MaSSSoftech

There is a common saying that only lawyers or solicitors should get acquainted with different aspects of law, they must be well informed or else the profession may come to an end. Can this be accepted as true? Shouldn’t common people get familiar with the same?

What is Information Technology Act 2000 (ITA-2000)?

Well, if you are living in India and are almost a PC freak, you must remain aware of Information Technology Act 2000 (ITA-2000). It, by and large, is an Act of the Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) notified on October 17, 2000. It is worthwhile to mention that the United Nations General Assembly by means of resolution A/RES/51/162, dated the 30 January 1997 did accept the Model Law on Electronic Commerce adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. This is referred to as the UNCITRAL Model Law on E-Commerce. What is more the Information technology Act 2000 amendment Bill 2006 has since been passed by the Indian Parliament on December 23, 2008.

Is there any new proposal?

It has to be stated that the Government of India, by now, has proposed major amendments to ITA-2000 in form of the Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2006, passed by the Cabinet Committee of the Government of India and are prepared for being placed before the Indian Parliament for discussion.

Nevertheless some substantial developments have taken place in all these years and the bill is known as, at the moment, Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008. Even though some persons try to discern any similarity with the 2006 Bill, it is a totally different Bill and has been approved by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Is there any more problem? The Bill is awaiting approval of the President along with the formal notification.

There has been the inclusion of many changes, as already said, and at the same time it does incorporate the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. However there is another problem. In the Indian scenario till the moment a Bill gets finally notified by the Executive it remains a mere Bill. For this reason, till the government of India notifies it, the old Information Technology Act, 2000 would continue to preside over the Indian cyber law.

Has there been any criticism?

What surprises many persons is the dearth of media recognition afforded to the amendment. Apart from this the amendment was passed in 26 minutes the 22nd of December 2008 along with 4 other bills, and another 8 in just 17 minutes the next day. This indicates that there was hardly any debate on what should have been very contentious laws. Even Karnika Seth, renowned cyberlawyer & chairperson of the Cyberlaws Consulting Centre in India, through making a detailed analysis of the recent amendments in the IT Act, 2000 has failed to be optimistic.