CYBER LAW

CYBER LAW is a term that encapsulates the legal issues related to use of communicative, transactional, and distributive aspects of networked information devices and technologies. It is less a distinct field of law in the way that property or contract are, as it is a domain covering many areas of law and regulation. Some leading topics include intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction.

NEEDS FOR CYBER LAW

In the recent years, many concerns and issues were raised on the integrity and security of information,legal status of online transactions, privacy and confidentiality of information, intellectual property rights and security of government data placed on the internet.These concerns and issues clearly indicate why cyber laws are needed in online activities.

THE CYBER LAW ACTS IN MALAYSIA

The Malaysian Government has already passed several cyber laws to control and reduce the internet abuse. These cyber laws include :

-Digital Signature Act 1997
-Computer Crimes Act 1997
-Telemedicine Act 1997
-Communications and Multimedia Act 1998

Beside these cyber laws, there are three other cyber laws being drafted :

-Private Data Protection Bill
-Electronic Government Activities Bill
-Electronic Transactions Bill
-Digital Signature Act 1997

The Digital Signature Act 1997 secures electronic communications
especially on the Internet. Digital Signature is an identity verification
standard that uses encryption techniques to protect against e-mail
forgery. The encrypted code consists of the user’s name and a hash of
all the parts of the message.