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Recent amendment to the Information and Technology Act makes status messages and tweets admissible as evidences in the court of law.
The reckless use of social networking sites might land you up in deep trouble. An impromptu message over sites such as facebook, twitter, orkut etc. May get you arrested, fired or divorced. The amended section 79 of the IT Act will make the content admissible as electronic form of evidence if the case demands.
The onus of unappropriate content over such networking sites lies exclusively on the user. The website administration/management has protection from penal action against hosting such content under Sec 79 of the Act.
This will be pretty strong weapon for people who have been targets of obscene comments on such websites. Whereas this might prove a disaster when your employer fires you because of some cheeky comment you posted on your public profile. Also it might lead to arrest if one dares to post malicious messages (an Gurgaon IT Professional was arrested for making an obcene comment against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on his Orkut account.)
But this amendment will be a extremely useful tool for tightening the leash around people who go a little over board on the name of social networking.
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Shardul
3 years ago
This is pretty interesting…kind of shocking but i guess its a good step and will turn out to be very effective.
Nikita Anand
3 years ago
Yeah.. Some tough laws were required for controlling the ruthless use of social networking sites. And this particular amendment serves the purpose.
priya
2 years ago
Hi,
Will emails be considered as evidences for divorce petition?
Nikita Anand
2 years ago
Yes, Emails can be considered as evidences if proved to be authentic.
Ankit Duseja
3 years ago
This is cool!
It was really required!
Prateek Mishra
3 years ago
Great Going Nikita … Such articles can be really helpful at times.
Nikita Anand
3 years ago
Thank you Prateek!! Such appreciation was very much required. Will help me to go a long way.
Jil Jil Ramamani
3 years ago
We all have had instances where out friends change status messages for fun. Now what when such a thing happens, it’s quite difficult to prove. So much scope for misuse.
Nikita Anand
3 years ago
The particular legislation puts a check on hurting someone’s dignity in the garb of having fun. In my view reckless fun will not be very hard to prove.
Supriya
3 years ago
What if a hacked account is used? The pity about Indian IT laws is that they are always incomplete.They only see half the possibilities.What if someone makes an account in a random name, adds friends to it and makes it look like original, and then flames any individual? Including Twitter in this law is really shocking and pissing.Anyway, how does the law plans to see the proof? By screenshot? Its easy to edit a screenshot and mislead through it. What if I change my status by the time a complaint is lodged against me? Is law gonna ask the administrating team of website about history of my account?If you’re talking to contact site admin team for proof, then forget any justice because there’re hell lot of such cases and site admins are not gonna into each one individually.You have to remain sensitive on social networking websites. A bit of common sense can save you blushes. Trust me, its hard to escape from such laws, and its damn hard to prove anyone as hacker under present cyber/IT laws.
Nikita Anand
3 years ago
Not only IT Laws but the adequacy of other recently implemented legislations is in question. The Laws which are articulated in post British period are all full of lacuna and are quite inefficient as well. May it be this Information Technology Act or Domestic Violence Act or Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act they are all proving to be useless when it comes to bringing justice to the needy.
Supriya
3 years ago
If laws are outdated/incomplete, how does the law assure that only guilty are punished? With such a stupid law, I can easily hit a success rate of screwing 90% innocent people.
piyush
3 years ago
Hey Nikita
Nice topic again, but believe me this amendment is of no use because in cyberspace people with little expertise can do anything without getting caught.
Nikita Anand
3 years ago
Yes, It may be the case but as I have mentioned in other comments as well that the law is targeted to those who try to malign the image of others by indiscreet comments and photographs. This is specially applicable to users who have profiles on social networking sites etc.
anirudh narain bhatt
3 years ago
hi nikita,
good topic but can u elobarate the particular section. n what abt intention of d person who is setting status?
Nikita Anand
3 years ago
Yes, Off course the intention of the person will be taken into account. Mala-fide intent shall make a solid ground when it comes to holding a person liable. If you are innocent then there is no reason for the court to hold you liable. As far as your request for elaboration is concerned… I will add to the article that the person will be solely liable for the status message/tweet. The website can not be made a party to the suit since they do not regulate the content. When it comes to collection of evidence, a print out or a screen shot will be considered in the court. For example- If a husband tweets- "I hate my wife", this will mean big trouble for him when the wife files the divorce case against him and presents a screen shot or print out of the particular webpage; It can be a ground for mental cruelty.
To be more precise, Any written word available in the public domain can be used under this act.
Spoorthy.M.S
2 years ago
Hey Nikita,
Nice little article you have got there. Could you please enlighten me on precisely when the section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 was amended. Besides that, have there been any case laws so far applying the amended section?
jagroop singh
2 years ago
It is the demand of the present time to amend the old archiec laws w
It is the demand of the present time to amend the archaic laws in india.To enact the I.T.act,it is a step to check the cyber crime increasing rapidly.as regard its practical applicability, is of course less.The other old laws,effected its strength,which are liable to be amended.
Ever Imagined being Rusticated for Cheeky Facebook Status Message?
2 years ago
[...] for your divorce..!! To know how your virtual activity can make you criminally liable, check out Tweets and Status Messages can be used as Evidences!. [...]
DIPIN
1 year ago
How Could It be!!! It is Just a war against Freedom of an Individual..Who is not technically aware.What the Law or court Can do a Fake profiles used By trained hackers !
IT the outcomes is the STATE will misuse this amendment for its’ particular GOALS!!…