IT Amendment Bill soft on cyber criminals: Assocham
Press Trust of India / New Delhi Feb 04, 2009, 19:18 IST
Claiming the Information Technology Amendment Bill 2008 to be lenient on cyber criminals, industry body Assocham today said certain issues needed to be re-addressed before the Bill is enacted into legislation.
"The most startling aspect of the new amendments is that they seek to make the Indian cyber law a cyber crime friendly legislation -- a legislation that goes extremely soft on cyber criminals," it said in a release.
The bill also lacks in measures to provide security to data.
"The Information Technology Amendment Bill 2008 in Parliament got passed with unprecedented hurry, without any discussion in both the Houses," Assocham said. It sought certain issues needed to be re-addressed before the Bill is enacted into legislation.
Given the apparent rise in technology adoption, it is increasingly being found that despite all precautions been taken, employees are still taking away confidential data from companies, the chamber said.
The inability of the law to provide confidentiality to corporate and individual data and information in the electronic form are likely to complicate matters further for Indian companies and citizens, it said.
Another major failure of the bill is that it has not dealt with the issue pertaining to spam, it said.
The chamber said the bill do not address jurisdictional issues.
According to it, the amendments make it mandatory for corporates possessing, dealing or handling any sensitive personal data or information in a computer resource to maintain reasonable security practices, and procedures.
A lot of debate is taking place about the proposed IT Act (Amendment) Bill, 2008 and its effectiveness. The web is full of comments from Indian citizens about the inadequacies of various provisions of the proposed bill. If we analyse the Bill, 2008 one thing is for sure. We Indians are going to be in big mess. Whether it is the power of electronic interception and surveillance or child pornography/pornography or cyber terrorism or any other stupid and thoughtless provision, the end result would remain the same, big mess and trouble for all of us. If we analyse the bill in detail it is clear that the hurry and unthoughtfulness of the legislatures has distorted the IT Act, 2000 further to a stage beyond repair. If still they have some common sense remained they must scrap the bill and come up with some good legislative draft. It is not clear whether the President of India has given her assent to the bill or not. If not, it would be a good idea to return the bill for reconsideration.
I wonder why indian citizens are not protesting against a weak cyber law and incapble cyber security.we r a democratic country and still laws are passed without any word. legislature is acting just as another arm of the executive and judiciary is doing nothing. except people like mr praveen dalal there are no experts who can give cyber law a good shape. another amendment bill has been imposed upon us whether we like it or not. not even a public discussion. not even a public disclosure. not even following constitutional safeguards and limitation. everything is at the whims and fancies of executive. govt is just taking care of their own political interests and a seat at the center and states. even the president also did not raise any objections to unconstitutional law making. we miss dr A P J Abdul kalam as the ideal president who had the guts to return a badly drafted law primarily for vested interests. god save india from our politicians.
Cyber security is a big challenge for India. The government of India is not only unaware about the basics of cyber security but is also adamant about not bringing suitable changes. Whatever positive development that has taken place in India pertaining to cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics can be attributed exclusively to Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law. The government of India has recently come up with the proposed information technology amendment bill, 2008 that was passed by both rajya sabha and lok sabha without even a discussion or debate. It is only after the strong protest by Perry4Law and Mr. Praveen Dalal that the government is now considering to review its decision before finally coming out with the amended information technology act, 2000. Let us hope the government would seek the expert advice and suggestions of cyber law experts like Mr. Praveen Dalal before finally coming out with the act.
Cyber security is a big challenge for India. The government of India is not only unaware about the basics of cyber security but is also adamant about not bringing suitable changes. Whatever positive development that has taken place in India pertaining to cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics can be attributed exclusively to Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law. The government of India has recently come up with the proposed information technology amendment bill, 2008 that was passed by both rajya sabha and lok sabha without even a discussion or debate. It is only after the strong protest by Perry4Law and Mr. Praveen Dalal that the government is now considering to review its decision before finally coming out with the amended information technology act, 2000. Let us hope the government would seek the expert advice and suggestions of cyber law experts like Mr. Praveen Dalal before finally coming out with the act.
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