On Monday, Union Minister of Information and Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw advocated for a new "dynamic" legal structure that balances the right to privacy and freedom of expression with the need for rules and control to address issues posed by unscrupulous groups in cyberspace.
The minister, speaking at the CBI's second national conference on cyber crime investigations and digital forensics, said that while technology has increased productivity, efficiency, and convenience, it has also introduced intrusions into people's lives, some of which are benign but most of the time are malignant and aimed at committing a fraudulent act.
He believes that legal strategy, technology, organisations, capacity building, and mutual cooperation can all help to solve this challenge.
Mr Vaishnaw, speaking about the country's legal strategy to combat cybercrime, said the country's legal system needs to be completely overhauled.
"Any incremental modifications, in my opinion, will not help. The transformation must be significant, fundamental, and structural "he stated
He claims that this is where the conflict arises between two constraints: the first, the right to privacy and freedom of expression, and the second, the conflicting demand for more regulation and control, in order to "prevent fraudulent activities in the guise of right to privacy and freedom of expression." While one half of society believes that the right to privacy and freedom of expression are sacred and that no one should be permitted in such areas, the other section believes that restrictions and control and there has to be a balance between two demands that society has to strike, he said.
He claims that the world has changed profoundly since Covid, and that the way people think has changed as well, and that a balance is now being restored in society's cognitive processes.
Citing the examples of South Korea, Australia, the United States, and the European Union, he stated that a large number of legal and societal interventions are currently taking place in order to restore the balance between the right to privacy on the one hand and the need for regulation on the other.
He stated that the legal system must be a whole new legal structure that is dynamic, in sync with the times, and addresses the goals of our generations, as well as holding people accountable on social media and keeping people away who wish to steal away hard-earned funds.
"All of that is part of that larger regulatory system that needs to be modernised," he explained.
The minister also awarded 12 CBI officers the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and two CBI officials the Extraordinary Intelligence Medal.
Director CBI Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, speaking earlier at the conference, said that due to advancements in the field of information technology, it is the cyber criminal who takes the first step with an innovative mode of operation, and law enforcement agencies generally follow cyber criminals with newer tools to track them.
He asked for more international cooperation between law enforcement authorities from different countries to combat the activities of cyber criminals all around the world.