CYBERLAW

THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE

THE INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY ACT, 2000

A PRESENTATION
BY
PAVAN DUGGAL,
ADVOCATE, SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CYBERLAW CONSULTANT,
PRESIDENT,CYBERLAWS.NET
MEMBER, MAC, ICANN
NATIONAL COMPUTER BOARD
MAURITIUS, 16-17/08/2002

WHY THE NEED FOR

CYBERLAW
Coming

of the Internet
Greatest cultural, economic,
political and social
transformation in the history of
human society

WHY THE NEED FOR

CYBERLAW (contd)
COMPLEX

LEGAL ISSUES
ARISING LEADING TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF CYBERLAW.
Different approaches for controlling,
regulating and facilitating electronic
communication and commerce.

HORIZONS OF CYBERLAW
EVER INCREASING
Domain

Names Issues
Jurisdiction
Liability Issues
Intellectual Property Rights

HORIZONS OF CYBERLAW
EVER INCREASING
Electronic

Contract

Payments
Digital

Signatures
Security
Privacy & Confidentiality

HORIZONS OF CYBERLAW
EVER INCREASING
Cybercrime
Data

Protection
Taxation
Banking etc.
The list is constantly increasing

CYBERLAW IN ACTION
THE INDIAN CASE
STUDY
THEINFORMATION

TECHNOLOGYACT,2000.

THE IT ACT, 2000

INDIAS FIRST
CYBERLAW
AIMS

TO PROVIDE THE
LEGAL INFRASTRUCTURE
FOR ECOMMERCE IN
INDIA.

THE IT ACT, 2000

OBJECTIVES
To

provide legal recognition for

transactions: Carried out by means of electronic
data interchange, and
Other
means
of
electronic
communication, commonly referred to
as "electronic commerce", involving
the use of alternatives to paper-based
methods of communication and
storage of information,

THE IT ACT, 2000

OBJECTIVES (contd)
To

facilitate electronic filing of documents

with the Government agencies
To amend the Indian Penal Code, the
Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Banker's
Book Evidence Act, 1891 and the Reserve
Bank of India Act, 1934

THE IT ACT, 2000

OBJECTIVES (contd)
AIMS

TO PROVIDE FOR THE LEGAL

FRAMEWORK SO THAT LEGAL
SANCTITY IS ACCORDED TO ALL
ELECTRONIC
RECORDS
AND
OTHER ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT
BY ELECTRONIC MEANS.

ELECTRONIC CONTRACT
ACCEPTANCE

OF CONTRACT MAY
BE EXPRESSED BY ELECTRONIC
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.

The

same shall have legal validity and

enforceability.

AUTHENTICATION OF
ELECTRONIC
RECORDS
Any

subscriber may authenticate an

electronic record
Authentication by affixing his digital
signature.
Any person by the use of a public
key of the subscriber can verify the
electronic record.

ELECTRONIC
GOVERNANCE
Legal

requirements
of
any
information or any other matter being
in writing or in the typewritten or
printed form, shall be deemed to have
been satisfied if such information or
matter is

ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE (contd.)

(a) rendered or made available in an
electronic form; and
(b) accessible so as to be usable for a
subsequent reference.

DIGITAL SIGNATURES &

ELECTRONIC RECORDS
LEGAL

RECOGNITION
DIGITAL SIGNATURES

OF

DIGITAL SIGNATURES &

ELECTRONIC RECORDS
(contd)
Use of Electronic Records and Digital
Signatures in Government Agencies.
Publications of rules and regulations
in the Electronic Gazette.

CERTIFYING AUTHORITIES
FOR DIGITAL SIGNATURES
Scheme

for Regulation of Certifying

Authorities for Digital Signatures

CONTROLLER OF CERTIFYING
AUTHORITIES
Controller of

Certifying Authorities
He shall perform the function of exercising
supervision over the activities of the
Certifying Authorities
Lay down standards and conditions governing
the Certifying Authorities
Specify the various forms and content of
Digital Signature Certificates.

DIGITAL SIGNATURE
CERTIFICATES
Digital

Signature Certificates.
Duties of subscribers

OFFENCES & PENALTIES

Penalties

and adjudication for various

offences
involving
computers,
computer systems and computer
networks.

OFFENCES & PENALTIES

(contd)
PENALTIES

FOR DAMAGE TO
COMPUTER,
COMPUTER
SYSTEM ETC. HAVE BEEN FIXED
AS DAMAGES BY WAY OF
COMPENSATION
NOT
EXCEEDING RS. 1,00,00,000/- TO
AFFECTED PERSONS.

PERSONAL LIABILITY
FOR OFFENCES &
PENALTIES
THE

IT ACT, 2000 IS BASED UPON

PERSONAL
LIABILITY
FOR
OFFENCES AND PENALITIES
RATHER THAN CORPORATE
LIABILITY.
BE VERY CAREFUL FOR ALL
YOUR ACTIVITIES CONCERNING
COMPUTERS AND CYBERSPACE.

