A Comparative Study on ICT Laws in India and Korea

Abstract

Ⅰ. Purpose and Scope of Research □ In Asia, Korea and India are considered as countries with advanced technology in information and communications field, based on each country’s highly developed industrial foundation. □ With the rapid growth of the business in the ICT field and the take it brings to the national economy, coupled with the level of complexity of the technology that the industry entails, it is obvious that relevant legislation needs to be carefully drawn and match the speed of the development to avoid lagging. □ Overview of Laws related to ICT issues from India and Korea is provided with introduction and brief analysis of key elements, followed by comparison.

Ⅱ. Contents □ ICT Laws in India ○ The aim of the 「IT Act」 was to set up India’s first ever information technology legislation. ○ To bring the 「IT Act」 in line with the 「Model Law on Electronic Signatures adopted by the UNCITRAL」, the 「Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008」 (「IT(Amendment)Act」) was passed in December 2008, and was made effective from 27th October, 2009. ○ Both the 「IT Act」 and the 「IT Act Amendment」protects data and privacy through various penalization provisions and hold a legal person liable for breach. ○ 「IT Act」 and 「Copyright Act」provides specific circumstance when intermediaries are held liable ○ Key legal issues pertaining to cloud computing are data protection, privacy and security, and liabilities of the cloud service providers □ ICT Laws in Korea ○ Historical Developments of ICT Laws in Korea are reviewed: chronologically, laws on ICT can be grouped into five stages - (1) Expansion of Foundation for Telecommunications (1902 - 1986), (2) Drive for Computerization (1987 - 1994), (3) Initiative for National Informatization (1995 - 2003), (4) Full-Scale National Informatization (2004 - 2007), and (5) Regulation for Broadcasting Communications Convergence (2008 - ). ○ The amendment on the 「Framework Act on Broadcasting Communications Development」 that provides the concept of the broadcasting communications and also manages the policy on the broadcasting and communications were made, in the hope of providing a firm legal foundation for the converged and unified sector. ○ 「Special Act on Promotion of Information and Communication Technology, Vitalization of Convergence Thereof, Etc.」 (a/k/a 「Special Act on ICT」) builds itself as a legal foundation for the support for software and web-contents businesses as well as R&D and materialization of business ideas for the new convergence technology and services ○ 「Act on the Development of Cloud Computing Development and the Protection of Users」 aims to reform regulations that hinders development of the cloud computing business, to provide legal foundation for promotion policies for the industry, and also to maintain a secured cloud computing service use to systematically and comprehensively grow the cloud computing business

Ⅲ. Expected Effects □ Through this comparative analysis of laws on ICT in India and Korea, this research hopes to build a helpful resource for scholars and legislatures as well as entrepreneurs and researchers in the field in their quest of journey for better legislation on and implementation of ICT laws. □ This research report may be utilized as basic information for ICT Laws in India and Korea