History
The United Nations General Assembly enacted a model law onelectronic commerce, a legal framework for countries toformulate their laws governing electronic commerce andcommunication in 1997, in order to establish uniformity in theglobalised IT space. In line with the UN and the rest of theworld, India passed the Information Technology Act in the year2000 the first step to regulate and bring into the purview of thelaw the cyber arena. As the only law to deal with any kind of ITrelated activity it was woefully inadequate to deal with criticalissues like cyber-terrorism, phishing, spam and childpornography.Especially after the Baazi.com debacle in 2005 which includedan IIT Kgp student trying to sell obscene videos online, thedemand for an amendment in the IT act grew. In response, theGovernment of India drafted the Information TechnologyAmendment bill in 2006, which after initial rejection by thestanding committee report was finally passed with somemodifications by the Parliament on December 23, 2008.
Glossary
Act -
A statute or law made by a legislative body.
Amendment -
An alteration proposed or put into effect bylegislative or constitutional procedure.
Cognizable offence –
An offence under which a suspect can bearrested without a warrant. (i.e. – a grievous offence)
Bill –
In the legislative process, a bill is a proposal that is the firststep in creating a new law. To become a law, a bill must bepassed by both the Houses of the parliament and thenapproved by the President.
Standing committee -
Permanent House committees thatconsider bills and issues and recommend measures forconsideration by the full House.
Communication device -
Cell Phones, Personal DigitalAssistance (Sic), or combination of both or any other deviceused to communicate, send or transmit any text, video, audio,or image.
Computer resource -
A computer, communication device,computer system, computer network, data, computer databaseor software.
I
ntrusive
Technology Act?
he Indian Parliamentpassed an astonishing 8
T
bills (which become lawsonce passed) in 17 minutes, TheScholars' Avenue analyses oneof the bills passed and wonderswhere the Indian Parliament isheaded. A bill that directlyaffects us, netizens, is theInformation TechnologyAmendment Bill, 2006.The amendment washurriedly introduced due toimportance of certain sectionsdealing with cyber terrorism,which were proving to be anemesis for the investigatingagencies. The casual manner inwhich the bill was passed andthe lack of public scrutiny ormedia attention, raises someserious questions highlighting amockery of the world's largestdemocracy.
Why is it important? What you need toknow?
The Information Technologyact regulates all areas ofelectronic communication andinformation sharing whichinclude e-mails, text messages,phone calls, Website content etc.
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government to promotetransparency. Copies of theproposed amendment were notavailable till the bill was passed by the parliament. Anyrestriction on the liberty of ademocratic polity should beenforced only after a welldeliberated consensus whichrequires public awareness.
Salient features ofthe bill
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With the advent of e-governance and e-commerce,regulations have been put inplace to legitimize electronicrecords and contracts with thehelp of electronic signatures.
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Setting up a CyberAppellate Tribunal with powersequivalent to that of a civil court,for trying offences bookedunder the Act.The amendment shockinglygives sweeping powers to thegovernment to collect and useany information transmitted orpublished electronically, for thepurpose of the Investigation of'ANY' offence. Earlier this waspossible only in the cases ofcognizable offences. What ismore disturbing is the lack ofeffort on the part of the
Questions we are asking
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If the Parliament passes bills in a state of pandemoniumwithout any debate or even consideration, why does it exist atall?
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Why, in a democratic country, are bills not made public before they are passed, but are ‘uncovered’ only through theefforts of activists, even though the government maintainswebsites for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha?
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Why did the media not highlight the issue of such animportant and controversial bill being passed by theParliament without debate, and chose instead to giveprominence to the flippant remarks of an MP, and the ensuinguproar?
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Shouldn’t the government create some sort of a publicconsensus before making laws that can curb the liberty of thepeople?
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Why are we, as citizens, typically uninformed of relevantissues such as this, and why do we chose to care only whendecisions directly harm us?
The Government of any country is anabsolute reflection of its people and we have only ourselves to blame.
Offences recognized under theBill include:
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Sending offensivemessages which are deemed tocause 'inconvenience, insult,danger, criminal intimidation'etc.
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Retention or usage of astolen communication device orinformation stored in such adevice.
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Cyber terrorism which isdefined to be an act thatcompromises the integrity of thenation or strikes terror in itspeople.
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Publishing ortransmitting 'obscene' electronicmaterial.
Powers that have beenconferred upon the regulatoryagencies which can be used toprevent incitement of anycognizable offence or toinvestigate any offence:
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Interception ormonitoring of information sentthrough any computer resource.
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Prevention of access ofany information through acomputer resource.
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Monitoring andcollection of data transmitted,received or stored in anycomputer resource, for thepurpose of maintaining cybersecurity or preventing thespread of a computercontaminant.The safeguards that are inplace to regulate these powersare that they will be carried outonly after recording the reasonsin writing. The act also mentionsthat other safeguards may beprescribed if required.
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