CII attempts changes within Indian IT Act
By agencies   |   Monday, 08 August 2005, 19:30 IST
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CHENNAI: In a first ever attempt at addressing the concerns related to the Indian information technology Act (ITA), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Southern Region, has presented its recommendations on making changes to ITA to the ministry of communications and IT. This comes close on the heels of the statement by Union IT minister Dayanidhi Maran that the ministry was considering a change in ITA. The information security sub committee of CII recently had a 15-day workshop in which 100 professionals from IT, ITES, IT security audit firms, MNC consultancy firms, legal industry and the Cyber Society of India participated. This committee has reportedly brought out a white paper on the changes that have to be made to ITA and this has been forwarded to the IT ministry. There are several portions of the IT Act, which are gray. The awareness about the provisions of the Act is very low among the public. This has to be redressed. Also, the Act has to be amended in such a way that it gives protection for both the employees and the employers of IT companies. In the wake of the fraudulent activities that have been reported in the IT and BPO industry, the demand for making changes to the IT Act has risen. The Central government had asked the IT industry to submit its recommendations on making changes to the IT Act. The industry was, however, more focused on strengthening its own internal security measures. So, CII decided to form a committee and submit the recommendations of the industry to the government. The committee's report apart from addressing the information security concern has recommended amendments to other provisions of the IT Act as well. The committee's recommendations revolved around issues like spamming, squatting, cyber terrorism, cyber stalking, hacking etc.

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