India is proposing to replace its over two-decades-old IT law as the world\u2019s second-largest internet market pushes for new guidelines to seek broader accountability from tech firms, revaluate who all gets protection from safe harbor, better oversee new technologies and serve \u201cevery\u201d connected user in the South Asian market.<\/p>\n

Details are scant about how precisely the proposed framework, called Digital India Act, will oversee different factions of the internet, but a key minister said on Thursday that the act will aim to replace the IT Act, 2000, which was created two decades ago and maintains limited mandates for legal recognition for the modern internet in the wake of challenges in the form of user harm, ambiguity in user rights, proliferation of hate speech and misinformation and unfair trade practices.<\/p>\n

Indian laws should be able to handle the complexity and rapid expansion of the types of intermediaries, evolve and be consistent with market trends, disruption in technologies, development in international jurisprudence and global standards for qualitative service\/products delivery framework, Ministry of State and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told a gathering in Bengaluru. The minister said he hopes to finalize the bill by the end of this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be nobody on the internet who is excluded from the ambit of the Digital India Act,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to rapidly create, modify and enforce regulations, it will adopt \u2018principles and rule-based approach\u2019 to regulation which provides a legislative framework under government principles and effective measures for securing compliance with the ever evolving rule of law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The proposed framework seeks to address in part what the minister deemed as an urgent need for a specialized and dedicated adjudicatory mechanism for online and criminal offenses.<\/p>\n

Chandrasekhar likened his proposal to similar pushes from regulators in other markets.\u00a0Both digitally literate and novice individuals are on the internet today, hence an urgency for the need to ensure online safety, he said.<\/p>\n

The bill proposes to introduce an adjudicatory mechanism for online and criminal offenses that delivers timely remedies to citizens, resolves cyber disputes, develops a unified cyber jurisprudence and enforces the rule of law online. Safeguard innovation to enable emerging technologies like AI\/ML, web3, autonomous systems\/robotics, IoT\/distributed ledger\/blockchain, quantum computing, virtual reality\/augmented reality, real-time language translators and natural language processing, he added.<\/p>\n

In response to a question from the audience, Chandrasekhar asserted that Digital India Act will not get involved with the moderation of content on platforms.<\/p>\n

The minister also said that the new law might relook at the accountability of grievance offers assigned by online platforms to address user issues. He asserted that there is a need for separate rules for each class of intermediaries and whether the provision of safe harbor should be in place for these intermediaries.<\/p>\n