Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, May 12: Anyone trying to introduce a virus in the system would be liable to pay exemplary damages upto Rs one crore, once the Information Technology Bill is passed by the Parliament on Wednesday.
Unauthorised use of somebody else’s computer account or damage caused to it too would attract a similar penalty, recommends the Standing Committee on Science and Technology which studied the IT Bill. The committee chaired by C Ramchandraiah of Telugu Desam Party consisted of 44 members.
The committee report tabled in both Houses of Parliament today, has increased financial penalty for a cyber crime by ten folds. The draft IT Bill had earlier prescribed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh for any such offence.
Highly placed sources in the Government today indicated that the Government would accept all recommendations of the Standing Committee, and introduce the Bill in Lok Sabha on Monday and Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Government expects it to be passed in both Houses the day it is introduced.
Similarly, the committee has hiked punishment for transmitting obscene material or publishing it in electronic form, from five years to ten years and the fine from Rs 50,000 to Rs two lakh.
The committee has also recommended setting up of a mechanism through which anyone introducing a virus or the one publishing obscene material may be traced back. The Delhi Police Commissioner Ajay Raj Sharma, is learnt to have advised the committee that only digital lines be allowed to be used for accessing internet so as to keep a record of caller identification in respective server. It would go a long way in checking cyber crimes, Sharma claimed.
Sharma also expressed concern over mushrooming cyber cafes where a criminal mind could easily cause damage in electronic terms without being identified. The committee has introduced fresh clause to deal with this possibility as well.
All owners or incharges of cyber cafes shall maintain details of persons and internet sites accessed by them. Similarly, any person hosting a website or portal or a server located in India shall furnish to the Controlller, the details of not only the website and server but also of the persons posting such portals. A non-compliance of any of these clauses would entail a sentence of one year or a fine of Rs five lakh, the committee recommended.
The committee after consulting IT experts, inserted a clause aimed at dealing with increasing incidents of hacking recommending a punishment of three years or a fine upto Rs two lakh. “Whoever with intent to cause or knowing that he is likely to cause wrongful damage to the public or any person, destroys or deletes or alters any information stored in a computer resource or diminishes its value or utility or affects it injuriously by any means commits hacking”, the committee says.
The committee has also defined the term of Presiding Officer of Cyber Apellate Tribunal for five years from the date of his assuming office or until he attains the age of 65, whichever is earlier.
