Unit 1 of Cyber Law (syllabus: Module I — why a cyber law was needed; the Act’s extent and its application to offences committed outside India; electronic records and electronic contracts; attribution, acknowledgement and despatch; and the documents the Act does not apply to). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- Why was a separate law needed once commerce moved onto a wire?
- What is electronic commerce, what are its characteristics, and what models does it take?
- How does the Act make an electronic record the legal equal of paper, and what does section 9 refuse to give?
- What does section 10A do for an electronic contract, and what does it not do?
- What is the difference between a click-wrap, a shrink-wrap and a browse-wrap contract?
- When and where is a contract made by electronic communication formed?
- To whom is an electronic record attributed, and what follows if no acknowledgment of receipt arrives?
- Which documents will the Act not let go electronic?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. Long title and preamble
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. Long title; s. 2(1)
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 4 to 9
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 10A
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 10A; Indian Contract Act, 1872
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 13, read with ss. 4 and 10A
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 11 and 12
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 1(4) and (5); First Schedule
Leading cases
Full case summaries
- Bhagwandas Goverdhandas Kedia v. M/s Girdharilal Parshottamdas & Co. (1965)
- Trimex International FZE Ltd. Dubai v. Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. (2010)
- Entores — the English rule on instantaneous communication