INTRODUCTION:

The main aim of any Social Networking Site is to facilitating the building of social networks or social relations among people who, for example, share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real life connections. In simple words, social networking is a way for one person to meet up with other people on the net. People use SNS’s (social networking sites) for meeting new friends, finding old friends, or locating people have the same problems or interests. The past year has seen several notable revolutions taking place through social media as a platform. On the other hand, it may be argued that social media is a waste of time owing to the fact that the youth mostly use it as a medium to chat or communicate with friends and peers which does not yield any productive result.

But today these sites become an open sky for obscene acts. If you ask to any teenager about the use of SNS he will reply you “making friends and have chat, fun and sex”. Anyone can make a profile ID and enter into these sites and post any obscene material whenever or wherever he or she wants, it does not matter about the age, sex, place or any other limitations. SNS become heaven for sex workers which are dangerous to society.

In the name of legal obligation only you have to accept the terms and conditions while making registration for an ID which says, if you post or publish any obscene material you will be liable. Over the past decade, social media or the social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, etc have played a huge role in shaping the lives of youth. The past year has seen several notable revolutions taking place through social media as a platform.

Recently a Lower Court was hearing a case where the complainant requested for an order to remove derogatory and obscene contents posted on various Social Networking websites. The Court ordered 21 Social Networking websites including Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and YouTube to remove derogatory and obscene content by February 6, 2012.The magistrate had summoned the accused companies to face trial for allegedly committing the offence punishable under section 292 (sale of obscene books etc), 293 (sale of obscene objects to young person etc) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.¹

Recently another lower Court, in an ex-parte order, had directed the social networking websites to remove the objectionable content in the form photographs, videos or text which might hurt religious sentiments. Indian Judiciary is trying to deal with Cyber Law issues in the absence of dedicated Social Media Laws in India. Although we have Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act 2000) as the Cyber Law of India yet we have no dedicated Social Networking Laws in India. However, Cyber Law on Social Media and Networking Sites in India is still not adequate. It has, in fact, created more problems than solution.

The way Cyber Crimes are committed on Social Media websites in India, it has become a big nuisance for Indian Government to control the same. In fact, Indian Government asked Internet Intermediaries in India to pre screen users’ contents in India. Internet Intermediary Laws in India have been made very stringent and they are required to follow Cyber Law Due Diligence in India. Naturally, Cyber Due Diligence for Indian Companies cannot be ignored any more in India. However, Indian Executive is bypassing the Parliament of India by formulating Rules instead of getting proper Laws passed by the Parliament. This has created a situation where the Cyber Law of India has become a big nuisance and this Cyber Law of India must be Repealed as soon as possible. Since the Cyber Law of India is incomplete and self contradictory, even Indian Judiciary is confused in many cases.

For instance, cases of ignorant Judicial Blocking of Websites in India have increased a lot where even genuine and law abiding websites are blocked in a blanket manner. In most of the cases, an ex parte order is issued that is seldom contested and the websites remain blocked for an unreasonable period of time. If Blocking of Websites in India is done to give effect to Laws that are Constitutionally Sound, there is no problem. But if corporate houses start misusing the process of law to get useful, genuine and law abiding websites blocked in India, this is a serious miscarriage of justice in India. In fact, this amounts to violation of human rights in cyberspace that is happening a lot in India these days.² It is high time for Parliament of India to intervene in this regard and enact a Sound, Effective and Constitutionally Sound Cyber Law of India that covers all these issues appropriately.

METHODOLOGY:

We analyzed the basic cause of obscenity in cyber law and tried to point out the imminent cures. Make an analysis of defective provisions of networking sited playing a role as an abettor for the crime of obscenity in cyber law. Taken cases related to obscene publication and suggestions for amendment in laws. Special reference been given to obscenity and child security.

Obscenity in Electronic Form:

In India, the Information Technology Act regulates obscene material in electronic form. Section 67 of the Act reads thus:³

“whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published in the electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it, shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and also with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees”.

The ingredients of an offence under this section are:

· Publication or transmission in the electronic form.

· Lascivious material appealing to prurient interests.

· Tendency to deprave and corrupt persons.

· Likely-audience

To read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied electronic form.

The word “publish” has not been defined under the Act. However, the Supreme Court held in the case of Bennett Coleman & Co. v. Union of India that publish means “dissemination and circulation”. In an electronic form, publication or transmission of information includes dissemination, storage and circulation. Information is defined under section 2 (1) (v) as “information” includes data, text, images, sound, voice, codes, computer programmes, software and data bases or micro film or computer generated micro fiche. So, the obscene material could be in any of these forms to attract the offence of section 67. This section advocates that the ‘obscene material in electronic form’ must be considered by itself and separately to find out whether it is so gross and its obscenity so decided that it is likely to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to influences of this sort and into whose hands the ‘obscene material in the electronic form’ is likely to fall.

