Cyberlaw
Pavan Duggal has been involved in Cyberlaw for the last more than a decade. His contribution in the evolution of Cyberlaw has been immense. He has been associated with the cyber legal field from the time when it was at a very nascent stage. He has been responsible not just for creating far more awareness about the need for Cyberlaws but also has seized thought leadership on how the broad frontiers of Cyberlaw need to develop. He has been actively advocating the development of various jurisprudential principles on which the foundations of Cyberlaw are based. He has worked with various international bodies, associations, governments and organizations on various issues of Cyberlaw.
At the time when the Internet was developing in the West and in the USA, Pavan Duggal started working on legal issues pertaining to cyberspace jurisprudence in Asia and India . He has advocated, on various occasions, the need for having vibrant and dynamic Cyberlaws in place for countries so that they can be equal partners and participants on the world stage as far as cyber related activities are concerned. From the early times, Pavan Duggal gave a definition of the term Cyberlaw which has become one of the frequently used definitions on Cyberlaw.
Pavan Duggal defined Cyberlaw as follows:
"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."
He has worked on a variety of issues pertaining to domain names and dispute resolution for domain names. He has been an active participant of the process regarding the implementation of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. He has been associated with ICANN being the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers right from the very beginning of its inception. He has also been associated with World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO as a Administrative Panel Member or Arbitrator under the Uniform Domain Names Dispute Resolution Policy. He has also given various landmark decisions and judgments in various complicated domain name issues and disputes.
He has also been working on the legal issues pertaining to Internationalized Domain Names.
He has also been consistently working on issues pertaining to data protection. Data protection is a foundation fulcrum on which the edifice of successful online transactions is based. He has been advocating the need for having a specific distinct data protection law for countries on similar lines that exist in the west, keeping in mind the specific requirements of the respective countries.
Privacy is also one area where Pavan Duggal has worked quite a lot. Pavan Duggal has associated with EPIC and has contributed on the privacy chapter as far as India is concerned in the annual report of EPIC. The absence of privacy laws in India has been one area where Pavan has been repeatedly concentrating and brining the same to the attention of the Government. He has been advocating the need for far more vibrant specific provisions for protection and preservation of not just data privacy but also personal privacy.
Cyber crimes as an area has dominated the cyber horizon of India. Given the fact that people in India have distinct mindsets for engaging in white collar crimes, it is but natural to expect that cyber crime in India has increased tremendously. Pavan has been advocating the need for having a distinct specific legislation on cyber crimes in India, for the last many years. He has been pointing out that the existing laws in India being the Indian Penal Code as also the Indian Information Technology Act 2000 are not at all sufficient for the purposes of effectively regulating all cyber crimes that have emerged and are continuing to emerge in India.
Pavan has also been focusing on issues pertaining to multi-jurisdictional disputes. Internet has made geography history and that is where a majority of jurisdictional problems have come in. The inadequacy of national laws to implement their provisions across territorial boundaries of their nation and the non-existence of effective international platforms for cooperation have been impediments in the direction of effectively regulating cyber crimes , across jurisdictions. Pavan has worked on various landmarks cyber crime cases and has been associated with the Central Bureau of Investigation. Having given lectures at the National Police Academy at Hyderabad, Pavan has been instrumental in increasing the awareness of the law enforcement officials about the various kinds of new cyber crimes and the various new strategies that could be adopted in effectively regulating the same.
Pavan has also been advocating the need for far more strong legal provisions for creating an effecting and enabling legal regime to promote e-commerce and online activities. He has been appreciative of the Indian Information Technology Act 2000 in terms of creating the appropriate enabling environment for promoting e-commerce in India. He has been advocating the need for further substantiating the law by providing more enabling platforms for relevant stake holders. Pavan has been of the considered opinion that the Cyberlaw should only be an enabling catalyst which should provide the right enabling environment for relevant stakeholders to develop the edifice of e-commerce and online activity.
Pavan has been commenting and writing on various cutting edge issues of Cyberlaw as they emerge. He is often quoted by local, national and international media, print, electronic and cyber, on his perspective on different emerging issues and aspects relating to Cyberlaw.
Pavan has a unique perspective on Cyberlaw as far as India and Asia are concerned. Whenever he is speaking at national and international platforms, he brings on the table the Indian and Asian perspectives on cyber legal issues and jurisprudential principles which are distinct and equally relevant. Pavan believes that the next leaders in the cyber order in the coming years are going to be India and China. As the shift of e-commerce markets transforms in the direction of India and China, it is but natural to expect that the focus would on increasing cyber regulation in a manner that best serves the legal and business commercial interests of the relevant stake holders in the online space.
Having authored various books on Cyberlaw, Pavan Duggal is the expert authority that is relied upon to provide his perspectives in a majority of contentious and important litigations. His unique position as a Cyberlaw expert is fortified by his vast experience and his ability to cull out important critical issues out of emerging trends in cyber space, distinguishes him from others.
Pavan has been associated with Cyberlaw in India and Asia for the last more than one decade. His contribution to the growth and evolution of Cyberlaws in India and Asia continues to be a very significant one.
