an online platform and causing harm. Thus the cybercrimes are a part of the IT Act. The cyber aspects are dealt by the act itself. 

  Information Technology  law  is a transactional based practice   that addresses  the issues that arise when companies  develop , license, acquire,  or sell information technology and computer related product services.  

But cyber law is the part of overall legal system that deals with internet , cyberspace , and their respective legal issues. Cyber law covers a fairly broad area , encompassing several subtopics including freedom of expression , access to and usage of the internet  and online privacy.  

Technology law is all about  regulating the smooth running of technology users through a law. It is the law regulates the activities of the technology space. Thus,  technology law includes financial  technology laws, crypto currency  regulations, digital rights laws, block chain laws.

 GROWTH OF TECHNOLOGY LAW 

MOORE’S LAW refers to Gordon  Moore’s perception that  the number  of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, though  the cost of computer  is halved.  Moore’s law states that we can expect the speed and capability of our computers to increase every couple of years, and we will pay less for them.

In 1965, Gordon E. Moore, the co- founder  of Intel, made this observation that become known as Moore’s law. Another tenet of Moore’s law says that the growth of microprocessors is exponential.

Moore ‘s law is based on empirical observations made by Moore. The doubling every year of the number of transistors on a microchip was extrapolated from observed data.

Over time , the details of Moore’s law were amended to better  reflect actual growth of transistor density. The doubling interval was first increased to two years and then decreased to about 18 months.  The exponential nature of Moore’s law  continued , however, creating decades of significant opportunity for the semiconductor industry . The true exponential nature of Moore’s law is illustrated by the   Moore’s. 

Semiconductor process technology has always increased in complexity. This phenomenon has been the “innovation  engine” that Moore’s law . In recent times, complexity increases have been accelerating . transistors are now three- dimensional  devices that exhibit counter- intuitive  behaviors.  The extremely small feature size of advance process technologies has required multiple exposures to accurately  reproduce these feature on a silicon wafer. This has added substantial complexity to the design process.

All these complexity has essentially “slowed down” Moore’s law. Moving to a  new process node is still an option , but the extreme complexity and cost of doing so has slowed the pace of migration .  Furthermore, each  new process node is now delivering less dramatic result in terms of density, performance and power reduction.  The evolution of semiconductor process technology is reaching molecular limits, and this is slowing the exponential benefits of Moore’s law.

                               INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

 Information technology law is a transactional based practice that addresses the issues that arise when  companies develop, license, acquire ,or sell information technology and computer related products and services.  Specifically lawyer in this field typically  advise clients  regarding intellectual property , licensing, software , hardware, technology transfer , outsourcing, e-commerce, procurement, consulting service, internet , telecommunication , joint ventures, and strategic alliances in each case across a broad spectrum of  industries and technologies. Information technology lawyer also counsel clients on regulatory issues involving information technology such as export compliance , data security  and domestic and international privacy regulation , directives and standard.

 Clients typically are users and providers of information technology, ranging from start up business or enterprises to large multinational corporations. The lawyer work with in house counsel and business  units to structure, draft, and negotiate agreements to meet the client’s needs and appropriately address commercial risk. The  agreement involve the development , commercialization , and exploitation of IT based assets and services and are typically between users and providers of IT products and services.

Lawyer in the IT fields help structure and negotiate license or purchase  agreement for   IT or e- commerce  resource a company needs to operate its business, both online and offline. These type of agreement  can be  software licenses agreement, software development agreement, software as a service  (SAAS) and cloud computing agreement, computer equipment purchase agreement, OEM agreements, and data and content acquisition licenses.

Information technology lawyer also help structure and negotiate third party  services agreement  needed to run a company’s IT infrastructure and operation . Example  of these type of agreements are hosting  agreements, hardware and software support and maintenance  agreement, system integration agreement , consulting services agreement, and outsourcing  agreement for a number of internal  IT functions, including data center management , application development and maintenance, desktop and device support , server management and telecommunication .

Finally , Information technology lawyers often structure and negotiate transactions that involve the commercialization and exploitation of  intellectual property. This can occur through joint ventures, strategic alliances, or the license or sale of intellectual property.

AREA OF IT  LAW

   Technology law  contain different type of purposes. Some laws create rules for how individual and companies use technology   for their growth. While some laws protect people from becoming the victims of crime through unscrupulous activities on the internet. The major areas of  IT law is ….

• FRAUD

Consumers depend on cyber laws to protect  them  online fraud. Laws are made to  prevent identify theft , credit card theft  and other financial crimes that  happen online. A person who commits identity  theft may face  confederate or state criminal  charges. They might also encounter a civil action  brought by a victim. Cyber lawyers work to both defend and prosecute against allegation  of fraud using the internet.

• COPYRIGHT

The internet has made copyright violation easier. In early days of online communication ,copyright violation is too easy . Both companies and individual need lawyers to bring actions to impose copyright protections. Copyright violation is an area of cyber law or IT law  that protects the right of individual  and companies to profit from their own creative works.