It is necessary to note that any offence related to obscenity in electronic form cannot be tried under section 292 of the IPC, as section 81 of the ITA states that the Act will have an overriding effect:

“The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force.” ⁴

Cases registered under IT act 2000 during 2009-2012⁵

Cases registered	2009	2010	2011	2012
In obscene crime IT ACT 2000	139	328	496	589

According to NCRB the number of cases registered in cyber law on obscenity is 589 which is 18% more than the last year and if we see the NCRB chart for last five year registered cases in publication of obscene material, it is clear that the crime is increasing with tremendous speed.

Cases:

Obscene SMSes for revenge⁶

Cyber police Cuttack arrested an engineer alleging for posting sexually explicit messages in the facebook account of a girl. The accused Susanta kumar Mishra (22) ,resident of Raja Bagicha is an engineer in a private telecom company. He was known to the girl and advances towards her. On being spurned the young engineer in a fit of rage uploaded some photographs of girl and posted some sexual explicit messages on facebook with a fake ID and also send some obscene messages to her.

Posting obscene photos for revenge⁷

Recent case of publication of obscene material for revenge in Ludhiana in which police arrested a person posted tampered obscene photographs of a woman in internet. The accused identified as Rajiv kumar resident of Tibba Road, worked as an embroider in the boutique of the complainant, Varindar Pal singh. The accused worked in the boutique of complainant which was owned by his mother Balwindar Kaur from April to September 2012 before fired from the job. The accused used to threaten the former employers by making phone calls and messages. On 25 may Rajiv sent many messages to Varindar Pal and told him about the posted obscene pictures of his wife.

Minor posted obscene snaps of principal-⁸

Another case on may 2013 a minor girl posted obscene snaps on principals facebbok account.

The Jaipur case where a 16 year old boy hacked the principals account who was wife of a judicial officer, police got shocked when they arrested the boy. He also posted some obscene pictures and songs on her wall. The youth belongs to Gurgao and studying in Behror school. After noticing a morphed obscene picture the woman along with her husband who was posted in Jaipur visited the Gandhi nagar police station and lodged an F.I.R. on April 2013. The police took the help of ethical hackers and other technical staff and traced the IP address which was used to hack the account of facebook account of victim.

The police said “it was shocking when we discovered the accused is a minor who hacked the principals account. He must have done some vendetta against her. After arresting the boy the police informed his parents who came here to bail him out. Since he was a minor he is booked under bailable offence and bail was granted. He is a student of class ninth.

Student steal picture and share picture of teacher⁹

A shocking story of Russian school teacher shows the real misuse of social networking sites. Today’s student will do anything to pass the exam. A similar scenario unfolded in Russia. Students of schools in Russia steal exam papers from their teacher’s laptop but they found some obscene pictures of his teacher in her laptop. They steal the pictures and share that in the group of 100 people in school. These students carried out this phenomenon to pass the exams. The incident happened with 34 year old teacher Natalia Malcov when she leaves her laptop in the classroom for few minutes. Flustered and reprimanded the teacher refused to come again to the school. The incident consists by mere 15 year old children’s. In these pictures she had seen in a intimate position with her boyfriend. In the some other pictures of her with undergarments only also shared by the accused boys in social networking sites. The photos were shared in the internet. They also posted a picture in which she wore only bra in upper body¹⁰.

Shameless act of husband- made fake obscene ID with number of his wife¹¹

One more case where husband uses SNS for retribution against wife. The Sahakarnagar police booked an engineer and his parents for allegedly creating obscene profiles of his 30-year-old wife on social networking sites Orkut and Facebook after she refused to bring jewellery and money from her parents.

The complainant had married Nikhil Uttekar, 32, a mechanical engineer, in May 2009, after which they started staying at his house in Aniket Society in Bibwewadi. Sub inspector Tejaswini Yadav of Sahakarnagar police said, "The complainant, a post-graduate in science, had lost her job after a few months of marriage, following which the husband and in-laws had allegedly started harassing her for bringing money and jewellery from her parents." Uttekar had, in May, allegedly created an obscene profile "Shobha Aunty" on these sites and provided her cellphone number on them. He had also allegedly sent scraps (messages on Orkut) and Facebook messages to many contacts, giving the address of the profile he had created.

Police said the wife had to go through a mental trauma after receiving calls from many people with reference to the fake profile. The husband pretended to doubt her character and said these calls could be from those whom she used to meet when she went to her parents' residence in Hadapsar when she confronted him about the calls. "Fed up, the complainant shifted to her parents' place in October this year." Uttekar and his parents have been charged under Sections 498 (A) (cruelty by husband or his relatives) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code. Police said though the profiles the complainant referred to no more existed on the sites, they had evidence of their existence in the past. They said the suspects would be booked under provisions of the Information Technology Act after verifying the IP addresses.

RESULT:

After analyzing all the cases and provisions of SNS it is more visible that there is urgent need of controlling this problem and finding cure for it. For the same there are some factors which came to the conclusion to be considered for solving the problem been discussed below.

