ITA 2008 Law Enforcement Incident Response The way

ITA 2008: Law Enforcement Incident Response The way forward- By Talwant Singh Addl. Distt. & Sessions Judge Delhi talwantsingh@gmail. com & -

Recent Amendments l The Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008 (Bill No. 96 -F of 2008) was passed by the Lok Sabha on 22 -12 -2008 and by the Rajya Sabha on 23 -12 -2008. l It received Her Excellency President’s assent on 5 th February, 2009.

Important Amendments to IT Act l In Section 43, two new offences added: 1. Destroying, deleting or altering information in a computer resource to diminish its value. 2. Stealing, concealing or destroying any computer source code with intention to cause damage.

Important Amendments to IT Act l l 1. 2. 3. Sec. 66 has been replaced providing that if any of the acts mentioned in Section 43 was done dishonestly or fraudulently, it is punishable with 3 Years Imprisonment or Fine of Rs. 5. 00 Lacs or with both. A new Sec. 66 A is added providing for three years imprisonment and fine for sending: Offensive or menacing information; or False information for causing insult, injury, intimidation, hatred or ill-will; or E-mail causing annoyance or to deceive or misled recipient about the origin of that e-mail

Important Amendments to IT Act l Section 66 B makes it an offence to dishonestly receive or retain any stolen computer resource or communication device which is punishable with 3 years imprisonment or fine upto Rs. 1. 00 Lac. l Dishonest use of Electronic Signatures, password or identification feature invites punishment upto 3 years and fine upto Rs. 1. 00 Lac (Section 66 C)

Important Amendments to IT Act l Impersonation with the help of computer or communication device will result in 3 years imprisonment and fine upto Rs. 1. 00 Lac (Section 66 D) l Violation of privacy by way of sending electronic visual images of private parts of body is also punishable with 3 years’ imprisonment or fine upto Rs. 1. 00 Lac. (Section 66 E)

Important Amendments to IT Act Cyber Terrorism is defined in Section 66 F: l Whoever threatens the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India or strike terror in people by: 1. Denying access to computer resource; or 2. access computer resource without authority; or 3. Introduce any computer contaminant and causes death or destruction of property; or l Penetrates restricted computer resources or information affecting sovereignty, integrity, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency, contempt of court, defamation or to the advantage of foreign state or group of persons. l It is punishable with imprisonment upto life.

Important Amendments to IT Act l Obscenity has been defined in new Section 67 punishable with imprisonment for 3 years with fine upto Rs. 5. 00 Lacs for first offence and imprisonment for 5 years with fine upto Rs. 10. 00 Lacs for subsequent offence. l Section 67 A deals with publishing or transmitting sexually explicit material which is punishable with 5 years imprisonment & fine upto 10. 00 Lacs for first offence and for subsequent offence, imprisonment upto 7 years with fine upto 10. 00 Lacs.

Important Amendments to IT Act l Child Pornography has been made a separate offence in Section 67 B punishable with 5 years imprisonment & fine upto 10. 00 Lacs for first offence and for subsequent offence, imprisonment upto 7 years with fine upto 10. 00 Lacs. l Section 69 has been redrafted enabling Government agencies to intercept, monitor or decrypt any electronic information with the help of subscribers, intermediary or person incharge of computer resources. l Non-cooperation by any of the above invites imprisonment upto 7 years with fine.

Important Amendments to IT Act l 69 A: Government gets power to issue directions for blocking for public access of any information through any computer resource. l An intermediary who fails to comply with directions in this regard shall be punished with imprisonment upto 7 years with fine. l 69 B: For cyber security, Government may order any intermediary to allow access to any computer resources and violation results in imprisonment upto 3 years with fine.

Important Amendments to IT Act l Sec. 72 A provides for punishment for disclosure of information in breach of lawful contract extending upto 3 years or fine to the tune of Rs. 5. 00 Lacs or with both. l Section 77: confiscation, compensation awarded or penalty imposed does not come in the way of penalty, punishment or compensation under any other Act. l Compounding of offences with punishment upto 3 years allowed subject to the conditions that accused has no previous conviction or the offence does not affect the socio-economic conditions or it was not committed against a child or a woman.

Important Amendments to IT Act l Sec. 77 B prescribes that notwithstanding Cr. P. C. : l Offence punishable with imprisonment of 3 years and above are cognizable. Offence punishable with imprisonment upto 3 years are bailable. Power to investigate Cyber Crimes has been now vested in Inspectors in place of Dy. S. P. Office of Government Examiner of Electronic Evidence is to be established. (Section 79 A) Abatement carries same punishment as main act. Attempt to commit offence carries half of the punishment. (Section 84 B & 84 C) l l l

Important Amendments to IPC l l Jurisdiction is not bounded by Country’s boundaries if the target is a computer resource located in India. Section 4(3) Any act done anywhere in the world is an offence if the said act, if committed in India is an offence. Explanation (a) to Section 4 Voluntary concealment of existence of a design by encryption or any other information hiding tool is an offence. The words ‘Digital Signatures” have been replaced with “Electronic signatures”.

Important Amendments to Cr. P. C. l l Opinion of Examiner of Electronic Evidence has been made relevant. (Section 45 A) Examiner is to be treated as an Expert. Examiner is to examined like any other expert from CFSL or other Labs. Words ‘Digital Signature” are to be replaced by “Electronic Signature”.

THANKS TALWANT SINGH ADDL. DISTT. & SESSIONS JUDGE talwantsingh@gmail. com