Lok Sabha Approves It Bill

The Lok Sabha yesterday passed the Information Technology Bill, excluding the two controversial provisions which the government denied having accepted in the first place.

Information technology minister Pramod Mahajan, while replying during the debate on the Bill, said the question of withdrawing the offending clauses did not arise, as they were not part of the original Bill.

The clauses were among the standing committee's 36 recommendations, of which the Cabinet accepted 34 on Thursday.

The two clauses rejected by the government would have made it mandatory for cybercafe owners to maintain all customer details. Also, prior permission would have been required to start a new Internet site or a portal.

Discounting fears of misuse of power by the police, the minister said even in the case of non-IT crimes, the police did not go around searching premises and arresting people at random.

He said unless the police force was made cyber-literate, the system of recognising complaints through e-mail would not work.

On crimes relating to copyright violations on the Net, the minister said since the complaint was brought by music companies, it could be tackled under the Copyright Act.

Besides, other legislations, including the Income Tax Act, the Excise Act and the Customs Act, would have to be amended, he added.

Mahajan expressed the hope that with the spread of Internet, e-governance and convergence of telecommunications, television and computers, 35 per cent of the Indian population would use the Net, compared with the present figure of one per cent. Mahajan also vowed to bridge the "digital divide" in the country by promoting more regional language software programmes and making computers people-centric.