Government asks people to register as cybercrime volunteers
In a bid to keep an eye on the cyber world in a "coordinated and comprehensive manner," the government has asked common people to register as cybercrime volunteers. Posts against the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, content aimed at disturbing public order and communal harmony, child and women abuse material are to be monitored.
Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre started in J&K last week
The project known as the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) is an initiative of the Union Ministry. It started in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir when the police issued a circular last week. Any Indian citizen can get associated with this program by registering in any of three categories of cyber volunteers - Cyber Volunteer Unlawful Content Flagger, Cyber Awareness Promoter, and Cyber Expert.
Different roles of cybercrime volunteers
Cyber Volunteer Unlawful Content Flagger will help identify illegal and unlawful online content like child pornography, rape, gang rape, terrorism, radicalization, and anti-national activities. Cyber Awareness Promoter will help create awareness about cybercrime among citizens, including vulnerable groups like women and children. Cyber Expert will help deal with specific domains of cybercrime, forensics, network forensics, malware analysis, memory analysis, and cryptography.
Background verification of those willing to register for latter two
While there is no prior verification required for the first category, background verification of volunteers registering for the other two categories will be done as per the norms of Know Your Customers (KYC) by the respective State Governments and Union Territories.
Volunteers to submit personal information for background verification
The volunteers will be required to furnish personal particulars like full name, father's name, mobile number, email address, residential address for background verification by the respective State Governments and Union Territories. Once the registration process is complete, the details of the volunteers would be accessible to the Union Territory Inspector General of Police (crime branch) who is the nodal officer for cybercrime.
I4C envisages creating a powerful ecosystem to fight cybercrime
I4C is an idea conceived to fight against cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. "One of the most important objectives of I4C is to create an ecosystem that brings together academia, industry, public, and government in prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of cybercrimes," a document of the Home Ministry said. The program plans to bring together citizens to fight against cybercrime in India.
Volunteers can't use the program for commercial gains
However, the Home Ministry document has made it clear that the program has no monetary benefits and a volunteer shall not use it for any commercial gain. The volunteers are further barred from issuing any public statement about their association with this program and are strictly prohibited from claiming any association with the ministry on any social media or public platform.
Any violations of confidentiality will lead to re-registration: Home Ministry
While asking volunteers to read Article 19 of the Constitution which deals with freedom of expression, the Home Ministry said that they shall maintain strict confidentiality of tasks assigned or carried out by them, and any violations would lead to their re-registration.
