Information technology act & cyber crimes: A perspective

We are witness to a contemporary era where time and distance has become totally redundant and there is a rapid change in the practice being adopted by established institutions. There is, at our finger tips, virtual explosion of information and availability of everything under the sun. The IT Act 2000 was passed to facilitate e-commerce, e-education, e-governance and e-communication. The electronic communication and e-commerce has proved to be a boon, and, at the same time, bane also. New multimedia technology is being misused and abused by criminals in cyber space. The present paper seeks to decipher the IT Act (which is comparatively a new law) and critically examine and evaluate the welcome and unwelcome features of Indian Cyber law. The success or failure largely depends on the mode and manner of its implementation. One can hope and wish that the IT Act will keep pace and be in tune with the technology and prove to be a model law for other countries.