Applying a Cyber Policy to Law - Essay Example

? Applying cyber policy to law Introduction Cyber law governs all the activities in a cyberspace. This is the world created through joining several computers operating together, usually on a network (Kerr, 2009). In cyberspace, there is an exchange of information in real time or even delayed time. People usually interact with each other, browse, shop, work and play. In most cases, the key legal issues associated with cyber Law issues involve trademarks, copyrights and patents. Cyber Law regards everything concerning the policies governing internet as well as social media. They protect the organization or business against cyber crimes which jeopardizes the operation of the business. With regard to this, every business organization should analyze its Cyber Law risks as well as needs on a regular basis. Applying cyber policy to law significantly helps in preventing cyber attacks. These are deliberate actions that aim at altering, disrupting, deceiving, degrading or destroying computer systems as well as networks. Federal and State Cyber-security Law For over a decade, several experts in the United States and abroad are expressing increasing concerns with regard to cyber-security (Kerr, 2009). This is the light of the growing impact, sophistication and frequency of attacks on information systems, not only in the US but also different parts of the world. Current research indicates that the framework for cyber-security needs revision. The complex federal responsibility in cyber-security takes into consideration securing federal systems as well as helping in protection of nonfederal systems (Kerr, 2009). With regard to the current law, all federal agencies have roles in cyber-security relating to their own systems. The state government is attempting to revise its laws for the purpose of improving cyber-security. It is doing so through increasing public visibility of firms having weak security. California passed the Notice of Security Breach Act in 2003, which requires that any organization which maintains personal information of citizens of California and has a security breach have to disclose all the details of the event. Other states in the US also followed the same (Bosworth & Whyne, 2009). The security breach regulations usually punish organizations due to their failure. They do so while giving them freedom of choosing how to secure their systems. Ina addition, this regulation helps in creating an incentive for organizations to voluntarily invest heavily in cyber-security (Bosworth & Whyne, 2009). This is for the purpose of avoiding the potential destruction of reputation as well as resulting economic loss that can arise from a cyber-attack. Both the state and federal laws aim at improving the security of information systems of organization. They both dictate that organization maintain a considerable level of security (Bosworth & Whyne, 2009). They also advocate on improvement of the laws for the purpose of maintaining acceptable standards of cyber-security. Nevertheless, both the state and state law on cyber-security requires a reasonable level of cyber-security which leaves a room for interpretation until the establishment of the case laws. Taking the United States into consideration it is a fact that it puts a lot of concern with respect to cyber-security (Bosworth & Whyne, 2009). This makes the country less susceptible to cyber-attacks as compared to other countries in different parts of the world. Existing laws with regard to cyber-security in many countries do not put a lot of emphasis to deal with cyber-security. Due to this, criminals usually conduct a lot of crimes on the internet for the purpose of taking advantages of the less severe punishments in these countries. However, governments and industries are now realizing the severe threats of cyber-attacks on economic as well as political security, without forgetting the interest of the public (Bosworth & Whyne, 2009). Nevertheless cybercrimes are becoming difficult to fight back. This is therefore calling for international cooperation. Various governments and organizations all over the world are now making joint efforts for the purpose of coming up with methods to fight all forms of cyber crimes. U.S Telecommunication Act of 1996 The Telecommunication Act of 1996 was a significant overhaul of the US telecommunications law (Emeritz, 2001). The law was aiming at amending the Communication Act of 1934. This act represented one of the major changes in the telecommunication law of the United States as it was the time that there was the introduction of the Internet in the broadcasting and spectrum allotment. The goal of this law to allow anyone interested enters any communication business. In addition, it also had the goal of letting any communication business compete against each other in any market (Emeritz, 2001). The primary goal of the legislation was deregulation of the broadcasting as well as telecommunication markets. The telecommunication act of 196 required the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) lease parts of their network to competitors at cost (Emeritz, 2001). The act also required the ILECs provide services that they provide to competitors at a whole scale discount. Despite the passing of the Telecommunication act of 1996, they were numerous legal challenges to the Act as well as its implementation raised by the ILECs (Emeritz, 2001). These challenges resulted to slow implementation of the act and hence hindering its intended purpose. In many cases there was no significant implementation of the Act provision. With respect to this, even after more than two years from implementation of the act, there was no substantial entry as well as competition in the local exchange market in the United State. Due to this failure of the Act implementation, there was a wave of mergers in the US telecommunication industry (Emeritz, 2001). Differing views of Net Neutrality Net neutrality is a principle which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as well as governments should equally treat all data on the internet, without discrimination or even charging differentially by user, site, content, application, platform, attached equipment type, and modes of communication (Gargano, 2011). There is an extensive