The IT Committee continues with its 2nd Forum as part of it's Law Awareness Programme. The recent Forum last Thursday on 20th November 2008, relates to Identity Theft in Cyber Space.
The Forum was attended by over 40 people, and had 3 enterprising and interesting Speakers. Deepak Pillai, a lawyer known for his knowledge in IT Laws set out the perimeters of the topic and went on to define Identity Theft before informing the floor of dangers of Identity Theft. His power point presentation was interesting and educational.
Professor Abu Bakar Munir not only had a powerpoint presentation but even played a video about a few convicts in US, convicted of Identity Theft in the internet. The video was entertaining, and definitely made it easy for the audience to understand the problem at hand.
En Shamsul, the former Director in MCMC (Multimedia and Communication Commission of Malaysia) explained how MCMC keeps an eye on Identity Theft particularly websites which was set up to misrepresent people. His views and comments was a valuable insight into the work of MCMC.
The Forum had identified how Identity Theft can take place in internet, and suggested a few remedies and proposals to stop this. The Speakers were unanimous that this is an issue of great concern and it is a real problem! Some speakers even suggested Parliament steps in with the proposed Data Protection Act frequently mentioned.
The members of the floor had sought explanations and initiated discussions about the topic. The interaction between the Speakers and Audience looked positive.
The IT Committee hopes to have another Forum in January on matters related to Information Technology Laws.