IT Act to enable wider participation
By agencies   |   Tuesday, 18 October 2005, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: The government today said that the changes being done to the Information Technology Act of 2000 aims at promoting e-governance that would dispel official procedures in a big way allowing usage by a larger section of the population. Information Technology Secretary Brijesh Kumar said the Act would be made extremely user-friendly and simple and the proposed changes is to enable more participation by the Indian population in the online environment. Speaking at an Interactive Session on IT Act 2000 and proposed amendments, Kumar said that the Government is open to any suggestion for simplifying the Act. He said the intention of the government in making the proposed amendments is to ensure minimalist government interference and that it was up to the industry to self regulate. On the concerns of the IT industry about the status of BPO companies as intermediaries, Kumar said the government would have a re-look on this issue and create appropriate mechanism to ensure that this sunrise sector is not hurt or negatively impacted by any legislative language. Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said there has been a lot of focus on the IT Act 2000, both nationally and internationally due to recent developments, particularly the provisions related to data protection and privacy in the context of BPO operations, liabilities of network service providers, computer related offences, regulation of cyber cafes. Maran said that the field of cyber laws, being a nascent area, is still evolving worldwide and more so in India. With an objective to review the Information Technology Act, 2000, in the light of the latest developments and to consider the feedback received for removal of certain deficiencies in the Act, the Minister had set-up an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of the IT Secretary with representatives like Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom from the IT industry.

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