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IT Act to include data protection clauses
By siliconindia
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Friday, 27 February 2004, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Taking note of a serious gap that could affect India's sunrise BPO sector, Government is looking at the possibility of amending the IT Act 2000 to insert certain data protection clauses instead of enacting a separate legislation for it.
"There is a need to amend the IT Act 2000 to include data protection clauses in it for our BPO and outsourcing industry", a source associated with the process said, adding that enacting a full-fledged law on it might prove to be counter-productive.
"We are working out on data protection clauses in the IT Act 2000 and looking at a situation where we would not have any separate legislations on data protection. The amendment will do the needful", the source said.
IT department officials met with a group of industry bodies and legal experts on Tuesday.
The group is to submit its report to the IT Secretary by March 10, after which the report would be studied by the IT department for further action.
Experts from legal firm Amarchand Mangaldas, eminent lawyer Srinivasan and cyber lawyer Pawan Duggal were present at the meeting besides members from Indian Law Institute.
Of late, the absence of a data protection legislation has created enough heat along with the outsourcing backlash in US.
"At present there is no law in India that can protect data from being misused. The IT Act 2000 is completely silent on this. Data has been defined but there is no effective legal regime for protection of data", the source said.