Govt mulls IT Act rejig to curb BPO data leak

The government is planning to amend the Information Technology Act to prevent BPOs leaking out data and information, Dayanidhi Maran, minister for communications and IT, said in the Rajya Sabha today.

"A bill has been prepared to amend the Information Technology Act, 2000 to provide framework to strengthen the provisions pertaining to data protection, privacy and unlawful disclosure of sensitive personal information," he said in a written reply to a question.

He said while some media reports had stated that certain persons had secured and offered to sell database with credit card, passport, driving license details and other personal information like mobile number, "so far, no customer or Business Process Outsourcing/Information Technology Enabled Services (BPO/ITES) unit has reported any such case or financial loss."

The amendment would address new forms of crimes like publishing of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form, video voyeurism, breach of confidentiality and leakage of data by service providers, e-commerce frauds through impersonation commonly known as phishing, identity theft and offensive message through communication service.

It would also "impose duties and liabilities upon service providers including Internet Service Providers and Intermediaries," he said.