India Passes Cybercrime-Friendly Legislation

"In the last week of December, 2008, the Parliament of India has passed the amendments to the Information Technology Act 2000, which is popularly known as Indian cyberlaw. The IT Amendment Act 2008 brings about various sweeping changes in the existing Cyberlaw...

"The most bizarre and startling aspect of the new amendments is that these amendments seek to make the Indian Cyberlaw a cyber crime friendly legislation; — a legislation that goes extremely soft on cyber criminals, with a soft heart; a legislation that chooses to encourage cyber criminals by lessening the quantum of punishment accorded to them under the existing law; a legislation that chooses to give far more freedom to cyber criminals than the existing legislation envisages; a legislation which actually paves the way for cyber criminals to wipe out the electronic trails and electronic evidence by granting them bail as a matter of right; a legislation which makes a majority of cybercrimes stipulated under the IT Act as bailable offences; a legislation that is likely to pave way for India to become the potential cyber crime capital of the world."

From The Business-Standard...