{"id":56526,"date":"2020-03-04T15:02:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T09:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=56526"},"modified":"2020-03-04T15:02:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T09:32:51","slug":"answered-what-is-darknet-discuss-its-potential-dangers-and-urgent-need-for-a-data-protection-law-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-what-is-darknet-discuss-its-potential-dangers-and-urgent-need-for-a-data-protection-law-2\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] What is Darknet? Discuss its potential dangers and urgent need for a data protection law."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n Demand of the question<\/strong>\n Introduction.\n <\/strong>What is Darknet?\n Body.\n <\/strong>Discuss potential dangers of Darknet. Mention the\n need for a data protection law.\n Conclusion.\n <\/strong>Way forward.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Darknet is a computer network with\nrestricted access that is being used chiefly for illegal activities on the web\nlike selling drugs, personal information etc. One of the most famous examples\nof a dark network was the Silk Road marketplace which was a website used for\nthe buying and selling of a variety of illegal items, including drugs and\nweapons. A comprehensive Data Protection Act is the need of the hour due to\npotential dangers. The Centre constituted the BN Srikrishna Committee to\nidentify \u2018key data protection issues\u2019 which suggested a draft data protection\nBill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potential\ndangers of Darknet:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Identity misuse: <\/strong>There are reports of log-in details of streaming sites like\nNetflix being sold on the dark web marketplaces for cheap rates. This data is\nmisused for creating fake identities, financial frauds etc. Leaked information\nhas the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating\nprofiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online\nidentity theft, among other practices that thrive on the availability of such\ndata on the Darknet.<\/li>
  2. Malware and Ransomware:<\/strong> Another danger of the dark net is malware and\nransomware. Most malware is transmitted over the dark net and then used on\npublic access websites, so being on the darknet can put in danger of coming into contact with malware or\nransomware that can cripple a business or steal one\u2019s identity.<\/li>
  3. Drug smuggling:<\/strong> The relative impermeability of dark net has made it a\nmajor haven for drug dealers who can sell or buy any kind of narcotic\nsubstances on the darknet\nwithout getting caught. In February 2016, in a study titled \u2018Cryptopolitik and\nthe Darknet\u2019, researchers analysed content over the TOR network. Of the 2,723\nwebsites they could classify by content, 57 % hosted illicit material ranging\nfrom drugs and hacking among others.<\/li>
  4. Terrorism: <\/strong>Terrorists use dark net to provide information to fellow\nterrorists, to recruit and radicalize, to spread propaganda, raise funds, and\nto coordinate actions and attacks. Terrorists also use the darknet for illegal purchase of explosives\nand weapons, using virtual currencies like Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies.<\/li>
  5. Child pornography: <\/strong>The Darknet has been used for trafficking and child\npornography and other crimes. An international investigation to uncover users\nof a dark web child pornography website has led to 337 arrests in US.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Need\nof a data protection law:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Data theft protection<\/strong>: Unlike the data protection regulations in\nplace in the European Union and in the U.S., India still lacks a comprehensive\nlegal framework to protect data privacy.Considering the manner in which public data are being stored and used by\nboth the state and private entities, data of individuals is at high risk for\nbeing misused in Darknet. For efficient management of data in the age of\ndigitisation, a data protection law is needed. <\/li>
    2. Right to privacy: <\/strong>The Supreme Court (SC) in Justice K.S Puttaswamy vs Union\nof India case, declared that the right to privacy is an inherent part of the\nfundamental right under Article 21 of the constitution. Thus, it is the duty of the state to safeguard individual\u2019s privacy through legislation. <\/li>
    3. Rising cyber-crime: <\/strong>Public data leaks have been quite common in India from\ngovernment websites enabling the download of Aadhaar numbers to electoral data\nrolls being downloaded in bulk, among others. Due to increased digitisation and\nincreased digital complexities, data protection is needed\nfor the hour. Recent rise of crimes like WhatsApp,\nPegasus scam demands a data protection law in place. <\/li>
    4. Regulating companies: <\/strong>Large amounts of personal data have been\ncollected by state agencies and private companies and their flow across\nnational boundaries has been a cause for concern. There are many instances that\nthe state and private agencies who are using the personal data are not\ntransparent on the purpose for which the data is being utilised. To curtail the\nperils of unregulated and arbitrary use of personal data a legislation must be\nin place.<\/li>
    5. Digital India: <\/strong>With a billion population, India has the second highest\ninternet user base in the world. India has 450 million internet users and\nexpected to increase up to 730 million by 2020. With emphasis on digital India,\nthe government must ensure\nthe safety of citizen\u2019s data.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Data protection is a must in the age of\ndigital era. The law should encompass all the aspects- data collection,\nprocessing and sharing practices in an integrated manner. The Kerala Police has\nset up a \u2018state-of-the-art lab\u2019 to intervene and crack down on the rising\ncriminal activities over the Darknet, also known as the underworld of the\nInternet. The state must prevent and investigate digital crimes, prevent misuse\nof data and encourage data security through legislation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Demand of the question Introduction. What is Darknet? Body. Discuss potential dangers of Darknet. Mention the need for a data protection law. Conclusion. Way forward. Darknet is a computer network with restricted access that is being used chiefly for illegal activities on the web like selling drugs, personal information etc. One of the most famous… Continue reading [Answered] What is Darknet? Discuss its potential dangers and urgent need for a data protection law.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56526","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}