ITV

Tag: NCRB

  • Home ministry working on ‘cyber crime prevention’ project

    NEW DELHI: The Parliament was told today that the home ministry is executing a project on Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC), which will also act as specialised central institutional mechanism for online cyber crime reporting platform particularly cyber crime against women and children.

    Minister of state for electronics and information technology P P Chaudhary said that no study had been done the point made by the questioner about rampant misuse of social media by paedophiles and sex offenders to intimidate and harass women and children.

    However, the minister said the data maintained by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) showed a total of 749 and 792 cases were registered under publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form (section 67 & 67A IT of Act) and a total of 5 and 8 cases were registered under publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form (section 67B IT of Act) during 2014-2015.

    In addition, a total of 40 cases in 2014 and 94 cases in 2015 were registered under Sections 14 & 15 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

    He said cyber world is anonymous and universally available. Most of the child pornographic websites are hosted from outside India. INTERPOL maintains and updates list of “worst of list” on extreme child sexual abuse.

    The Government periodically blocks this list shared by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the national crime bureau of INTERPOL. More than 3000 such websites/URLs have been blocked so far.

    Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 has provisions for removal of objectionable online content. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011 notified under section 79 of the IT Act require that the Intermediaries shall observe due diligence while discharging their duties and shall inform the users of computer resources not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is harmful, objectionable, affect minors and unlawful in any way.

    The Government is in regular touch with intermediaries including various social media websites to effectively address the blocking/removal of objectionable content. Further, Social Networking sites hosted anywhere in the world are monitored by the law enforcement agencies in order to check / remove objectionable contents from the web sites in accordance with the provisions of IT Act, 2000.

  • Information and cyber insecurity is second most risk factor in Indian industries: FICCI

    Information and cyber insecurity is second most risk factor in Indian industries: FICCI

    NEW DELHI: ‘Information & Cyber Insecurity’ has been ranked as the second biggest threat to businesses in India, for two consecutive years.

    The high rating points to the fact that it is a persistent risk for both private and government sectors in a high-technology driven global economy, where a growing trend is the rise in cyber-aided hacking. Information insecurity along with infringement of intellectual property and corporate fraud remain some of the crucial concerns in business strategy, across sectors and geographies.

    A study of FICCI shows that information and cyber insecurity stands at 9.71 per cent out of an overall rating of 15 per cent, only next to strikes and labour unrest.

    Interestingly, strikes and closures, crime, and workplace violence and sexual harassment are the top three threats in the media and entertainment sector.

    The India Risk Survey 2016 shows that information and cyber insecurity is the third most risk factor in south India, while Intellectual Property Theft is the second largest risk factor in east India.

    But among sixteen sectors surveyed, it is the top most risk factor in government and public service undertakings, financial service, IT/ITES (where intellectual property theft is the second biggest risk factor), and telecom, and the second most risk factor in education.

    The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded a total of 7,201 cases under the IT Act in 2014, showing a 65 per cent rise from 2013. Symantec estimated one million web attacks every day in 2015. A SophosLabs research ranked India at No. 5 among the countries with the highest percentage of endpoints exposed to a malware attack. The spear-phishing campaigns targeting employees has increased by 55 per cent in 2015.

    ‘Information & Cyber Insecurity’ is a persistent business risk in a high-technology driven globalised economy. Indian companies are increasingly being targeted, which is reflected in the high-risk rating given by the Government & PSU and Telecom sectors to risk of ‘Information & Cyber Insecurity’. With increase in the number of people.accessing the internet through any mode, computers or hand-held devices, and the growth of revolutionary financial transaction platforms for online shopping and payments, this risk is definitely going to increase further.

    Government data sourced from the NCRB shows a total of 7,201 cases were registered in 2014 under the IT Act,16 which registered a 65.3 per cent rise in cyberrelated cases as compared to 2013. Greed or financial gain accounted for the maximum 18 per cent of the cyber-crime cases. In real terms, it stood at 1,736 out of 9,622 cases.

  • Information and cyber insecurity is second most risk factor in Indian industries: FICCI

    Information and cyber insecurity is second most risk factor in Indian industries: FICCI

    NEW DELHI: ‘Information & Cyber Insecurity’ has been ranked as the second biggest threat to businesses in India, for two consecutive years.

    The high rating points to the fact that it is a persistent risk for both private and government sectors in a high-technology driven global economy, where a growing trend is the rise in cyber-aided hacking. Information insecurity along with infringement of intellectual property and corporate fraud remain some of the crucial concerns in business strategy, across sectors and geographies.

    A study of FICCI shows that information and cyber insecurity stands at 9.71 per cent out of an overall rating of 15 per cent, only next to strikes and labour unrest.

    Interestingly, strikes and closures, crime, and workplace violence and sexual harassment are the top three threats in the media and entertainment sector.

    The India Risk Survey 2016 shows that information and cyber insecurity is the third most risk factor in south India, while Intellectual Property Theft is the second largest risk factor in east India.

    But among sixteen sectors surveyed, it is the top most risk factor in government and public service undertakings, financial service, IT/ITES (where intellectual property theft is the second biggest risk factor), and telecom, and the second most risk factor in education.

