WHAT IS CYBER CRIME?

The term ‘cyber crime’ is a misnomer. This term has nowhere been defined in any statute /Act passed or enacted by the Indian Parliament. The concept of cyber crime is not radically different from the concept of conventional crime. Both include conduct whether act or omission, which cause breach of rules of law and counterbalanced by the sanction of the state.

"The law has often been defined as the law governing Cyber Space of Internet law".

Cybercrimelaws on this web site refers to offenses against the information technology infrastructure. Such conducts includes:

§illegal access: the access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right

§ illegal interception: the interception without right, made by technical means, of non-public transmissions of computer data to, from or within a computer system

§ data interference: the damaging, deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data without right

§ system interference: the serious hindering without right of the functioning of a computer system by inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data

§ misuse of devices

§ forgery

§ fraud

Internet is believed to be full of anarchy and a system of  law and regulation therein seems contradictory. However, cyberspace is being governed by a system of law and regulation called Cyberlaw. There is no one exhaustive definition of the term "Cyberlaw".  Simply speaking, Cyberlaw is a generic term which refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of Internet and the World Wide Web. Anything concerned with or related to or emanating from any legal aspects or issues concerning any activity of netizens and others, in Cyberspace comes within the ambit of Cyberlaw.  The growth of Electronic Commerce has propelled the need for vibrant and effective regulatory  mechanisms which would further strengthen the legal infrastructure, so crucial to the success of Electronic Commerce. All these regulatory mechanisms and legal infrastructures come within the domain of Cyberlaw.
 
Before evaluating the concept of cyber crime it is obvious that the concept of conventional crime be discussed and the points of similarity and deviance between both these forms may be discussed.

 CONVENTIONAL CRIME-Crime is a social and economic phenomenon and is as old as the human society. Crime is a legal concept and has the sanction of the law. Crime or an offence is

"a legal wrong that can be followed by criminal proceedings which may result into punishment."

(1) The hallmark of criminality is that, it is breach of the criminal law. Per Lord Atkin "the criminal quality of an act cannot be discovered by reference to any standard but one: is the act prohibited with penal consequences". (2)

 A crime may be said to be any conduct accompanied by act or omission prohibited by law and consequential breach of which is visited by penal consequences.

 CYBER CRIME

  Cyber crime is the latest and perhaps the most complicated problem in the cyber world.

"Cyber crime may be said to be those species, of which, genus is the conventional crime, and where either the computer is an object or subject of the conduct constituting crime".

"Any criminal activity that uses a computer either as an instrumentality, target or a means for perpetuating further crimes comes within the ambit of cyber crime" 

A generalized definition of cyber crime may be

" unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or target or both