The Information Technology Act 2000: A Scientific Review

Rakesh Kumar Singh

Rakesh Kumar Singh Scientist-E, G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, Regional Centre Mohal, Kullu-175126, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Keywords: IT Act 2000, IT (Amendment) Act 2008, cyber crime, hacking, identity theft, cyber space, digital signature

Abstract

The Information Technology Act 2000 is an Act passed by the Indian Parliament in May 2000, which came into force all over India on 9 June 2000 by the Gazette oflndia. The Information Technology Act 2000 has a total of 94 sections divided into 13 chapters. India significantly revised the Information Technology Act 2000 through the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 and this amended Act was implemented in India by the Gazette oflndia on 5 February 2009. Under the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008, Section 3 of Chapter 2 replaced the electronic signature with a digital signature. For this, subdivision (HA) was added in Section 2 with subdivision (H), which explains the medium of information. Accordingly, the medium of information can be mobile phone, any kind of personal digital medium or both, through which any kind of written material, video, audio or photographs are promoted,broadcasted or transmitted from one place to another.