The year 2009 has brought along with it a lot of promises and hope. Apart from the hope that 2009 would be more economically stable than last year, there are expectations that the year shall bring along with it far more complicated legal challenges in the cyber arena. While it is difficult to predict the future, there are some major cyber legal trends that could show up this year.

One major trend that is going to show up will be the rapid rise in cyber crime, which will engage the attention of lawmakers. Since the passage of the second half of 2008, global recession has started to make its impact felt. It has been historically seen that crimes increase during times of recession. And cyber crime is a wonderful tool for criminals to increase their money and deprive others of their well-earned assets.

Another major trend could be the rise in incidence of cyber terrorism. We have already taken a lead in combating this menace and provided a comprehensive definition of cyber terrorism. India has made cyber terrorism a heinous penal offence, punishable with life imprisonment and fine under the amendments to the IT Act 2000, which was passed by Parliament in the last week of December 2008. As governments feel the need for crushing cyber terrorism, they are likely to be more inclined to look at enabling legal provisions.

Another major trend that 2009 is likely to bring on the table is the renewed emphasis on cyber security and information security. Despite recession and slowdown, companies would be inclined to address issues of information security and cyber security to protect their information assets. It is in this context that the threat of spyware and malware would increase tremendously. Hen-ce, strong efforts should be made to effectively fight these problems.

Also, this year is likely to bring green computing back into focus. With regulation being put in place in this regard in the West and the climate control legislation being passed in the UK, other countries are likely to follow suit and put effective measures for industries to implement green technologies that are environment-friendly.

2009 is once again likely to reinforce the need for more stringent provisions on data protection in various jurisdictions. While some jurisdictions have existing laws pertaining to data protection, more countries are likely to enact legal provisions pertaining to data protection in the year 2009.

The year 2009 is likely to see focus on privacy. In the event of various cyber terrorism attacks and growth of terrorism, citizens in various countries would not mind giving up some amount of their privacy in order to have in place a more secure e-ecosystem and electronic environment.

Spams and the rapid growth of anti-spam technologies is another area that will grow this year, leading to some countries even coming out with anti-spam legislations so as to curb or regulate spam messages.

The year 2009 may also see tremendous growth in online video and user- generated content. This may generate a lot of complicated legal issues pertaining to copyright and protection of intellectual property rights. These issues can be either addressed through existing legislations or by drawing up new ones.

As cloud computing gains more acceptability, the accompanying legal challenges will continue to engage the attention of companies. While some companies are likely to adopt green computing, there are chances of some potential legal issues arising in the latter half of this year.

While this is just an illustrative list of legal trends with regard to cyber activity that may engage the attention of the lawmakers and companies in the world, clearly, the actual number of cyber law issues would be far more complicated.

It will, therefore, be interesting to watch the emergence of cyber legal jurisprudence in the current year in India as well as in other countries of the world.