CYBER OFFENCES
Various
Cyber

cyber offences defined

offences to be investigated only by

a Police Officer not below the rank of the
Deputy Superintendent of Police.

CYBER OFFENCES
(contd)
Tampering

with

computer source

documents
Publishing of information which is
obscene in electronic form
Breach of confidentiality and privacy

CYBER OFFENCES
(contd)
Hacking

Misrepresentation

Publishing
Digital
Signature
Certificate false in certain particulars
and publication for fraudulent
purposes.

THE IT ACT, 2000

POSITIVE ASPECTS
Legality of Email
E-MAIL

WILL NOW BE A VALID AND

LEGAL FORM OF COMMUNICATION
IN OUR COUNTRY.
Can be duly produced and proved in a
court of law.

NEED FOR MORE

CARE IN E-MAILS
COMPANIES

SHALL NEED TO BE
MORE CAREFUL WHILE WRITING
EMAILS
Whether outside the company or within
as the same with whatever language could
be proved in the court of law, sometimes
much to the detriment of the company. in
a court of law.

INTRA COMPANY E-MAIL

Even

intra company notes and memos, till

now use only for official purposes, shall
also be coming within the ambit of the
I.T. Act and will be admissible as evidence

E-MAIL - THE FOUNDATION

OF LITIGATION
Possible

consequence for a typical wired

company would be that any employee, unhappy
with
a particular email communication,
whether in personal or received in a official or
personal capacity, may make the said email as
the foundation for launching a litigation in a
court of law.

LEGAL INFRASTRUCTURE
FOR E-COMMERCE
Companies

shall now be able to carry out

electronic commerce using the legal
infrastructure provided by the Act.
Till now, the growth of Electronic commerce
was impeded in our country basically
because there was no legal infrastructure to
regulate commercial transactions online.

USE OF DIGITAL
SIGNATURES
Corporates

to use digital signatures to

carry out their transactions online.
These digital signatures have been given
legal validity and sanction in the Act.

ELECTRONIC FILING OF
RECORDS
Companies

to file any form, application

or any other document
with any office, authority, body or agency
owned or controlled by the appropriate
Government
in the electronic form by means of such
electronic form as may be prescribed by
the appropriate Government.

ELECTRONIC FILING OF
RECORDS (contd)
A great

leveler
Will enable all kinds of companies to do
a lot of their interaction with different
government departments online
Will lead to saving costs, time and
wastage of precious manpower.

RETENTION OF
INFORMATION IN
ELECTRONIC FORMAT
Companies

can legally retain the said

information in the electronic form, if (a) the information contained therein
remains accessible so as to be usable for a
subsequent reference;

RETENTION OF INFORMATION IN
ELECTRONIC FORMAT(contd)
(b) the electronic record is retained in the

format in which it was originally

generated, sent or received or in a format
which can be demonstrated to represent
accurately the information originally
generated, sent or received;

RETENTION OF
INFORMATION IN
ELECTRONIC FORMAT(contd)
(c)

the details which will facilitate the

identification of the origin, destination,
date and time of dispatch or receipt of
such electronic record are available in the
electronic record.

SECURITY
Important issues of Security addressed
Legal
definition of secure digital
signatures which would be required to
have been passed through a system of a
security procedure, as stipulated by the
government at a later date.

SECURITY (contd.)
In

future, secure digital signatures to

play a big role in the New Economy
particularly from the perspective of
the corporate sector as it will enable
a more secure transaction online.

STATUTORY REMEDY FOR

CORPORATES
Corporates

have a statutory remedy in

case if anyone breaks into their computer
systems or network and causes damages
or copies data.
Remedy is in the form of monetary
damages not exceeding Rs. one crore.

CYBER CRIMES
DEFINED
Various

cyber crimes defined to the relief of

corporates.
Cyber offences declared as penal offences
punishable with imprisonment and fine.
These include hacking and damage to
computer source code.
Law providing legal redress to the
previously helpless corporates in the face of
growing hacking

IT RULES UNDER IT
ACT, 2000
IMPLEMENTED

IMPLEMENTATION
Biggest

concern
relates
to
implementation of IT Act.
The said Act does not lay down
parameters for its implementation.

I.T. ACT 2000 OVERALL PERSPECTIVES

The

IT Act is a first step taken by the

Government of India
towards
promoting the growth of electronic
commerce. Despite all its failings, it is
a first historical step.

I.T. ACT 2000 CONCLUSION

The

other steps have to follow.

However, the government has to be
quick in responding to the challenges
raised by the constantly changing
technologies. Just as time does not wait
for anyone, so does Internet. The time
to act is right now.

WEBSITE
www.cyberlaws.net
EMAIL
pduggal@vsnl.com
pavanduggal@hotmail.com

THANKS

THAT WAS A PRESENTATION

BY
PAVAN DUGGAL,
ADVOCATE, SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CYBERLAW CONSULTANT,
PRESIDENT,CYBERLAWS.NET
MEMBER, MAC, ICANN