The book deals with the vital humanitarian subject of child protection on Internet.
Protecting Children on Internet
Karnika Seth
Publisher: Universal Law Publishing
Pages: 190; Price: Rs 250
The book under review is a guidebook on best practices for online safety of children . The author Karnika Seth is a reputed Cyberlaw authority and is the Managing Partner of Seth Associates, a law firm in India. She practices law at the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court, and is advisor to many corporate houses and IT companies. She has been officially consulted by the Lok Sabha and the Ministry of Information Technology for her recommendations to develop cyber law in India.
She is also a legal advisor to Office of Comptroller of Certifying Authorities under the IT Act, 2000. Seth has also actively resolved many cybercrime cases with the Indian law enforcement agencies. She holds a Master’s Degree in Corporate and Commercial Laws from the King’s College, University of London. Seth was awarded the Certificate of Honour by the Chief Justice of India.
In today’s world of all things tech, children have complete access to the latest technologies and they are smart enough to get a grasp of their new device faster than their previous generation counterparts. While this can benefit them in learning new things and improving their knowledge, it can also be misused by them or they can be lured by
strangers for their self-gratification. Children are eminently vulnerable and may have to suffer the negative effects of advancement of internet and digital technology. We learnt of a person creating a Facebook page to upload and share images of children reportedly for sexual gratification. He was arrested under POCSO Act and also under Tamil Nadu Goonda’s Act.
The book under review aims at parents, children, educators, lawyers, officers in Ministry of Women & Child Development, NGOs, and officials of law enforcement. The author attempts successfully to ensure cyber awareness for protection of children from cybercrimes like trolling, cyber bullying, cyber stalking, child pornography and various forms of online child abuse.
According to Seth, “The book is a social initiative directed at bringing cyber empowerment through cyber awareness to protect children who use Information technology more than any other section of our society”. Seth provides copious examples and cases that illustrate the multifarious threats faced by children and has brought to bear her rich practical experience and provided very useful tips that would prevent and combat threats faced by children online. We have a valuable discussion on the present laws that protect children in cyberspace, particularly POCSO Act, 2012 and IT Act, 2000 as also the National initiatives adopted in the country to protect children. Examples are offered from USA and Europe including U.K and initiatives taken by International organizations are explained. She has made some wholesome suggestions on various techno-legal and social measures that will result in protecting children. The author provides a glossary of important cyber terms.
On the occasion of her book release, Seth also announced that an application on Cyber laws aimed at spreading cyber awareness ‘IT Act & Cyber laws’ and a website (childprotectionindia.com) elucidating cyber safety tips for children have also been developed and made operational by Lex Cyberia, specialized cyber law practice of Seth Associates, where she is the Managing Partner.
This book is divided into seven chapters. The introduction provides statistics of child users and introduces the readers with the impact of internet on children. The second chapter deals with online threats to children. The author discusses about types of offences that may happen to children including sexual offences.
The third chapter furnishes examples of child abuse on internet. The next chapter provides the guidelines that ought to be followed by parents and children while surfing the net. Chapter 5 gives details of the laws that are currently invoked to prevent child abuse. These laws and legal provisions include constitutional provisions.
The sixth chapter deals with international initiatives taken to make internet safe for children. In the seventh chapter of this book the author discusses her own views to tackle the issue. She highlights the needs for constant collaboration among the stakeholders including schools, parents, government and NGOs to create awareness for this. At the end, the book gives a list of cyber crime cells in India, a rich bibliography and the full texts of Information Technology Act, 2000 (amended in 2008) and Protection of children from sexual offences Act, 2012.
The book will be of great use to parents, educators, children, judiciary, lawyers, law firms, law libraries, Police, Investigation agencies, international organizations, Non governmental bodies, industry associations, ITES companies, IT Professionals and law students. The book won the Digital Empowerment Award.
