The government will release a draft version of the proposed legislative framework to replace the Information Technology Act, 2000, as early as next month, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told The Hindu. "I can't give a timeline, but concept note and what we propose will be out as early as May," Chandrasekhar said. "Do we need a legislative overhaul? Yes, we do. It is common sense that if you are in 2022 and operating on a law enacted in 2000, you need a re-look since 22 years is a long time in Internet history. I think we will continue to see progress in the way we evolve the framework under which everybody on the Internet can expect openness, and consumers, especially women and children, can expect safety and trust and accountability. Those are the basis of the thinking, not just in India but across the world." — Rajeev Chandrasekhar told The Hindu. Chandrasekhar has time and again said that the two-decade-old IT Act needs to be updated, but this is the first time he has provided some sort of update on the progress and timeline. Consultations to amend IT Act began in 2020 Back in April 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) began industry consultations on amendments to the IT Act. Back then, S. Gopalakrishnan, Additional Secretary at MeitY, said that the government is open to both amending the IT Act and tweaking it, as well as looking at it “de novo”. “De Novo” suggested that MeitY would be open to looking at the IT Act afresh — whether it should exist in its…
