IT Act 2000

Aims to provide a legal and regulatory framework

for
promotion of e-Commerce and e-Governance.
Enacted on 7th June 2000 and was notified in the
official gazette on 17th October 2000.
India became the 12th nation in the world to enact
a Cyber law.

IT ACT, 2000 MAJOR

PROVISIONS
Extends to the whole of India
Electronic contracts will be legally valid
Legal recognition of digital signatures
Security procedure for electronic records
and digital signature
Appointment of Controller of Certifying
Authorities to license and regulate the
working of Certifying Authorities

IT ACT, 2000 MAJOR PROVISIONS

(Contd..)
Certifying Authorities to get License from the
Controller to issue digital signature
certificates
Various types of computer crimes defined and
stringent penalties provided under the Act
Appointment of Adjudicating Officer for
holding inquiries under the Act
Establishment of Cyber Regulatory Appellate
Tribunal under the Act

IT ACT, 2000 MAJOR PROVISIONS

(Contd..)
Appeal from order of Adjudicating Officer
to Cyber Appellate Tribunal and not to any
Civil Court
Appeal from order of Cyber Appellate
Tribunal to High Court
Act to apply for offences or contraventions
committed outside India
Network service providers not to be liable
in certain cases

IT ACT, 2000 MAJOR PROVISIONS

(Contd..)
Power of police officers and other officers
to enter into any public place and search
and arrest without warrant
Constitution of Cyber Regulations Advisory
Committee to advise the Central
Government and the Controller

IT ACT, 2000 ENABLES:

Legal recognition of digital signature is at
par with the handwritten signature
Electronic Communication by means of
reliable electronic record
Acceptance of contract expressed by
electronic means
Electronic filing of documents
Retention of documents in electronic form

IT ACT, 2000 ENABLES: (Contd..)

Uniformity of rules, regulations and
standards regarding the authentication and
integrity of electronic records or
documents
Publication of official gazette in the
electronic form
Interception of any message transmitted in
the electronic or encrypted form

Changes / modifications in other

prevailing Acts.
Indian Evidence Act, 1872
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Banker's Book Evidence Act, 1891
Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934

Civil Offences under the IT Act 2000

(Section 43 )
Unauthorised copying, extracting and
downloading of any data, database
Unauthorised access to computer,
computer system or computer network
Introduction of virus
Damage to computer System and Computer
Network
Disruption of Computer, computer network

Civil Offences under the IT Act 2000

(contd..) (Section 43 )
Denial of access to authorised person to
computer
Providing assistance to any person to
facilitate unauthorised access to a
computer
Charging the service availed by a person to
an account of another person by tampering
and manipulation of other computer
shall be liable to pay damages by way of
compensation not exceeding one crore rupees to
the person so affected.

Criminal Offences under the IT Act

2000 (Sections 65 to 75)
Tampering with computer source documents
Hacking with computer system

"Whoever with the intent to cause or knowing that he

is likely to cause wrongful loss or damage to the
public or any person destroys or deletes or alters any
information residing in a computer resource or
diminishes its value or utility or affects it injuriously
by any means, commits hacking."

shall be punishable with imprisonment up to three

years, or with fine which may extend up to two lakh
rupees, or with both.

Criminal Offences under the IT Act

2000
Electronic forgery I.e. affixing of false digital signature,
making false electronic record
Electronic forgery for the purpose of cheating
Electronic forgery for the purpose of harming reputation
Using a forged electronic record
Publication of digital signature certificate for fraudulent
purpose
Offences and contravention by companies

Criminal Offences under the IT Act

2000
67. Publishing of information which is obscene in electronic
form.

"Whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published in

the electronic form, any material which is lascivious or
appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to
tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having
regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the
matter contained or embodied in it, shall be punished on first
conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term
which may extend to five years and with fine which may
extend to one lakh rupees and in the event of a second or
subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to ten years and also
with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees."

Criminal Offences under the IT Act

2000
Electronic forgery I.e. affixing of false digital signature,
making false electronic record
Electronic forgery for the purpose of cheating
Electronic forgery for the purpose of harming reputation
Using a forged electronic record
Publication of digital signature certificate for fraudulent
purpose
Offences and contravention by companies
Unauthorised access to protected system

Criminal Offences under the IT Act

2000
Confiscation of computer, network, etc.
Unauthorised access to protected system (Sec. 70)
Misrepresentation or suppressing of material
facts for obtaining Digital Signature Certificates
Directions of Controller to a subscriber to extend
facilities to decrypt information (Sec. 69)
Breach of confidentiality and Privacy (Sec. 72)

Criminal Offences under the IT Act

2000

Offence or contravention commited outside India (Sec. 75)

by any person irrespective of his nationality.

Network service providers not to be liable in certain case

(Sec. 79 )

no person providing any service as a network service

provider shall be liable under this Act, rules or
regulations made there under for any third party
information or data made available by him if he proves
that the offence or contravention was committed
without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due
diligence to prevent the commission of such offence or
contravention.

Cases
Famous Baazee (now eBay India) CEO arrest case
Two school kids record a pornographic clip on their
mobile phone, and share it as an MMS
An IIT student receives the clip and posts it on
Baazee.com (the Indian arm of Ebay) for auction
When this is discovered, the Delhi Cyber Crime Cell
arrests:
Mr. Avnish Bajaj, Director of Bazee
The IIT student who posted the clip
The juvenile who was in the clip

Section 67 Publishing of information which is

obscene in electronic form is invoked

Conclusions

Cases
The Cybercime Cells website was hacked
A hoax email about a bomb planted in
Parliament was sent to all the MPs
In both cases, the police arrested the
owners of the cyber cafes from where the
crimes were committed
Sections 65 (tampering with computer
source documents) and 66 (hacking with
computer system) were invoked
Conclusions
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Cases

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LEGAL PROBLEMS OF THE NEW

TECHNOLOGY

APPLICATION OF
JURISPRUDENTIAL
CONCEPTIONS TO CYBERSPACE.
FRAGILE EVIDENCE

35

VANISHING BORDERS IN CYBERSPACE

Sovereignty
and
exercise
of
Jurisdiction which are attributes of
statehood are linked to territorial nexus
In Cyberspace territorial boundaries are
meaningless
Internet address has no relation to the
physical location of the computer or its
user
Law implies the application of coercive
force but this is not feasible over
individuals not within the territory
36

ANONYMITY AND PSEUDO-ANONYMITY

Cyberspace

permits

anonymity

and

pseudo anonymity
Users can mask their real flesh and
blood

identities

and

assume

digital

avtars
anonymous remailers facilitate sending
messages

without

identity or origin

revealing
37

their

CHALLENGE OF CYBERSPACE

Cyberspace calls into question many

traditional legal conceptions like
Ownership
Freedom of expression
Liability
Property etc
38

THOUGHT ON GOVERNANCE OF
CYBERSPACE
Laws involved on geographical basis have
no application to cyberspace which is
borderless
Cyberspace
transactions
occur
simultaneously
in
all
jurisdictions
assumption of jurisdiction by multiple
states will lead to jurisdictional mayhem
Architecture of Cyberspace precludes
previous notice of applicable laws
40

Cases

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