Farooq Ahmad Mir

Analyzing Internet e-mail date-spoofing

Spammers and phishers constantly keep on changing spam structure to circumvent anti-spam procedures and target maximum recipients. Of late, it has been observed that spammers spoof date header of their spam e-mails to keep them on top in the recipients mailbox with an aim to maximize the chances of immediate attention of recipients. This form of spoofing can cause confusion to recipients, create problems in time bound transactions, increase chances of opening spam, worsen the problem of false positive, result in loss of work productivity, render date header field insignificant and would spawn a host of legal issues. This paper reports date-spoofing, analyzes implications of date-spoofed e-mails on some commercial and corporate e-mail servers and surveys e-mail user behavior. It further discusses detection of date-spoofed e-mails to enable forensic examinations of date forged e-mails and presents possible technical solutions to stop date-spoofing.

Control of spam: a comparative approach with special reference to India

Spam and other related online threats are a real concern to all Internet users as they can lead to online fraud involving counterfeit websites, the theft of personal data such as credit card information, personal information through illicit access to computer systems and false or misleading representations in the market place. These are not imaginary threats but are supported by empirical evidence. This wastes time to users opening spam with misleading subject lines, wastes Internet resources trying to block it, consumes storage and bandwidth, and costs money in fighting it. E-commerce cannot flourish in an uncertain environment where security of personal data is not guaranteed. With the aim of boosting confidence in online commerce and protecting the interests of consumers, governments have introduced anti-spam legislation to protect consumers and businesses. This legislation has introduced different parameters. However, legislation alone cannot prevent spam. It is to be combined with technological measures. There is no separate legislation in India to deal with this problem. This paper analyses technological solutions and legal measures in the light of trans-national developments to provide background for any judicial decision making or legislative policy in India.

PATTERN OF MORPHOMETRIC DIFFERENTIATION AMONG THREE POPULATIONS OF SNOWTROUT, SCHIZOTHORAX PLAGIOSTOMUS (ACTINOPTERYGII: CYPRINIFORMES: CYPRINIDAE), FROM KASHMIR HIMALAYA USING A TRUSS NETWORK SYSTEM

Background. The fishes of the genus Schizothorax , commonly known as snowtrouts, are a group of species that are difficult to distinguish based on external morphological characters. One of them, Schizothorax plagiostomus Heckel, 1838, is a commercially important freshwater fish with wide distribution along the Himalayan foothills. However, recent observations have indicated drastic declines and change in the stock structure of this species in many areas of its range due to the introduction of exotics, water impoundments (dams), and overfishing. Therefore, this study was intended to verify the variation in stock structure of this species in Kashmir Himalaya by using morphological characters generated by truss network analysis . Materials and methods. A total number of 189 specimens of S. plagiostomus were collected from three differ - ent water bodies of Kashmir Himalaya. A truss network was constructed by interconnecting 12 landmarks to form a total of 30 distance variables extracted from digital images of samples using tpsDig2 and PAST software plat - forms. The transformed truss measurements were subjected to principal component analysis, discriminant func - tion analysis, and univariate analysis of variance for identification of different parameters responsible for popu - lation discrimination among these water bodies . Results. The principal component analysis generated nine components explaining 86.4% of total variance in samples. The step-wise discriminant function analysis retained two variables that significantly discriminated the populations. These two variables showed significant variation in head region, body depth, and caudal peduncle region of fish. Using these variables, 98.4% of the original groups were classified into their correct samples and 93.7% of cross-validated groups omitting one procedure were classified into their correct samples . Conclusion. This study has provided basic information about morphometric variation of S. plagiostomus , which could be indicative of the underlying stock structure of the species. A clear phenotypic divergence among S. pla - giostomus samples revealed the existence of three differentiated groups viz., the Dal Lake population, the Jhelum River, and the Lidder River populations in Kashmir Himalaya. This study should be considered in fisheries man - agement and commercial exploitation of this species and any stock enhancement program .

A study of Indian approach towards cyber security

Cyberspace is a network of networks connecting billions of users round the globe with the help of networked gadgets that include computers, mobile phones, palmtops, iPods, etc. Internet, though offers great benefit to society, it also presents opportunities for criminals using new and highly sophisticated technology tools. It both poses and suffers from various security challenges as it is used to commit crime and is itself target of crime. It has unveiled many unique challenges like cyber espionage, cyber warfare, cyber terrorism that were not known previously in real space. The technology is constantly evolving which gives birth to a newer crime and a new generation of crimes has come on the horizon. It is in this backdrop that an attempt is made to analyze different facets of cybercrimes together with possible solutions offered by law and technology.

Mechanics of domain names and Indian judicial approach to their disputes: A study

Internet has created a virtual world in which most of the activities of real world concerning business are undertaken. The existing laws are meant for real world with political boundaries in which tangible documents are created to facilitate proof in case there is a dispute. The virtual world is borderless and paperless. It has engendered a new generation of legal issues pertaining to different branches of law including trade mark law. A good number of disputes relating to domain names have been decided by the courts in India by applying different principles of trade mark jurisprudence. This paper makes an attempt to appraise the approach adopted by the courts in resolving these disputes and to find out how far our courts have fallen in line with the judicial principles evolved and established in other jurisdictions.