The Parliament of India has passed its first Cyberlaw, the Information Technology Act, 2000 which not only provides the legal infrastructure for  E-commerce in India but also at the same time, gives draconian powers to thePolice to enter and search, without any warrant,any public place  for  the  purpose  of  nabbing  cyber criminals and preventing cyber crime.                  

The good features of the said IT Act are that  it  legally recognizes email as  a valid form of  communication in India.  Also acceptance in a electronic  form  of any offer, culminating into an electronic contract,has also been declared legal and enforceable. The new act has recognized digital  signature for the first time in Indian law.The said new law has also granted a hierarchy of infrastructure consisting of a Controller for   certifying authorities, Adjudicating Officers and Cyber Appellate  Tribunal.                                                                                   

The  most  distressing part of the new IT Act 2000 is its absolute trampling  of cyber liberties and freedom. A police officer of the rank a Deputy superintendent of Police has  been  granted  unheard of powers in Cyberlaw  history to do almost anything for the purpose of nabbing a cyber criminal. The said unrestricted power given to police officer is in the form of an absolute discretion given to the police officer to enter and search any  public place and arrest any person without  warrant  who is  "reasonably
suspected" of having committed or of committing a cyber crime  or if he is  about  to commit a cyber crime. The discretion of the police officer further extends to defining as to who is going to be "reasonably suspected"  of a  cybercrime.  Also, the  Indian Cyberlaw talks of the arrest of any person who is about to commit a cybercrime. It is indeed alien to Cyberlaw jurisprudence as to how any policeofficer is going to decide as to whether a person is about to commit  a cybercrime.  Also, the  requirements of
cyberspace are very different from the actual world. Most of the times, it is difficult to  decide  till  the  last  moment  as  to  whether  any  cybercrime  is   about   to   be committed.                                                                              

To top it all, the IT Act,  2000 gives immunity to the  Central Government  and   its officials including police  from any suit, prosecution and other legal proceedings for any act done in good faith in pursuance of the provisions of  the Act.Effectively,this rules out any remedy for  any  person who is made a  target of abuse and misuse of discretion by the police.                                                                                           

Just in case you felt that this was all, you are mistaken. The Indian law  makes itself applicable  to   not   only  the whole of India but also to any  contravention or offence committed  outside  India  by  any  person of any   nationality  throughout  the world. Internet is about abolishing boundaries  and not about creating them. The  said  new law opens up a pandora's box for conflict of   jurisdiction.      

The said Indian law further takes immovable property out of the ambit of  electronic commerce as immovable property is excluded from the applicability  of  the act.                                                                                                                                                                   &! nbsp;  ;                                                                          

The Government of India further claims immunity from judicial review in its  power of  appointing  the Presiding Officer of theCyber  Appellate Tribunal ,a feature  unknown to Indian jurisprudence. Further, it hits at the root of established  procedure of law.                                                        

Another surprising feature of the new Indian law is that it begins by  granting a legal infrastructure for e-commerce without touching anything on  other important legal issues for the corporate sector like Intellectual  Property Rights, Domain Names, Internet Policy, Linking or Disclaimer.

Another clauseof the new law takes a contrary stand from emerging global  cyberlaw trends  relating  to  liability  of  Internet  Service  Providers  for  third party data and information. Contrary to global trends, ISPs as a matter of principle are made  liable for third party data and information  made available by  them  through their  service. However, only in two exceptional cases,  the ISP  is  not liable if the ISP  proves that he  had  no   knowledge   of  the   commission  of  any offence or contravention of the provisions of the Act or if the ISP proves that he acted with due diligence to prevent the  commission  of  any offence or contravention  of the provisions of the Act.  Both the two exceptions are  extremely  loosely  defined  and  the  same shall become one more tool of harassment of companies in the hands of  the authorities.                                                                                                                   

The  biggest  concern  about the new Indian Cyberlaw relates to its  implementation. The  said  Act  does  not  lay  down  parameters  for  its  implementation. Also  when Internet penetration in India is extremely low and  Government and Police  Officials, in  general  are  not  at all,  computer  savvy,   the  new Indian Cyberlaw raises more questions than it answers them.