The expert committee reviewing the Information Technology Act, 2000 has proposed amendments aimed at greater punitive measures to check data theft and obscenity. | |
| The committee has advocated that the Information Technology Act be made technology-neutral by providing for electronic signatures with digital signatures as one of its types. |
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| To avoid bazee.com-like episodes, the panel which submitted its report to the Information Technology ministry today, recommended that the network service providers were not held liable for all charges. The committee has recommended amendments to law to address confidentiality issues. |
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| Language of the section related to computer related offences has been revised to be in lines with other sections related to penalty for damage to computer resource. These have been graded with the degree of severity of offence when done by any person, dishonestly or fraudulently without the permission of the owner, the report said. |
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| To promote e-commerce, the committee has ensured that the Act does not use the term "cyber crime", besides adding a new section 10 for formulation and validity of electronic contracts. |
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| "In order to ensure that it promotes the use of e-commerce, e-governance and other online uses has been cautious not to use the word cyber crime in the text," the report said. |
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| A new section has also been proposed for providing modes and methods for encryption for secure use of the electronic medium. The report, which has been put up for comments by the public and the industry till September 19, has proposed the addition of another section to address child pornography with higher punishment. |
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