• DEFAMATION

Several personnel use the internet to speak their mind. When people use the internet to say things that are not true , it can cross the line into defamation. Defamation laws are civil laws that save individual life from fake public statement  that can harm  a business or someone’s personal reputation.

• HARASSMENT AND STALKING

Some times online statements can violate criminal laws that forbid harassment and stalking . when a person makes  threatening statement  again and again about  someone  else online, there is  violation of both  civil  and criminal laws. Cyber lawyers  both prosecute and defend people when stalking occurs using the internet  and other forms of electronic communication.

• FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Freedom of speech is an important area of cyber law. Even through cyber laws forbid certain behavior  online, freedom of speech  laws also allow people to speak their minds. Cyber lawyers must advise their clients on the limits of free speech including laws that prohibit  obscenity.  Cyber lawyers may also defend their clients when there is a debate about whether their action consist of permissible free speech.

• TRADE SECRETS

Companies doing businesses online often depend on cyber laws to protect their trade secrets.  Google and other online search engines  spend lot of time developing the algorithms that produce  search results. They also spend a great deal of time developing other features like maps, intelligent assistance and flight search service to name a  few.  Information technology law help these  companies  to take legal action as necessary in order  to protect their trade secrets.

• CONTRACT AND EMPLOYEMENT LAW

Every time we click button that say you  agree to the terms and condition of using  a website, we have used IT law. There  are terms and condition for every website that are somehow related to privacy concerns.

ADVANTAGES OF TECHNOLOGY LAW

• Promotion of fair hearing

The use of modern computer and printer  makes the preparation of process   a lot easier and faster. While being easier and faster , ample time is provided for parties to prepare and file  their process , and in addition to the frontloading system, the rate at which parties ambush the other is reduce. Also with the invention of IT  and medias, counsel from all side can  easily relay  information to the other counsel and to the registrars court where mobility does not permit.

• Easier and faster dispensation   of trials

When lawyers do their cases orally while the court records every bit of their  oral contentions. This development is still traceable to the emergence and use of typewriters and computer of typing.  Motion are rather documented and filed as opposed to having the record of motion being presented orally . Judges also make use of computers to prepare  ruling and judgment as opposed to the use of  typewriters which is more strenuous to use, consumes more time and has poor accuracy output.

• Easy  assessment of reports 

Technology, court reports , ruling and judgment can be obtained  via online mean. First law report can be ordered via online  at the buyer’s comfort.

In some jurisdiction reports can now be assessed online n a readable format. This benefit the lawyer in particular and of course  other member of the society that may be interested in assessing judicial reports. This also contribute to the development of law.

• Establishing of evidence

The emergency of technology has made it a lot easier to establish  evidence in furtherance of a case. This necessitates the principle of electronic evidence.

Evidence now can be generated by the use of technology  and such evidence is admissible in court. Electronically generated evidence are always cogent and compelling. It actually  helps the court in arriving at manifest justice.

• Decongestion of the court and offices 

When technological  media  are adopted for filing of processes and  where E- proceeding is adopted , it guarantees speedy trials and easier  dispensation of justice.  By this court and offices are decongested.

• Communication between  lawyers , client and registrars

Technology makes it easier for information to be transmitted and  received between lawyers, clients  and  judges. 

• Documentation

The risk of mere physical  documentation , technology can be employed to document and back up record such as court judgment, case files, affidavits, wills and agreements and so on.

• Finance and accounting

The legal industry is a revenue generating one.  In addition or dispensation with manual records, track records of  income  revenue, profits , losses and all financial transaction being carried out  by the law firms.

• Reminder software

Software  can be used by law firm to set reminders as to when the cases  being handle by them are coming up  to the court. This saves lot of havoc  from occurring.

• Increased transparency

There used to be a distrust people hold against lawyers because of  how they complicate seemingly trivial matters for their clients . This has made clients doubt  every lawyer they meet.

• Collaboration among lawyers

Lawyer can now work together on case alternatively and simultaneously with ease with  just one document. Tool like Google Docs, Microsoft teams , slack etc. helps lawyers in a different locations work  remotely on cases,  saving the cost of transport and paper.

DRAWBACKS OF TECHNOLOGY LAW

• Risk of corruption of  cyber insecurity 

Documentation by the use of technology stands  the risk of hacking and corruption of files. Where the documentation is through online means, it stand the risk of cyber insecurity.

• Cost

The cost of acquisition and maintenance of gadgets and data is not always affordable.

• Requirement of skilled person 

Another possible drawback is the use of technology requires skilled personnel.

CONCLUSION

What technology is basically use to reduce the input the physical man power. It however  requires the input of human brain  and intelligence. The relevance of technology in the field of law cannot be overemphasized for it has contributed immensely to the rapid growth of law.