All that's new in IT Act 2006

[VelMurugan]

All that's new in IT Act 2006

The Lok Sabha has passed the IT Amendment Bill 2006. The Bill was introduced in Parliament on 15 December 2006 following which it was referred to a parliamentary standing committee. The Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2006, adds provisions to the existing Information Technology Act, 2000, to deal with new forms of cyber crimes.

For starters, Information Technology Law (or IT Law) is a set of recent legal enactments, currently in existence in several countries, which governs the process and dissemination of information digitally.

These legal enactments cover a broad gambit of different aspects relating to computer software, protection of computer software, access and control of digital information, privacy, security, Internet access and usage, and electronic commerce.

Here's looking into what's new in IT Act 2006.

Cyber voyeurism

The Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2006 adds provisions to the existing IT Act, 2000, to deal with new forms of cyber crimes like publicising sexually explicit material in electronic form, video voyeurism and breach of confidentiality and leakage of data by intermediary and e-commerce frauds.

BPOs welcome

India's outsourcing industry, for one, likes the legislation, especially the laws about data protection. "We have been working on it for a long time," says Som Mittal, president of National Association of Software and Service Companies or Nasscom, the Indian IT software and services industry trade body.

The Bill proposes a Cyber Appellate Tribunal and enabling the authentication of electronic records by any electronic signature technique. According to the Bill, the Central government has to decide the number of members of the tribunal later.
   
Adds teeth to cyber terror law

The amended Bill also gives the Central government powers to issue directives for intercepting, monitoring or decryption of any information through computer.

It also enables the government to intercept computer communication in any investigation. However, telephones and letters may be intercepted only in national interest.

Section 69 of the Act had originally given the Union government the power to intercept and monitor any information through computer systems in national interest, permitting it to monitor any potentially "cognisable" offence.

However, the amendments now give the Union and state governments freedom to investigate "any offence".

Big misses

However, neither the IT Act nor any other law covers how personal information may be collected, processed, shared and used.

Also, while the Bill provides compensation for unlawful loss or gain arising from unauthorised use of data, it does not address the issue of breach of privacy.

Source : IndiaTimes