Cybersecurity bill to clearly define contours of online safety, security – Economic Times

The Centre is working on the contours of a cyber-security bill that may define various aspects of online safety and set down objective parameters and rules spelling out what constitutes cyber fraud, providing a contemporary legal framework to tackle 21st century crime hitherto handled by amended provisions of 19th century British-era laws. The proposed legislation, which could either act as a supplement or be part of the larger Digital India Bill, will also likely detail the penal provisions in cases of cyber breaches while specifying who is a cybercriminal under provisions of the new law, multiple sources aware of the development told ET.

“It is important to have objective parameters. Most of the penal provisions for all things related to cybersecurity are currently drawn from the Indian Penal Code,” a senior government official said. “While that will continue to remain, there must be provisions defined for specific cases as well.”

The ministry of electronics and information technology has entrusted Management Development Institute in Gurugram and Supreme Court advocate N S Nappinai’s Cybersaathi Foundation to work on the finer details of the draft of the Bill, a source said.

Mails sent to MDI and Cybersaathi Foundation did not elicit any response until the publication of this report.The first meeting of the committee formed to examine various aspects was held earlier this year in February, while a second meeting was held earlier this month in New Delhi, sources said.

“It is at a pre-drafting stage right now. The government has not yet decided on whether the bill will be an independent regulation or be a part of the Digital India Act. The next meeting is sometime in September,” a source said.

Proposed Comprehensive Bill

ET had earlier reported that in the draft of the Digital India Bill, the government may prescribe strict ‘no-go areas’ for companies and internet intermediaries and include objective definitions for new-age offences such as possession and digital distribution of child sexual abuse material.

Also read | Cabinet approves Digital Personal Data Bill

The Digital India Act aims to replace the 23-year-old IT Act in its entirety, instead of amending the law. Earlier this year, the government conducted two rounds of public consultations in the pre-drafting stage of the bill that led to certain provisions being put in the draft.

The Digital India Act will be the result of a third major law’s overhaul by the IT ministry. In 2022, MeitY withdrew an older version of the Data Protection Bill after it had been pending for more than three years.

A new version, named the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, was released in November 2022 for public consultation and is likely to be introduced in the Monsoon Session of Parliament this year.