HYDERABAD: The Union government will be incorporating stringent provisions in the proposed amendment to the Information Technology Act to deal with a variety of cyber-crimes, including child p*rnography.
"The amendment will have very exemplary punishment for child p*rnography. Offenders will attract a rigorous jail term of up to seven years," Union Communications Secretary Jainder Singh said today.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the four-day 'Internet Governance Forum' conference at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre here, Singh said the new legislation would also provide for storage of information online which the legal authorities could access while dealing with cyber-crimes and related security aspects.
"There would also be a provision of tapping Internet communications but it would have similar safeguards like in case of phone-tapping. Prior clearance would have to be obtained from the Home Secreta ry for tapping online communications while dealing with cyber-terrorism and other serious crimes," the Communications Secretary said.
A Bill to amend the Information Technology Act, 2000, will be taken up by Parliament in the winter session that resumes next week.
The proposed amendments will effectively deal with online data security, data privacy, identity theft, cyber-terrorism, child p*rnography, spam, phishing and other online frauds.
For the first time, the Government of India has tried to define cyber terrorism, child p*rnography, spam, phishing and online frauds under the proposed amendment. The amended legal framework will be in line with all the provisions of the European Cyber Convention.
Once in place, the new legal framework will also address emerging issues in cyberspace, according to the joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Communications N Ravi Shanker.
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