Recently, the government has decided to overhaul the two-decade-old IT Act. What's the reason for such a decision?
Actually, the 'Right to privacy' is now an important Fundamental Right that should be granted to all citizens. The law needs to specifically address privacy concerns, but that's not the case. Unfortunately, the present complex digitalised world has failed to realise the target. Can you guess why?
The answer goes as simple that since in this age of digitalisation & cyber technology, the population has been tremendously exposed to cyber crimes and cyber accidents. The issues of cybercrimes are drastically increasing and matters are shifting from bad to worse. In India, The Information Technology Act, 2000 was enacted which acts as the primary law in India for matters related to cybercrime and e-commerce.
There are many flaws in the IT Act - it doesn't settle privacy issues properly, poor protection of cyber security offered by the Act & lack of expertise in cyber officials to confront the challenges of cybercrime.
It's the need of the hour that:
- The IT Act, 2000 needs to be amended to deal with nuances of cyber security.
- It needs to be future-proofed so as to cover emerging technologies and the challenges it brings in their wake.
- It needs to keep up with the agile cyberspace and address privacy issues in tandem.
- Amending the act to introduce ODR (Online Dispute Resolution).
- Amendment of the act shouldn't be left alone for the bureaucrats. Private players and cyber experts should together devise a solution.
Privacy in cyberspace and cybersecurity has assumed paramount importance. Hence, the government has planned to draft a new IT Act which would cater to the present and the future demands. As we must not forget,
'The same device which gives us thousands of reasons to smile can give us a thousand reasons to file.'
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