Use of Electronic Documents by Government Agencies

The  Act states that any Ministry or Department of the Central or State Governments or any authority or body established /funded by them cannot be compelled to use Electronic documentation.

As a result of this provision, the use of Electronic documents by Government bodies may get deferred indefinitely, defeating the objective of introducing a paperless administration.

Hopefully the government agencies will voluntarily adopt themselves to the new technology and render this clause redundant. It would however be better if this clause is removed altogether or substantially diluted.
 

Are any more actions need to be added to the list of Cyber Crimes?

Two areas where the Bill has remained silent are relating to "Spamming" and infringement of Copyright. While it may be possible to bring Copy right violations in respect of Electronic documents within the gamut of Cyber Laws in an indirect manner, it would have been better if some direct mention had been made, so that adjudication of penalties could have been quick. Similarly, "Spamming" has been internationally recognised as a menace and could have been brought under the list of Cyber crimes.

Constitution of the Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee

The Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee (CRAC) would be a very important body which would advise the Government on all policy matters and formation of rules for the administration of the Cyber Laws.

Whether the Cyber Law would be a boon or bane for the Netizens would depend to a large extent on the constitution of the CRAC and the respect given to its recommendations.

The IT Bill provides that the CRAC would consist of official and non-official members representing the interests principally affected or having special knowledge in the subject matter. The most important task for the Government now is to find appropriate members for the CRAC.

Hopefully CRAC would not turnout to be another TRAI.
 
 

The criteria for Licensing Certifying Authorities

Certifying Authorities will be required to maintain secure systems for issue of Digital Certificates, maintain a repository of certificates and update the repository on a real time basis. They also provide financial guarantee to compensate for losses to people who take action depending on the Certificates issued by them subject to certain Reliance limits that they may specify.

The Certifying Authorities will have to be therefore financially sound and technically advanced to meet the onerous responsibilities associated with the task of issuing Digital Certificates.

The Bill rightly envisages that established international Certifying authorities may be licensed for operation in India.

It is likely that some Banks would be interested in providing this service either on their own or in collaboration with other international players.
 
 

The effective date of implementation of the Law

It is to be seen whether the Law will be implemented prospectively or will also cover offences committed before the Act is notified but have not become time-barred.
 
 

Offences committed by Minors

It can be reasonably expected that incidence of Cyber crimes by minors would be frequent. It would perhaps have been better if the Act had made a special provision for punishments and defined the responsibilities of the guardians in such cases.
 
 

Obscenity as an Offence

Public should welcome the provision to declare obscene publication of electronic documents as an offence. This may help in the greater use of Internet in the homes and Schools.
 
 

Are the Powers retained by the Government to intercept messages justified?

In view of the security threats faced by the country, this enabling provision is justified. It is however expected that the procedures laid down for its invocation would be rigid enough to prevent their misuse.
 
 

Are the powers given to the Police Authorities under the Bill justified?

This is also an enabling provision that is necessary for the implementation of some of the provisions of the Bill. Again it is the responsibility of the framers of the rules under the act to safeguard the interests of innocent citizens against misuse of the provisions by Police personnel.
 

Preventing of unintended violation of Exchange Control regulations

Most of the Internet transactions are across geographical boundaries. With the passage of the Cyber laws in India, Foreigners may enforce some of the provisions of the Act to hold residents of India liable for some of their transactions on the Internet. Many such actions of the Indian residents can perhaps be violative of the Exchange Control Regulations. There may therefore be a need for a complete review of the Exchange Control provisions to make it compatible to the "Connected Society". This matter needs to be taken up with the RBI.