IT focus on MMS scandals

Proposing changes in the IT Act 2000, a report has been submitted. It suggests new penalties against cyber crime.

No longer will some overzealous cop be able to haul the likes of Avinish Bajaj to jail for something that was put up for sale on his e-commerce website. Neither will a mobile service provider official be held responsible in the event of an obscene clip being transmitted over the network.

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Similarly, web-hosting service providers, internet-access providers, search engines and cyber cafes will no longer be held liable under any law for third-party unlawful actions.

Proposing changes in the Information Technology Act 2000, a report — prepared by a committee headed by IT secretary Brijesh Kumar and industry representatives — has been submitted to Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The report also suggests new penalties against cyber crime.

In addition, the Act is being made technology neutral with minimum change in the existing IT Act 2000. Focussing on the ‘data protection and privacy’ issue, sections 43, 65, 66 and 72 have been revisited and more stringent provisions introduced.

The report seeks to address ‘the new phenomenon of video voyeurism, where images of the private area of an individual are captured without knowledge and then transmitted widely without consent, thus violating privacy rights’.

Another section has been proposed to provide methods for encryption for secure use of the electronic medium. Section 69 — related to the power to issue directions for interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource — has been amended to take care of concerns expressed by the Home Ministry.