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              | Date: 2000-05-26 
 
 IT-Ueberwachung im nahen Indien-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
 
 Im fernen Indien zeigt eine in Verabschiedung befindliche IT-
 Bill mit weitgehenden Befugnis/erweiterungen für die
 gesetzlich ermächtigten Behörden, dass dieses Land
 eigentlich sehr nahe liegt. Dass nur ein unabhängiges
 Gericht bestimmen kann, ob grundlegende Bürgerrechte
 aufgehoben werden, wird nah wie fern schon bald einer
 Vergangenheit angehören.
 
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 relayed by
 Martin Mair <mm@mediaweb.at>
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 WHILE the passage of the IT Bill has been widely welcomed,
 the retention of clause 79  which empowers officers above
 the rank of deputy superintendent of police to search and
 arrest without a warrant if he reasonably suspects that an
 offence has or is about to be committed  has raised the
 spectre of a police inspector raj. The government argues that
 the criminal procedure code allows even a police constable to
 search without a warrant. The IT industry is, thus, actually
 better off since only senior police officers are involved. This
 is, however, a little misleading because this power unde the
 CrPC can be exercised only under certain specific
 circumstances, whereas the wording of Section 79 is
 disturbingly vague. `Reasonable suspicion is not defined.
 The section also allows the police to enter and search if an
 offence is ``about to be committed. This, too, has caused
 concern. However, this part of the section could possibly be
 justified on the ground that the police may be required to act
 in response to, for instance, information that someone is in
 the act of creating a virus. Unfortunately, the same cannot be
 said about another part of Section 79 which says that
 arrested individuals should be produced before a magistrate
 ``without undue delay. By not specifying a time frame for the
 detention period, in the Indian context, this could well turn
 out to be an open invitation to extortion by the police. Section
 79 needs to be amended. It should be mandatory for the
 officer to record reasons in writing for embarking on a search.
 And except in exceptional circumstances, he needs to have
 a warrant. The part conferring discretion on the police
 regarding the length of the custody period also needs to be
 scrapped. Again, the IT Bill is vague about the liabilities of
 service providers. It would be absurd if a portal was to be
 prosecuted because its search engine was used to find a
 pornographic site. Presently, it is not clear whether or not
 this is the case. While the Bill is a huge step forward
 because it allows electronic contracts to be enforced,
 amendments are needed to remove these glitches.
 
 Source
 http://www.economictimes.com/today/22edit01.htm
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 edited by Harkank
 published on: 2000-05-26
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