IT ACT, 2000: NEED & WHY Made By:

Debajyoti Chakraborty

WAS IT AMENDED IN 2008? BBA – Aviation Management

SAP ID: 500089100
THE IT ACT, 2000
The Information Technology Act, 2000 is the primary law in India for matters related to
cybercrime and e-commerce. It was enacted by the Indian Parliament on June 9, 2000 and
was notified on 17 October 2000.
The original IT Act 2000 contained a total of 94 sections, divided into 13 chapters and 4
schedules. The third and fourth schedules were omitted later in the 2008 amendment.
This act provided legal recognition to electronic and digital signatures besides defining
certain terms such as “computer”, “computer network”, “data”, etc. The definitions are
provided in the section 2 of the IT Act, 2000.
India became the 12th country in the world to have enacted such a law after the
recommendation of the United Nations to the Government of India that said that a nodal law
was needed to regulate cyber activities in the Indian domain.
THE IT ACT AMENDMENT, 2008
The Information Technology Act, 2000 was amended in the year 2008 and came into force
on 27 October 2009.
The amended act came to be known as the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008.
Several amendments were made to the IT Act, 2000 in 2008:
a) The word “digital signature” was substituted with “electronic signature” to broaden the
scope of the IT Act and to make it sound technologically neutral.
b) Sections such as 66, 67, 69, 70 etc. were amended and expanded.
c) The principal IT Act, 2000 had a total of 94 sections. However, sections 91-94 that
provided for amending several other Indian acts like IPC (1860), Indian Evidence Act (1872),
RBI Act (1934) as per the manners in Schedules 1-4 in the IT Act, 2000 were omitted.
d) Schedule 3 and 4 of the principal act was also omitted in the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008.
NEED OF THE AMENDMENT IN 2008
 The amendments to the IT Act, 2000 were made to upgrade the existing principal act and
to increase strictness in the law to prevent cybercrimes such as online harassment and
bullying.
 Sections 66 & 67 in the principal act were amended and expanded with sub-sections to
provide for punishment for several kinds of crimes including:
A) Section 66A provided punishment for sending offensive messages through a computer
resource or communication device.
B) Section 66C provided punishment for identity theft (such as using someone else’s
electronic signature or password).
C) Sections 66D & 66E provided for the punishment for violation of privacy (66D) and
cyber terrorism (66E).
MAJOR AMENDMENTS IN IT ACT, 2008
A) Section 67B provided punishment for transmission of material containing child
pornography in electronic form.
 Section 69 was expanded with sections 69A and 69B that enabled the Central and State
Government to monitor any electronic information from a computer resource that they may
find necessary in the interest of the integrity and sovereignty of India.
Section 69A allowed the Government to block any information that may seem a threat to
the integrity & sovereignty of India.
Section 69B enabled the Government to monitor any information for the purpose of cyber
security.
 Amendments to Section 69 was subjected to criticism as a threat to right to privacy.
 New Section 69 of IT
SECTION 69 OF IT (Amendment) Act,
ACT, 2000 2008
MAJOR AMENDMENTS IN IT ACT, 2008
Section 70 of the IT Act, 2008 was expanded with new sections 70A & 70B. It was
specified that the Government of India can designate any organization of the
Government as a nodal agency with respect to Critical Information Infrastructure
Protection under Section 70A.
 Section 70B enabled the Government to appoint a Indian Computer Emergency
Response Team which will foresee all the incidents related to cyber security
pertaining nationally.
 A new section 72A was inserted that provided for punishment in case of disclosure
of information in a breach of contract. The fines and imprisonment term were
increased.
 New Section 70 of IT
SECTION 70 OF IT (Amendment) Act,
ACT, 2000 2008
THANK YOU!