Information Technology Act 2008

Announcement - Information Technology Act ( Amended 2008) Relevant for students of Final (Old) and Final (New) Syllabus - (08-01-2010)

The Information Technology Act 2000 is covered under Chapter 14 of Paper 6: MICS ( Final Old ) and Chapter 10 of Paper 6: Information Systems Control and Audit ( Final New ) course.

With proliferation of information technology enabled services such as e-governance, ecommerce and e-transactions, protection of personal data and information and implementation of security practices and procedures relating to these applications of electronic communications have assumed greater importance and they require harmonization with the provisions of the Information Technology Act. Further, protection of Critical Information Infrastructure is pivotal to national security, economy, public health and safety, so it has become necessary to declare such infrastructure as a protected system so as to restrict its access.

A rapid increase in the use of computer and internet has given rise to new forms of crimes like publishing s*xually explicit materials in electronic form, video voyeurism and breach of confidentiality and leakage of data by intermediary, e-commerce frauds like personation commonly known as Phishing, identity theft and offensive messages through communication services. So, penal provisions are required to be included in the Information Technology Act, the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure to prevent such crimes.

Accordingly the Information Technology Act 2000 was amended by Information Technology Amendment Bill 2006. The Bill was passed in Loksabha on December 22nd and in Rajyasbha on December 23rd of 2008. The revised contents of the Act are available on the link given below. Students are advised to refer to these revised contents for their forthcoming Examinations.

IT Act (Amended 2008)