and continuous debate on whether net neutrality should be a requirement by the law. The net neutrality has various pros and cons to both the consumers and the business (Gargano, 2011). On the consumer point of view, there are several pros. First, their individual customers do not have restrictions on what parts of the internet they can access with exception of the decisions of the local government. Some of these parts that individual customers can access without restrictions include file sharing, instant messaging, emailing, Video Conferencing and blogs. Secondly, there is no throttling. This implies that the Internet Service Providers cannot change the transfer rates of either downloading or uploading irrespective of what individual customers are accessing. Lastly, there is no censorship, meaning that there are no restrictions to individual customers on how much they can download upload besides the connection rates (Gargano, 2011). When it comes to cons with respect to the individual point of view, there are sometimes restrictions by ISPA as well as governments on the parts of the internet that they can access. ISPs also charge more for more internet access (Kerr, 2009). This is because they believe that heavier internet user should pay more. Lastly there is as a lot of monitoring in the monitoring over the internet by the ISPs. Nevertheless, without Net Neutrality, ISPs could take advantage of monitoring what their entire customers do on the internet and hence use or sell any relevant information. The pros and cons associated with business customers are the same as those of individual customers. However, in business customers, there is anti-competition. This is because Internet service Providers can block or even prevent access to their to the products, services, or web pages of their competitors. Therefore, they have many restrictions against competition. Generally, there is no change of views when considering the pros as well as cons at the individual customer and business customer points of view. Spectrum Auctions Spectrum auctions are the processes where the government of a particular country uses an auction system for the purpose of selling the rights to transmit signals over certain bands of the electromagnetic spectrum (Spectrum Auction, 2002). A spectrum auction usually last from one day to several months depending on the format used. Spectrum auctions play a significant role in helping the government allocate scarce resources. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the United States conducts auctions of rights for electromagnetic spectrum (Spectrum Auction, 2002). There is emulation of auction approach in many countries throughout the world. For the commission to consider a company or an individual as a qualified bidder, the individuals as well as companies has to submit an application together with an upfront downpayment. FCCs conduct auctions electronically and are accessible through the Internet. The United States Congress set several goals during the launching of the spectrum auction. During the designing process of actions for spectrum rights, there was a requirement by law for the FCC to meet several goals and not focus primarily on maximizing receipts. The goals included ensuring efficient and effective use of the spectrum, avoiding concentration of licenses excessively, preventing unjust enrichment of parties, promoting economic competition and opportunity and fostering rapid deployment of new services and recovering for the public a part of the spectrum value (Spectrum Auction, 2002). Despite the significant prosperity of spectrum actions, demand reduction as well as collusive biding is a crucial disadvantage limiting both revenues and efficiency. The FCC can use the flexibility and information in the auction in reducing the prices of auctions through tacit collusion. In some cases, there is an imposition of conditions on certain blocks of spectrum auctioned (Spectrum Auction, 2002). For instance, during the 700 MHZ auction, it needed the C Block winning bidder to comply with the open platform conditions. This allowed customers, third-party application developer and device manufacturers to develop or use the devices as well as applications or their own choice. Conclusion With respect to the security of information systems of organization, it is a fact that the Cyber Law is playing a crucial part in ensuring a reduction of cyber-attacks in organizations. Cooperation among different governments as well as organizations will lead to coming up of ideas on how to completely eradicate even the cybercrime which are difficult to fight back. References Brelsford, J. F. (2003). California raises the bar on data security and privacy. Retrieved from http://library.findlaw.com/2003/Sep/30/133060.html Bosworth, S & Whyne, E. (2009). Computer security handbook. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. California. Legislature. Constitution of California. [Article I, Section I]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_1 California. Legislature. (2002, February 12). An act to amend, renumber, and add Section 1798.82 of, and to add Section 1798.29 to, the Civil Code, relating to personal information. Retrieved from http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/sen/sb_1351-1400/sb_1386_bill_20020926_chaptered.html Emeritz, R. E. (2001). The Telecommunications Act of 1996: Law & legislative history. Silver Spring, Md: Pike & Fischer Gargano, A. R. (2011). Net neutrality. Broadcast Engineering, 53(2), 74-74. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/863363661?accountid=35812 Kerr, O. S. (2009). Computer crime law (2nd ed.) St. Paul, MN: West. [Chapter 7: Jurisdiction: Section B, State Power (pp. 554-575)] Milewski, A. D. (2006). Compliance with California privacy laws: Federal law also provides guidance to businesses nationwide. Washington Journal of Law, Technology, and the Arts, 19. Retrieved from http://digital.law.washington.edu/dspace-law/bitstream/handle/1773.1/383/vol2_no4_art19.pdf?sequence=1 New York. Legislature. (2008). Information Security Breach and Notification Act. Retrieved from http://www.dhses.ny.gov/ocs/breach-notification/ Spectrum auction. (2002, Apr 26). Dominion. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/315420835?accountid=35812 Read More