Karnataka is likely to get the country's first exclusive academic institution dedicated to higher studies in cyber law. The International Institute for Information Technology Law (IIIT Law), a trust having 17 legal and IT experts as it members, is making a headway.Founded by Justice B K Somasekhara, former High Court judge, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, IIIT Law, in the first phase has decided to organise awareness and training programmes across the country on nuances relating to cyber law. "We have strong intellectual property with leading legal and IT professional being the members of the organisation. As we move forward, we intend to become a premier law institute for studies in IT (Cyber) law in collaboration with universities or law schools," said N Vijayashankar, director (Research & Programmes), and one of the founder members of IIIT Law, said. The institute may be made a university or deemed university in the future.As a first step, IIIT Law will organise its first training programme on 'IT laws for senior professionals' in Bangalore on 24th of June. "Our aim is to organise more training programmes and whatever funds we will generate out of these, will be utilised in building the infrastructure for the institution," said N Vidyashankar, secretary IIIT Law.IIIT Law is scheduled to be formally launched on June, 2 by the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. Although, India was the twelfth country in the world to adopt an Information Technology Act, in 2000, experts felt the Act lacked 'teeth 'for punitive measures. "Information asset owners are not making full use of the mechanism and are yet to adopt a requisite legal compliance regime in their business processes. This exposes them to cyber crime risks," Vidyashanker said.
