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CYBER CRIMINALS TO PAY COMPENSATION UPTO Rs. 5 CRORES (approximately US $ 1 MILLION)
By Raghavendra Rao of Poornaprajna Cyber Quest
To allay the fears of the captains of the Indian information technology industry and control the damage done, the Government of India is ready to add fresh rules and guidelines to the Information Technology Amendment Bill 2008 passed by the Parliament in 2008.
Under the Amendment Bill the government was empowered to spy over the cyber activities of any person at its will. It could intercept, block and punish any one found to commit a crime in cyber space. This sweeping power could be easily misused by the vested elements in government to their personal gains. The Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Information Technology has said at a Seminar last week organized by the Association of Indian Chambers of Commerce “We know that there are apprehensions that the government might snoop in to spy and that the bill does not ensure adequate punishment for stealing of corporate data etc., but we are soon going to put some guidelines in place. When the amended Act comes into force these rules will also come into force”. There were oppositions to the bill from certain sections that it had gone soft on cyber crimes as most offences were made bailable under the new law. ‘Many acts that were non-bailable under the IT Act, 2000 have been made bailable. According to the new legislation even a local inspector can investigate the complaint whereas earlier only the Deputy Superintendent of Police could investigate the complaints. Gulshan Rai of Computer Emergency Response Team, Department of Information Technology said “All provisions are in line with the European Convention. Misuse of sensitive personal data will attract a severe compensation of up to Rs. 5 crores (approximately US $ 1 million). For more compensation one could go to a higher court. We are open to suggestion and inputs from the companies to be added to the bill.” He also said that it was in the best interest of the companies that the offences were made bailable. These fresh rules to be added will be secondary legislatures and would not require the approval of the Parliament. The amendments passed by the Indian Parliament will go a long way in the field of cyber crimes. Most of the acts that are considered offence in the Information Technology Act would now become non-bailable which in effect means that a cyber criminal could not be arrested without obtaining the orders of a Magistrate and without conducting an enquiry and hence the cyber criminals are encouraged to indulge in such offence. In the back drop of the fact that the criminals are not visible even if their act is evident on the screens of a computer, it is not easy to trace, charge-sheet and punish a culprit as could be done in the case of other crimes. Under such circumstances, the Indian Parliament should not have ventured to dilute the seriousness of an offence committed by a cyber criminal.
However, a small solace could be drawn from the statement of the government officials that rules are framed and put in place to allay the fears of information technology industry. The officials have assured that the government would not take big brotherly attitude to interception, monitoring and blocking of cyber communications. Earlier for tapping of phones one required the permission of Controller of Certifying Authority, but now the government can tap whoever it wants. The present information technology law in India is not comprehensive enough. The government would do well to consult the experts in the field of cyber law before it would finalize the rules in the interest of the nation. |
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