Cybercrime Volunteer | UPSC | – Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has been established under Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) to act as a nodal point at National level in the fight against cybercrime. It aims to provide a platform to deal with cybercrimes in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. One of the important objectives of I4C is to create ecosystem that brings together academia, industry, public and government in prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes.
I4C has envisaged the Cyber Crime Volunteers Program to bring together citizens with passion to serve the nation on a single platform and contribute in fight against cybercrime in the country.
- Good Samaritans are welcome to register as Cyber Crime Volunteers in the role of Unlawful Content Flaggers for facilitating law enforcement agencies in identifying, reporting and removal of illegal / unlawful online content.
- We also welcome individuals who are willing to volunteer in any other area that can help in fighting cybercrime. The applications shall be received directly by the State Nodal and they shall contact the applicants on an as-needed basis.
Cybercrime Volunteer | UPSC | All You Need To Know About I4C
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- The Ministry, through its cybercrime grievance portal, cybercrime.gov.in, aims to raise a group of “cybercrime volunteers” to flag “unlawful content” on the Internet.
- A digital rights group, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), has said the programme enables a culture of surveillance and could create potential social distrust by encouraging civilians to report the online activities of other citizens.
- In response to a RTI application on the total number of volunteers who have applied under the Cybercrime Volunteers Programme of the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, the Ministry said the information could be sought directly from the respective States and Union Territories.
- The programme was expected to include 500 volunteers, 200 “cyber awareness promoters” and 50 “cyber experts”.
- The National Cybercrime Ecosystem Management Unit, of which the Cybercrime Volunteers Programme is a constituent, is part of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) scheme launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in January 2020.
- The project was approved in October 2018 at an estimated cost of ₹415.86 crore.
- The I4C scheme that includes other components also has been allocated ₹69.80 crore in the 2021-22 Budget.
Source – The Hindu
