SRINAGAR- Kashmir social media users beware! Next time you post anything “unlawful” or “anti-national”, you might end up being caught by a “cyber-crime volunteer” and handed over to police.
The Centre has decided to set up Cyber Crime Volunteers’ corps to keep an eye on the “anti-national activities” on social media.
‘Cyber Volunteer Unlawful Content Flagger’ will be responsible for “reporting online illegal/unlawful content like child pornography, rape, terrorism, radicalization, anti-national activities, etc.”
On Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir police formally called upon desiring candidates to register themselves as Cybercrime Volunteers.
“Any Indian citizen can get himself/herself registered as Cyber Crime Volunteer through the official website of Ministry of Home Affairs cybercrime reporting portal http://Cybercrime.gov.in,” said a police spokesman.
Police said individual shall be required to register as volunteer through a dedicated section ‘Cyber Volunteers’ on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.
“He/she shall be required to furnish some mandatory personal particulars like full Name, father’s name, mobile number, Email address, residential address etc. ID proof and address proof will be required to be uploaded at ‘Upload ID Proof tab in the registration form,” said the spokesman.
Police said that a volunteer can register itself in any of the three categories- Cyber Volunteer Unlawful Content Flagger, Cyber Awareness Promoter and Cyber Expert.
Cyber Awareness Promoter, the police said, will create awareness about cybercrime among citizen including “vulnerable groups like women, children, and elderly and rural population, etc”.
Police said cyber expert will dealing with specific domains of cybercrime, forensics, network forensics, malware analysis, memory analysis and cryptography.
For registration as ‘Cyber volunteer Unlawful content flagger’, the police said no prior verification is required.
“For registration as ‘Cyber Awareness Promoter or Cyber Expert’, prior verification (KYC) will be carried out by the concerned State/UT. Once a volunteer registers, his details would be accessible to the UT Nodal officer for cybercrime i.e. IGP Crime Branch J&K,” the police said.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Cybercrime, Tahir Ashraf told The Kashmir Monitor that cyber crimes were witnessing a surge in Kashmir and appealed the people to be the cyber volunteer and help police in solving cybercrimes.
“Cybercrimeis increasing day-by-day. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced people to use online platforms for various reasons, which has increased such crimes. In Kashmir, we mostly witness OTP frauds, online shopping frauds, fake calls, fake emails and messages, and sextortion. So we will request the people to be a cyber volunteer to help police solve cybercrimes,” he said.
National Crime Record Bureau last year highlighted that cyber-bullying, stalking, and blackmailing has been common cyber-crimes in Jammu and Kashmir. NCRB data revealed that six cyber-crimes against women including publishing or transmitting sexually explicit material were recorded by the crime branch in 2019.
