Offences under Information Technology Act-General

This post is meant to enlist with a short description of offences dealt with under the Information Technology Act(herein after referred in short as IT Act). The IT Act defines many offences in general and prescribes their punishments. Find the brief description of those offences as follows in simple terms:

1.Concealing, destroying or altering any computer source code used for a computer, computer programme, computer system or network when such code is meant to be maintained by law. The punishment is imprisonment and fine.

2.Dishonestly or Fraudulently doing any of the following things without the permission of the owner or any other person who is in charge of the computer, computer system or computer network:

a)accessing to computer, system, network or resource;

b)downloading, copying, extracting data, computer database;

c)introducing any virus;

d)damaging computer, system, network, data, database, or other programmes in those;

e)disrupting the computer, system or network;

f)denying access to any authorised person;

g)facilitating or helping any person to access the system in contravention of the IT Act;

h)charging the services availed by any person to another person's account by means of tampering with or manipulating his computer;

i)destroying the utility of information in a computer;

j) stealing, concealing, destroying, altering any source code;

The above offences will be punishable if it is done with the intention of making wrongful gain to the doer and wrongful loss to other or to defraud him.

3. Sending offensive information only for causing annoyance, insult etc to other through email, or other computer resource is also an offence.

4. Receiving or retaining stolen computer resource.

5. Theft of identities like electronic signature.

6. Cheating by personation by using computer.

7. Publishing private area of a person without consent.

8. Acts with intention of threatening unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India through computer medium.

9. Publishing obscene material.

10. Publishing sexually explicit acts.

11. Publishing child sex and abuses.

12. Failure to preserve information required by law.

13. Any person who fails to comply with the orders by law relating to computer resources is committing an offence.

14.Subscriber or intermediary who fails to assist the agency who monitors any computer with the order of law, is also committing an offence.

15. An intermediary who fails to comply with direction issued under law for blocking a a website is also doing a punishable offence.

16. An intermediary who fails to provide technical assistance to investigating agencies is doing an offence.

17. Any person who access a protected system as notified by Government is doing an offence.

18. Intermediaries who fail to provide datas required by legal agencies are doing offence under the IT Act.

19. Misrepresentation for obtaining any license or Electronic Signature Certificate is doing an offence.

20.Intermediaries or service providers acting contrary to the contract and secures personal information of users is doing an offence.

21. Publishing fake Digital IDs making impression that appropriate authority has issued the ID.

22. Creation of fake Electronic Signature Certificates is an offence.

Thus there are various kinds of offences which cover a portion in the wide area of internet. Still there is much to be introduced. Laws are there and the offences are defined and penalties are suggested. Each offence stated above are most specific in their application. For all those details I shall publish other posts. So please pay a visit for my other posts. Thank You.