Lok Sabha Question No. 1014 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-08
Subject: IT Policy against Weaponised Technology
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Aparupa  Poddar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1014

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 08.02.2023

## IT POLICY AGAINST WEAPONIZED TECHNOLOGY

## 1014. SHRIMATI APARUPA PODDAR:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  government  intends  to  prepare  draft  for  stringent IT policy against weaponised technology in the light of recent cases of breaches of online safety and national security hack and if so, the details thereof;

(b)  whether  the  government  plans  to  revise  the  rule  for  social  media  platforms  under  safe harbour principle and if so, the details thereof; and

(c)  the  action  taken  on  the  rising  cases  of  commodification  and  harassment  of  women  on social media platforms?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a):  The  Government  is  committed  to  ensure  that  the  Internet  in  India  is  Open,  Safe  & Trusted and Accountable for all users. With the expansion of the Internet and more and more Indians coming online, the possibility that Digital Nagrik or citizens being exposed to user harms, disinformation and criminality has also increased. Government is fully cognizant and aware  of  various  cyber  security  threats,  and  has  taken  measures  to  mitigate  citizens vulnerability to cyber-attacks.

The  National  Security  Council  Secretariat  (NSCS)  has  formulated  a  draft  National  Cyber Security  Strategy,  which  holistically  looks  at  addressing  the  issues  of  security  of  national cyberspace.

(b):The  Central  Government,  in  exercise  of  powers  conferred  by  the  IT  Act,  has  notified amendment  to  the  Information  Technology  (Intermediary  Guidelines  and  Digital  Media Ethics  Code)  Rules,  2021('IT  Rules,  2021').  These  rules  cast  specific  obligation  on intermediaries  vis-à-vis  what  kind  of  information  is  to  be  hosted,  displayed,  uploaded, published,  transmitted,  stored  or  shared.  Intermediaries  are  also  required  to  remove  any content  violative  of  any  law  for  the  time  being  in  force  as  and  when  brought  to  their knowledge either through a court order or through a notice by appropriate government or its authorised agency. In case of failure to follow diligence as provided in the IT Rules, 2021, by intermediaries, they shall lose their exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act and shall be liable for consequential action as provided in such law. Such diligence includes the following:

- (i) To publish on their website and app, their rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement.
- (ii) To inform the said  rules  to  their  users  and  to  make  reasonable  efforts  to  cause  the users  not  to  host,  display,  upload,  modify,  publish,  transmit,  store,  update  or  share, among  others,  information  which  belongs  to  another  person,  or  is  obscene,  or  is invasive of another's privacy, or is insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, or is racially  or  ethnically  objectionable,  or  encourages  money  laundering,  or  promotes enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion or caste with the intent to

incite  violence,  or  is  harmful  to  child,  or  infringes  intellectual  property  rights,  or impersonates  another  person,  or  threatens  the  unity,  integrity,  defence,  security  or sovereignty of India or public order, or prevents investigation, or violates any law.

- (iii) Upon receipt of an order from a lawfully authorised government agency, to provide information or assistance for prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution under law, or for cyber security incidents.
- (iv) To have in place a grievance redressal machinery, and resolve complaints of violation of the rules within 72 hours of being reported.
- (v) In case an intermediary is a significant social media intermediary (i.e., an intermediary  having  more  than  50  lakh  registered  users  in  India),  to  additionally observe diligence in terms of appointing a Chief Compliance Officer, a nodal contact person for  24x7  coordination  with  law  enforcement  agencies and  a Resident Grievance Officer, publishing monthly compliance reports, etc.

Further,  three  Grievance  Appellate  Committee(s)  have  been  constituted  to  enable  users  to appeal against decisions taken by Grievance Officers on such complaints.

(c):  The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  ('IT  Act')  and  rules  made  thereunder  contain several  provisions  for  safeguarding  users  in  the  cyberspace.  The  IT  Act  penalises  various offences relating to  computer resources, including identity theft (section 66C), violation of bodily  privacy  (section  66E),  publishing  or  transmitting  of  obscene  material  in  electronic form (section 67), and publishing or transmission of material containing sexually explicit act in  electronic  form  (section  67A  and  67B),  etc.  Each  such  offence  is  punishable  with imprisonment  for  a  period  that  may  extend  to  either  three  years  or  five  years,  and  as  per section 77B of the IT Act such cybercrimes are cognizable offences. These offences are in addition to various cognizable offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, such as the cognizable offence of stalking using electronic communication (section 354D).

As per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, prevention and investigation of cognizable offences is to be done by the police, and as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution,  'Police'  is  a  State  subject.  As  such,  States  are  primarily  responsible  for  the prevention,  investigation  etc.  of  such  cybercrimes  through  the  State  police  departments, which  take  preventive  and  penal  action  as  per  law,  including  in  respect  of  cybercrimes against women and hacking of their social media accounts.

In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs operates a National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in)  to  enable  citizens  to  report  complaints  pertaining  to  all  types  of cybercrimes, with special focus on cybercrimes against women.

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