    The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded a total of 7,201 cases under the IT Act in 2014, showing a 65 per cent rise from 2013. Symantec estimated one million web attacks every day in 2015. A SophosLabs research ranked India at No. 5 among the countries with the highest percentage of endpoints exposed to a malware attack. The spear-phishing campaigns targeting employees has increased by 55 per cent in 2015.

    ‘Information & Cyber Insecurity’ is a persistent business risk in a high-technology driven globalised economy. Indian companies are increasingly being targeted, which is reflected in the high-risk rating given by the Government & PSU and Telecom sectors to risk of ‘Information & Cyber Insecurity’. With increase in the number of people.accessing the internet through any mode, computers or hand-held devices, and the growth of revolutionary financial transaction platforms for online shopping and payments, this risk is definitely going to increase further.

    Government data sourced from the NCRB shows a total of 7,201 cases were registered in 2014 under the IT Act,16 which registered a 65.3 per cent rise in cyberrelated cases as compared to 2013. Greed or financial gain accounted for the maximum 18 per cent of the cyber-crime cases. In real terms, it stood at 1,736 out of 9,622 cases.

  • BCCC gets more complaints on harm than sex, obscenity & nudity on TV

    BCCC gets more complaints on harm than sex, obscenity & nudity on TV

    NEW DELHI: The story goes that when some visually impaired persons touched different parts of an elephant, each had their own description on what an elephant looked like.

     

    The situation is similar for the average television viewer, who is now forced to differentiate between the meaning of ‘rape,’ ‘molestation,’ and what the authorities term ‘harm.’

     

    When watching television news, TV soaps or feature films on the small screen, one is left aghast and shocked at the number of cases of rape and molestation being reported or depicted. In fact, it is a well known fact that news television channels only report on less than 30 per cent of the rape or molestation cases actually taking place every day.

     

    Various discussions are held on TV channels on why this is happening and why men are turning into barbaric rapists. Even daily soaps and movies telecast by general entertainment channels (GECs) have shown a marked increase in depiction of rape cases, molestation or undignified treatment of women.

     

    In its annual report of 2014, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said the number of rapes in the country rose by nine per cent to 33,707 in 2014 – with New Delhi reporting 1,813 rapes, making it the city with the highest number of such cases. Mumbai and Bengaluru recorded 607 and 103 rapes respectively.

     

    In 2012, a similar report had highlighted 47 per cent of complaints related to sex, obscenity and nudity.

     

    But amidst all this, the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), the self- regulatory authority for entertainment TV channels, said it was now getting more complaints under Harm and Offence category than those related to sex, obscenity and nudity.

     

    Data released by it showed that BCCC had addressed a total of 27,676 complaints, including 5,262 specific complaints since inception.

     

    The BCCC, which was established by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and is now headed by Justice (Retd) Mukul Mudgal, is considering setting up a mechanism through which complaints regarding content on TV could be lodged via Twitter.

     

    “For the period 3 July, 2012 to 22 August, 2015, the highest percentage (39 per cent) of complaints were related to the theme Harm and Offence, followed by those related to religion and community (28 per cent) of the 4,545 specific complaints,” BCCC secretary general Ashish Sinha said.

     

    This comes as a surprise, especially when compared with the First Status Report in January 2012 when 47 per cent of complaints were related to sex, obscenity and nudity. Now only eight per cent of complaints pertain to sex, obscenity and nudity, BCCC said.

     

    The Harm and Offence theme complaints pertain to portrayal of persons with disabilities, child marriage, abuse or exploitation, stereotyping of women, mistreatment of animals and airing of content offensive to public feeling, BCCC officials said.

     

    “A large number of these complaints were received from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and most were against the content of English TV programmes,” BCCC said. Officials said that even Courts and the I&B ministry are directing issues or complaints to it. 

     

    BCCC claimed that the drop in number of complaints about obscenity appeared to be the result from its constant focus in this area adding that the bulk of penal action taken was related to this aspect.

     

    However, the BCCC had no answer when asked if the lesser number of complaints related to obscenity reflected a greater level of maturity, only adding that no such study had been done.

     

    Even as all this appears difficult to accept when one sees the soaps and films on GEC channels, Justice Mudgal said the self regulatory mechanism was doing well. In fact, he said there had been 100 per cent compliance of its directions by member channels of IBF.

     

    The BCCC also said that among complaints relating to crime and violence were nearly 11 per cent of the specific complaints between 3 July, 2014 and 22 August, 2015. The objections were not only against crime-based shows but also against violence shown in daily soaps as well as reality shows.

     

    Eleven per cent complaints of the 4,545 specific complaints were related to horror programmes while those pertaining to depiction of smoking scenes, consumption of alcohol and drugs were found to be less than one per cent.

     

    Approximately 28 per cent of the complaints under the religion and community theme, where most complaints pertained to mythology-based programmes aired on various channels.

     

    Sinha said BCCC did not go into interpreting mythology as it felt there were various interpretations prevalent and the council did not find itself competent to do so.

     

    Two per cent of the complaints pertained to grievances against depiction of wrong map of India, insult to the National Flag and wrong portrayal of court proceedings.

     

    BCCC also said it has issued 15 detailed orders to channels in which broadcasters were asked to run apology scrolls and in four cases to furnish financial penalties.

     

    Perhaps the average viewer needs to be educated on how ‘harm’ is different from rape or molestation, especially when women and children or differently abled persons are involved.