IT Act of India 2000In May 2000, both the houses of the Indian Parliament passed the Information Technology Bill. The Bill received the assent of the President in August 2000 and came to be no!n as the Information Technology Act, 2000. "yber la!s are contained in the IT Act, 2000.This Act aims to provide the legal infrastructure for e#commerce in India. And the cyber la!s have a ma$or impact for e#businesses and the ne! economy in India. %o, it is important to understand !hat are the various perspectives of the IT Act, 2000 and !hat it o&ers.The Information Technology Act, 2000 also aims to provide for the legal frame!or so that legal sanctity is accorded to all electronic records and other activities carriedout by electronic means. The Act states that unless other!ise agreed, an acceptance of contract may be e'pressed by electronic means of communication and the same shall have legal validity and enforceability. %ome highlights of the Act are listed belo!("hapter#II of the Act speci)cally stipulates that any subscriber may authenticate an electronic record by a*'ing his digital signature. It further states that any person can verify an electronic record by use of a public ey of the subscriber."hapter#III of the Act details about +lectronic ,overnance and provides inter alia amongst others that !here any la! provides that information or any other matter shall be in !riting or in the type!ritten or printed form, then, not!ithstanding anything contained in such la!, such re-uirement shall be deemed to have been satis)ed if such information or matter is #rendered or made available in an electronic form. and accessible so as to be usable for a subse-uent reference.The said chapter also details the legal recognition of /igital %ignatures."hapter#I0 of the said Act gives a scheme for 1egulation of "ertifying Authorities. The Act envisages a "ontroller of "ertifying Authorities !ho shall perform the function of e'ercising supervision over the activities of the "ertifying Authorities as also laying do!n standards and conditions governing the "ertifying Authorities as also specifying the various forms and content of /igital %ignature "erti)cates. The Act recogni2es the need for recogni2ing foreign "ertifying Authorities and it further details the various provisions for the issue of license to issue /igital %ignature "erti)cates."hapter#0II of the Act details about the scheme of things relating to /igital %ignature "erti)cates. The duties of subscribers are also enshrined in the said Act."hapter#I3 of the said Act tals about penalties and ad$udication for various o&ences. The penalties for damage to computer, computer systems etc. has been )'ed as damages by !ay of compensation not e'ceeding 1s. 4,00,00,000 to a&ected persons. The Act tals of appointment of any o*cers not belo! the ran of a /irector to the ,overnment of India or an e-uivalent o*cer of state government as an Ad$udicating 5*cer !ho shall ad$udicate !hether any person has made a contravention of any of the provisions of the said Act or rules framed there under. The said Ad$udicating 5*cer has been given the po!ers of a "ivil "ourt."hapter#3 of the Act tals of the establishment of the "yber 1egulations Appellate Tribunal, !hich shall be an appellate body !here appeals against the orders passed by the Ad$udicating 5*cers, shall be preferred."hapter#3I of the Act tals about various o&ences and the said o&ences shall be investigated only by a Police 5*cer not belo! the ran of the /eputy %uperintendent of Police. These o&ences include tampering !ith computer source documents, publishing of information, !hich is obscene in electronic form, and hacing.The Act also provides for the constitution of the "yber 1egulations Advisory "ommittee, !hich shall advice the government as regards any rules, or for any other purpose connected !ith the said act. The said Act also proposes to amend theIndian Penal "ode, 4670, the Indian +vidence Act, 4682, The Baners9 Boos +vidence Act, 46:4, The 1eserve Ban of India Act, 4:;< to mae them in tune !ith the provisions of the IT Act.Advantages of "yber =a!sThe IT Act 2000 attempts to change outdated la!s and provides !ays to deal !ith cyber crimes. >e need such la!s so that people can perform purchase transactions over the ?et through credit cards !ithout fear of misuse. The Act o&ers the much#needed legal frame!or so that information is not denied legal e&ect, validity or enforceability, solely on the ground that it is in the form of electronic records.In vie! of the gro!th in transactions and communications carried out through electronic records, the Act sees to empo!er government departments to accept )ling, creating and retention of o*cial documents in the digital format. The Act has also proposed a legal frame!or for the authentication and origin of electronic records @ communications through digital signature.Arom the perspective of e#commerce in India, the IT Act 2000 and its provisions contain many positive aspects. Airstly, the implications of these provisions for the e#businesses !ould be that email !ould no! be a valid and legal form of communication in our country that can be duly produced and approved in a court of la!."ompanies shall no! be able to carry out electronic commerce using the legal infrastructure provided by the Act.The Act thro!s open the doors for the entry of corporate companies in the business of being "ertifying Authorities for issuing /igital %ignatures "erti)cates.The Act no! allo!s ,overnment to issue noti)cation on the !eb thus heralding e#governance.The IT Act also addresses the important issues of security, !hich are so critical to the success of electronic transactions. The Act has given a legal de)nition to the concept of secure digital signatures that !ould be re-uired to have been passed through a system of a security procedure, as stipulated by the ,overnment at a later date.Bnder the IT Act, 2000, it shall no! be possible for corporates to have a statutory remedy in case if anyone breas into their computer systems or net!or and causesdamages or copies data. The remedy provided by the Act is in the form of monetary damages, not e'ceeding 1s. 4 crore.