The intense media
pressure created in the aftermath of the Gurgaon fraud finally had its result
in getting the Prime Minister of the country endorse the call for a new "Data
Protection Act". We have reached a situation where media has created a
perception that "If a new law is not passed, data protection in Indian BPOs
will be weak".
The option is
still before the Government.. either to amend the ITA-2000 comprehensively or
to scrap it and go for different laws.
If it is
decided to scrap ITA-2000 and have separate laws it is necessary to consider
if it is worthwhile to bifurcate the current ITA-2000 into "Cyber Crimes
Act", "Digital Signature Act", "E-Commerce Regulation Act" and "E-Governance
Regulations Act". Additionally we can add separate laws such as
"Anti Spam Act", "Anti Phishing Act", "Anti Cyber Squatting Act" . Further RBI
is anyway contemplating "E-Payments Act". They may even look at "Internet
Banking Act". SEBI is already game for "E-Securities Act". The Finance
Ministry will be happy with a "E-Taxes Act" and "E-Stamps Act". IPR people
will also be happy if there is a "DMCA-India Act" and "Digital Patents Act".
Whichever
option is used, It appears that the "Wonderland of Cyber Laws" will get even
more interesting than it is at present. The next task before us is to ensure
that the pressure to create new law does not result in hasty legislation that
does more harm than good.
In the end, CEO
's in IT industry will be running around "Compliance Management" rather than
"Business Management".
(Comments
welcome)
Naavi
June 30,2005
Related Article:
Report in Bloomberg
