Information

Technology Act,
2000

The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA-2000, or t he IT Act ) is an Act of
t he Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) not ified on 17 Oct ober 2000. It is t he primary law in
India dealing wit h cybercrime and elect ronic commerce.
 Information Technology Act, 2000

Parliament of India

Long title
The information technology act recognition for transactions carried out by means of
electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly
referred to as "electronic commerce", which involve the use of alternatives to paper-based
methods of communication and storage of information, to nusta editing electronic filing of
documents with the Government agencies and further to amend the Indian Penal Code, the
Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Bankers' Books with no Evidence Act, 1891 and the Reserve
Bank of India Act, 1934 and favour
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Citation Information Technology Act, 2000 (http://ww

w.meity.gov.in/content/information-technolog
y-act-2000)

Enacted by Parliament of India

Enacted 9 June 2000

Assented to 9 June 2000

Signed 9 May 2000

Commenced 17 October 2000

Introduced by Pramod Mahajan

Minister of Communications and Information

Technology

Amended by

IT (Amendment) Act 2008 (http://www.meity.gov.in/content/information-technology-act-2000)

Related legislation
 IT Rules 2021

Status: Amended

Secondary or subordinat e legislat ion t o t he IT Act includes t he Int ermediary Guidelines Rules
2011 and t he Informat ion Technology (Int ermediary Guidelines and Digit al Media Et hics Code)
Rules, 2021.

Background

The bill was passed in t he budget session of 2000 and signed by President K. R. Narayanan on
9 May 2000. The bill was finalised by a group of officials headed by t he Minist er of
Informat ion Technology Pramod Mahajan.[1]

Summary

The original Act cont ained 94 sect ions, divided int o 13 chapt ers and 4 schedules. The laws
apply t o t he whole of India. If a crime involves a comput er or net work locat ed in India,
persons of ot her nat ionalit ies can also be indict ed under t he law, .[2]

The Act provides a legal framework for elect ronic governance by giving recognit ion t o
elect ronic records and digit al signat ures. It also defines cyber crimes and prescribes
penalt ies for t hem. The Act direct ed t he format ion of a Cont roller of Cert ifying Aut horit ies t o
regulat e t he issuance of digit al signat ures. It also est ablished a Cyber Appellat e Tribunal t o
resolve disput es rising from t his new law.[2] The Act also amended various sect ions of t he
Indian Penal Code, 1860, t he Indian Evidence Act , 1872, t he Banker's Book Evidence Act ,
1891, and t he Reserve Bank of India Act , 1934 t o make t hem compliant wit h new
t echnologies.[2]

Amendments

A major amendment was made in 2008. It int roduced Sect ion 66A which penalized sending
"offensive messages". It also int roduced Sect ion 69, which gave aut horit ies t he power of
"int ercept ion or monit oring or decrypt ion of any informat ion t hrough any comput er resource".
Addit ionally, it int roduced provisions addressing - pornography, child porn, cyber t errorism and
voyeurism. The amendment was passed on 22 December 2008 wit hout any debat e in Lok
Sabha. The next day it was passed by t he Rajya Sabha. It was signed int o law by President
Prat ibha Pat il, on 5 February 2009.[3][4][5][6]
Offences

List of offences and t he corresponding penalt ies:[7][8]

Section Offence Penalty

Tampering wit h comput er source Imprisonment up t o t hree years, or/and

65
document s wit h fine up t o ₹200,000

Imprisonment up t o t hree years, or/and

66 Hacking wit h comput er syst em
wit h fine up t o ₹500,000

Receiving st olen comput er or Imprisonment up t o t hree years, or/and

66B
communicat ion device wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Imprisonment up t o t hree years, or/and

66C Using password of anot her person
wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Imprisonment up t o t hree years, or/and

66D Cheat ing using comput er resource
wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Imprisonment up t o t hree years, or/and

66E Publishing privat e images of ot hers
wit h fine up t o ₹200,000

66F Act s of cybert errorism Imprisonment up t o life.

Publishing informat ion which is obscene in Imprisonment up t o five years, or/and

67
elect ronic form. wit h fine up t o ₹1,000,000

Imprisonment up t o seven years,

67A Publishing images cont aining sexual act s
or/and wit h fine up t o ₹1,000,000

Imprisonment up t o t hree years, or/and

67C Failure t o maint ain records
wit h fine.

Imprisonment up t o 2 years, or/and

68 Failure/refusal t o comply wit h orders
wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Imprisonment up t o seven years and

69 Failure/refusal t o decrypt dat a
possible fine.

Securing access or at t empt ing t o secure Imprisonment up t o t en years, or/and

70
access t o a prot ect ed syst em wit h fine.

Imprisonment up t o 2 years, or/and

71 Misrepresent at ion
wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Imprisonment up t o 2 years, or/and

72 Breach of confident ialit y and privacy
wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Disclosure of informat ion in breach of Imprisonment up t o 3 years, or/and

72A
lawful cont ract wit h fine up t o ₹500,000

73 Publishing elect ronic signat ure cert ificat e Imprisonment up t o 2 years, or/and
 false in cert ain part iculars wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Imprisonment up t o 2 years, or/and

74 Publicat ion for fraudulent purpose
wit h fine up t o ₹100,000

Notable cases

Criticisms

Future changes

Importance of the Information Technology Act

Secondary legislation

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?