Unit 2 of Cyber Law (syllabus: Module II — digital and electronic signatures and their authentication; the Controller and the Certifying Authorities; subscribers’ duties; and the civil wrongs — damage to a computer, failure to protect data, and the adjudication of compensation). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- What is the difference between a digital signature and an electronic signature?
- How does a digital signature actually work, and what does it prove that a handwritten signature does not?
- When is an electronic signature reliable, and when is a record or a signature secure?
- Who is the Controller of Certifying Authorities, and what does he do?
- How is a Certifying Authority licensed, supervised, and stripped of its licence?
- Who bears the loss when a subscriber's private key is misused?
- What are the civil wrongs in section 43, and what makes them civil rather than criminal?
- When is a body corporate liable for a data breach under section 43A?
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. s. 2(1)(p), (ta), (tb), (zg); s. 3A
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 3; s. 2(1)(f), (x), (zh)
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 3A(2), 14, 15 and 16
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 17, 18 and 19
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 21 to 34
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 40, 40A, 41 and 42
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 43
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 43A