Cyber Law

What is cyber law?

Cyber law is a term which covers all legal issues related to the use of communicative, transactional, and distributive aspects of networked information devices and technologies. However, the term cyber law is just a general term for all the related to it. Cyber law has many branches like the study of science.

In Cyber Law, there are a few main laws that are extremely important and well known. One of these laws is the Copyright Act, which is created in 1987. The purpose of the Copyright Act is to provide comprehensive protection for copyrightable works, these works includes computer software as well. One of the features of this Act is that law enforcers are able to enter private premises if however the owner of the premises is suspected to be involved in infringements.

Malaysia is a signatory of the Berne Convention. The Berne Convention, formally known as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, is an international agreement governing copyright. Under the laws of the Berne Convention, copyrights for creative works are automatically in force as soon as it is created. The creator or author does not need to register nor apply for a copyright for his/her creations. However, this only applies to countries adhering to the Convention.

Due to the advancement of technologies around the world, the Copyright Act 1987 is amended and renamed into Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997 by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs. This new amended of Copyright Act came into the force on the 1st of April.
In the Amended Copyright Act, unauthorized transmission of copyright works over the internet are made illegal and considered as an infringement of copyright. For this act to be effective, authors and creators of their own creations are also compulsory to limit the access by the public to their works to prevent infringement.
The distribution of their works must also be controlled and its distributors must also be contract bounded with the creators. These provisions are aimed at ensuring adequate protection of intellectual property rights for companies and individuals investing in the IT and multimedia environment.

The Digital Signature Act was first introduced into the public on 1st October 1998. The Digital Signature Act 1997 is intended to secure the privacy and confidentiality of electronically processed transaction, especially commercial transactions since the public preferred a more convenient and easy way in making a transaction. The Digital Signature Act also promotes the use of e-transaction to the public, ensuring the public that online transaction is safe and reliable. This act also provides a framework for the licensing and regulation of Certification Authorities, and the recognition of digital signatures. The Controller of Certification Authority was appointed with the authority to monitor and license recognized Certification Authorities on the 1st of October.

Digital Signature is meant as a transformation of a message using an asymmetric cryptosytem such that a person having the initial message and the signer’s public key can determine whether the transformation created corresponds to the signer’s public key.
Therefore, without the signer’s public key, the message cannot be decrypted and the original message before undergoing the transformation cannot be accessed.