Root causes of incitation of obscenity in cyber law:

1- No fear of prosecution:

If you post or publish any obscene material in these sites you can be deleted only through the option given “report or abuse” nothing more. They have in their terms and condition that they will not be responsible for any obscene publication posted by you, only have the right to produce the material at the time of requirement. Only MySpace has cleared he can take appropriate legal action if found any publication of obscene material. (Myspace 2012 section 8 (1)).¹²

2- Easy registration process-¹³

Anyone can make an ID and enter into these sites with just filling a form which requires a contact no. or an Email ID. They prohibited for more than one personal ID without the prior permission of company. They verify the identity trough mail id or phone number. It means you can make a fake E-mail ID and can enter into SNS and do whatever you want.

3- Entry of minors-¹⁴

The minimum age for eligibility for registration has been given 13 years or above in most of the sites (Myspace 2012 and Facebook 2012). Yahoo has not specified the age but said guardian has to take care the acceptance of terms and conditions (Yahoo 2005). We all very well know that minors are not able to rational judgment what is right and what is wrong for them so the law has given special privileges’ and care to them, to save from evil consequences. But SNS’s is an open space for young people to indulge in obscene acts.

“Most important thing according to the Contract act, a minor cannot make a contract, and in SNS’s minors accepting terms and conditions and making contract, which is against law of contract and the whole contract is void.” (Wikipedia).

4- No substantive control over the publication-¹⁵

This is the most vital reason for increase in the percentage of crime of obscenity in cyber law. SNS’s do not scan or screen before publication of any material even you don’t need any permission before posting any comment or content. The easiest way to defame any people anytime without any fear of law .This is the worst consequence of the freedom given by SNS.

5- Popularly known place for fun only:

Social media has played an important role in spreading the bad image of these sites as a place for making friends for fun and sex only. They are unaware of the benefits of using social networking.

6- Lack of parent’s care:

Today’s world become more demanding about the time for everyone. Both father and mother are working which results in lack of time for their children. When they feel unsecured and needs care they try to meet their requirement through making new friends ( Sue Lynn Carty ).

7- Other reasons:

Some other reasons like stress, problems with family and friends, academic tension, lack of parents care, search of supporter and for fashion also people go to these sites. They feel safe and easy way to find someone for friendship specially youngsters.

CONCLUSION:

It is true that we cannot deny the need of digital networking. Social networking is a need of this present world. We live in a world of media where everything takes place through networking. According to our view Social networks has both positive and negative effect in which way we are using this. So let’s take a positive way these networking site are useful for connecting the people in different cities and they will share their thoughts, photographs and opinions with friends. Easy to communicate and connect with others. It really depends in the way which we use them. If we use it in correct way we will be benefitted a lot. If we misuse it we are the one who should face the consequence. It is better for the students to be away from the social network because it affects their mind unknowingly. Though we restrict ourselves we can't remain calm after addicting to it. It is evident that mistakes have been done by the SNS’s but user is also responsible for his acts. Both are liable and have to take some initiative for the solution of problem. Only application of law is not enough which is clear from the available data. We need to concentrate in the root causes of the problem. I would like to suggest some steps for the same-

· First and the most important think registration process should not be done without a valid ID card.¹⁶

· Minors should be strictly prohibited for the use of these sites and if allowed must be under care of parents or guardians. They must not be allowed to make an ID and entry should be restricted.

· A compulsory procedure for scanning and screening of material posting should be established, guidelines for defining prohibited material must be made.

· There is a need of committee who will specify the things which exclusively should not be allowed in digital networking.

· Last but the most important parents and teachers duty to teach the children about the good use of technology. Some household use about internet should be made to restrict the child from free use of networking.

REFERENCES:

1 Twitter, (2012) june 25, https://twitter.com/tos.

2 Matthew T. Kincheloe, David Weed and Caleb W. Lack, “Facebook and Psychology Use and Misuse of Social Networks”. Article.

3 Gupta and Agrawal, 2012, Chapter 21, Indian penal code and cyber law, “Cyber Law”.

4 Pillai P S A, 2007, pages from 522 to 529, Criminal law, 9^th edition.

5 Chapter 8, crime report 2012, www.ncrb.com

6 http://www.indianexpress.com/news/woman-s-obscene-profile-on-social-networking-sites-husband-booked/717550/

7 http://www.indianexpress.com/news/woman-s-obscene-profile-on-social-networking-sites-husband-booked/717550/

8. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/03/a-friendly-exchange-about-the-future-of-online-liability/

9 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/obscene-pics-on-Facebook/news/

10 http://khabarhatke.blogspot.in/2013/06/school-students-uploaded-obscene.html

11 Navbharat newspaper page 1, date January 2013, Raipur edition.

12 MySpace,(2012), www.myspace,com/help/terms?pm_cmp=ed_footer.

13 Yahoo, face book, MySpace, twitter, shtyle.fm, registration process.

14 Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority

15 Yahoo, (2005) November 24, http://info.yahoo.com/legal /us/yahoo/mail/en-us/

16 http://socialnetworking.procon.org/#Background

Received on 11.03.2013 Modified on 01.04.2013

Int. J. Ad. Social Sciences 1(1): July –Sept. 2013; Page 05-09