Cyber crime and its Impact

Introduction Kerala has made significant strides in information and communication technology (ICT) as an instrument for the States overall development. The State has core strengths to emerge as leader in the area of ICT. Keralas traditional advantages like total literacy and high density of telecom usage make it a fertile ground for ICT to thrive. Seventy percent of Indias data traffic flows through Kochi. With international bandwidth availability of SEAME-WE 3 and SAFE, Kochi continues to be the bandwidth surplus city in the region, improving the prospects of setting up bandwidth intensive services in the State. It is estimated that about 80,000 people are directly or indirectly employed in ICT related activities in the State. Government of Kerala has launched projects such as Akshaya, FRIENDS, IT @ School etc. aiming at providing e-Governance and e-Education. These reforms primarily paved the way for improved delivery of essential services to citizens in terms of transaction enabled information and communication, particularly to the disadvantaged sections of the society. Broadly, the State has been experiencing powerful impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in reshaping organizations and social relations. They have acquired the positive outcomes of ICTs, facilitated by decentralized communication networks. However, we could chatracterise them as being inherently good or bad. The consequences of the use of ICT depend on motives, action and strategies adopted by users too. i.e., the use of ICTs has resulted in a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, it provides tools and mechanisms for citizens to voice their aspirations and concerns effectively. On the other hand, it has brought in a plethora of issues like cyber crimes and manipulation of information technology for terrorism that causes weakening of the institutions in the society and proliferation of harmful activities. Today, there are many disturbing things happening in cyber space. It is possible to engage in a variety of criminal activities with impunity and people with intelligence have been grossly misusing this aspect of the internet to perpetuate criminal activities in cyber space. Because of the anonymous nature of the Cyber tools, no one has a firm comprehension about the socio-economic and legal impact of the cyber crimes and manipulation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) According to the National Crimes Records Bureau statistics, around 46 percent of cyber crimes were related to incidents of cyber pornography. And it is revealed that the number of cyber crimes doubles with each passing year. In our state, sixty-seven cases were registered in 2008. Besides, a fear lurks in the minds of all concerned that a high-tech criminal functions at the frontier of the technology. Interestingly, it is to be recalled that the first cyber crimes conviction - email threat message to the President of India -occurred in Kerala. Such harmful activities will definitely be intellectually superior to an ordinary cyber technology practitioner.