Cyber Crime Volunteer

Cyber Crime Volunteer

Part of: GS Prelims and GS – III – Cyber security 

In news

• The Union Home Ministry has said it does not maintain a centralised list of volunteers enrolled under the cybercrime volunteer programme since the police is a “State subject” under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

Key takeaways 

• The Ministry, through its cybercrime grievance portal, 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
• The programme was expected to include 500 volunteers, 200 “cyber awareness promoters” and 50 “cyber experts”.
• Cybercrime Volunteers Programme is a constituent of The National Cybercrime Ecosystem Management Unit. 
• The unit is part of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) scheme launched by Union Home Minister in January 2020.