Introduction To Information Technology Act
                     INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT
Introduction
The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA-2000, or the IT Act) is an 
Act of the Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) notified on 17 October 2000. It is the 
primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Legal framework
The Act provides a legal framework for electronic governance by giving recognition 
to electronic records and digital signatures. It also defines cyber crimes and 
prescribes penalties for them. The Act directed the formation of a Controller of 
Certifying Authorities to regulate the issuance of digital signatures. 
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Cyber Appellate Tribunal
•  It also established a Cyber Appellate Tribunal to resolve disputes rising from 
this new law. 
• The Act also amended various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the 
Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Banker's Book Evidence Act, 1891, and the 
Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 to make them compliant with new 
technologies.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Amendments
• A major amendment was made in 2008. It introduced Section 66A which 
penalized sending "offensive messages". 
• It also introduced Section 69, which gave authorities the power of "interception 
or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer 
resource”.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Additional Provisions
• Additionally, it introduced provisions addressing - pornography, child porn, 
cyber terrorism and voyeurism. 
• The amendment was passed on 22 December 2008 without any debate in Lok 
Sabha. The next day it was passed by the Rajya Sabha. It was signed into law by 
President Pratibha Patil, on 5 February 2009.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Importance of the Information Technology Act
• The Indian government closely connects data to citizens' privacy and this is 
demonstrated when Shiv Shankar Singh states, "Each person must be able to 
exercise a substantial degree of control over that data and its use. 
• Data protection is legal safeguard to prevent misuse of information about 
individual person on a medium including computers."
Source: en.wikipedia.org
List of offences and the corresponding penalties
Section Offence Penalty
Imprisonment up to three years, 
65 Tampering with computer source documents or/and with fine up to ₹200,000
  Imprisonment up to three years, 66 Hacking with computer system or/and with fine up to ₹500,000
Receiving stolen computer or communication Imprisonment up to three years, 
66B device or/and with fine up to ₹100,000
Imprisonment up to three years, 
66C Using password of another person
or/and with fine up to ₹100,000
Source: en.wikipedia.org
List of offences and the corresponding penalties cont.
Section Offence Penalty
66D Cheating using computer resource Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹100,000
66E Publishing private images of others Imprisonment up to three years, 
or/and with fine up to ₹200,000
66F Acts of cyberterrorism Imprisonment up to life.
Publishing information which is obscene in electronic Imprisonment up to five years, 
67 form. or/and with fine up to ₹1,000,000
Source: en.wikipedia.org
List of offences and the corresponding penalties cont.
Section Offence Penalty
67A Publishing images containing sexual acts Imprisonment up to seven years, or/and with fine up to ₹1,000,000
67C Failure to maintain records Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine.
68 Failure/refusal to comply with orders Imprisonment up to 2 years, or/and with fine up to ₹100,000
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Notable case
• In February 2001, in one of the first cases, the Delhi police arrested two men running a web-
hosting company. The company had shut down a website over non-payment of dues. The 
owner of the site had claimed that he had already paid and complained to the police. 
• The Delhi police had charged the men for hacking under Section 66 of the IT Act and breach 
of trust under Section 408 of the Indian Penal Code. The two men had to spend 6 days in 
Tihar jail waiting for bail.
Source: en.wikipedia.org