World Intellectual Property Review Digital Digest 2009

InDIA
Himanshu Bagai
Luthra & Luthra Law Ofﬁ ces
PRoGREss on
It AMEnDMEnts
Th e fact that India has become a preferred destination for business
process outsourcing and information technology-enabled services has not
changed the limited access to the Internet in the country. Th e Information
Technology Act of 2000 was promulgated to promote and increase the
viability of electronic commerce, address liabilities arising from it, and
enable electronic ‘documents’ to be recognised as evidence. Th e act was
heralded as a revolutionary piece of legislation. However, it was criticised
for lacking focus on areas such as protecting personal information and
seems also to be out of sync with global standards governing the liabilities of
service providers such as ISPs or auction sites.
Th e defi ciencies of the act were highlighted by the arrest of the managing
director of the auction portal bazee.com in 2004, which had recently been
acquired by eBay. He was charged as being liable for the sale of pornographic
CDs through the website.
Criticism of the act led to the formation of a committee to review it. Th is led
to the introduction of the Information Technology Amendment Bill 2006 in
Parliament, which aimed to incorporate recent developments, especially on
data protection and privacy in the context of outsourcing operations, liabilities
of network service providers, computer-related off ences, regulation of cyber
cafes and issues relating to child pornography. It also aimed to make the act
technology neutral and to streamline the operational issues of the certifying
authority and its users. Th e bill was passed by both houses of parliament in
February 2009, as the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008. Th e
amendments came into force on October 27, 2009. Th e rules and regulations
under some sections of the act are, however, still at the draft ing stage.
94 World Intellectual Property Review Digest 2009 www.worldipreview.com
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