India Has Officially Become The E-Police State

Cyber law of India has been doomed to its detriment and civil liberties of Indian citizens have been at their nadir. All this has happened due to lack of insight and capabilities of Indian legislation makers. The vested interests have overshadowed public interest and the sole cyber law of India has become an instrumentality for mass deprivation and grave suppression of cyber rights of Indians.

Despite the assurances of the law minister Mr. Molly regarding further amendments in the Information Technology Act, 2008 (IT Act 2008), the same has been notified. This has officially given India the status of a chronic e-surveillance State. The unreasonable and unconstitutional e-surveillance and draconic police state powers conferred by the IT Act 2008 have become the law of the land.

Indians have ceased to hold some of the basic human rights in cyberspace and the omnipresent state powers have doomed the Indian cyber sphere. The accountability is missing and the reasonableness deliberately scrapped off from the provisions contained in the IT Act 2008. Even basic level encryption that is absolutely essential for safe and secure cyber space transactions has been under scrutiny.

It is ironic that the Ministry of Law, Government of India and Mr. Molly finally gave away the freedom and security of India netizens in the hands of otherwise incompetent and inexperienced officials. How the Law Ministry allowed these unconstitutional provisions to be passed is still a bigger mystery?

The IT Act 2008 is a dark moment for the Indians wherein their rights have been curtailed on the one hand and the law has been made impotent on the other. Most of the offences have been made bailable and the deterrent has been lost forever. The misuse of the unbridled powers is very likely to happen as there are no safeguards and reasonable procedures that can prevent the same.

What would be the next step? Perhaps we would not be allowed to write articles like these in future as well if we keep on sleeping like we have been doing in the past.

AUTHOR: SHAYAM PRASAD

SOURCE: MERINEWS

Why Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 is still not notified ?

Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 (IT Act 2008) has always remained a bone of contention for its criminal friendly and police state approach. That is why it never saw the light of the day. The IT Act 2008 is already dead and we must move forward and enact the IT Act 2009 that must be not only comprehensive but holistic as well. It would be a good idea if experts are consulted this time before enacted the IT Act 2009 otherwise it would also face the same fate as it predecessor did.

Surprisingly, there are lots of news that the IT Act 2008 has been notified. The proposed notification seems to be a rumour than reality. The IT Act 2008 must be notified in official gazette by the Central Government u/s 1(2) of the IT Act 2008.

There is no information whatsoever that it has been notified except some news reports. None of these reports have provided either the text of the notification or the link to the website wherein that notification has been published. Even the notification number is missing.

On the other hand there are clear hints from the Law Minister Mr. Molly that the Information Technology Act 2000 and IT Act 2008 would be further amended.

India must appreciate that for a safe and secure cyberspace, we need a good legal framework. The present IT Act, 2000 is a piece make legislation that is weak on the fronts of cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, etc.

Similarly, other e-governance projects of government are also in poor state. As each component of e-governance is related to some other one, a deficiency in the basic legal and technological framework would bring sad results for India. It is high time for India to do some good work in the fields of cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics.

AUTHOR: V.K.SINGH

SOURCE: MYNEWS

Information Technology Amendment Act 2008: Notified Or Not

There are lots of news that the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 (IT Act 2008) has been notified. The proposed notification seems to be a rumour than reality. The IT Act 2008 must be notified in official gazette by the Central Government u/s 1(2) of the IT Act 2008.

There is no information whatsoever that it has been notified except some news reports. None of these reports have provided either the text of the notification or the link to the website wherein that notification has been published. Even the notification number is missing.

On the other hand there are clear hints from the Law Minister Mr. Molly that the Information Technology Act 2000 and IT Act 2008 would be further amended.

For reliable and up to date information, keep a check upon the Cyber Law In India resource. More details about the present notification fiasco would be published there very soon.

SOURCE: ITVOIR