Now what did you say has been stolen?

Yesterday I came across a classic case of the technological divide in India. Quark, India wanted to register a case of stolen software and the local police refused to do so because they could not comprehend WHAT was stolen.

This is from the Times of India, dated 21/12/2004:

Quark officials, the SSP alleged, had threatened him that they would close down operations if the police didn't heed their request. The Quark facility is part of an IT park in Mohali. "I told them how can I register an FIR if I don't know what has been stolen. I think they wanted to register false cases," the SSP said. Senior officials of Quark India are now seeking an appointment with the chief minister Amarinder Singh.

I do not know the details of the case, but it illuminates the inability of a non-technical person to comprehend that the classical definition of physical property does not hold in the case of software or digital media.

India has passed the Information Technology Act in the year 2000 but like other laws/ Acts, I find that the implementation is hardly there. The Act does not provide any ground rules for implementation. The local law enforcers, the police are not at all technologically savvy and this is where the problem lies. Sure, cyber crime cells have been set up in Mumbai and I think, Delhi, but what about the rest of the country? The Information Technology Act, 2000 gives almost draconian powers to the Police to enter and search, without any warrant, any public place for the purpose of nabbing cyber criminals and preventing cyber crime. BUT, the police is not educated or trained to spot actual evidence of cyber crime.

I think it is time that the Indian Government does a rethink and makes amendments on the IT Act. The recent case of the Baazee CEO being arrested has suddenly made everyone sit up and take notice of this urgency, mostly Indian IT firms who have suddenly realised that they too could suffer as a result of insufficient definitions in the IT Act 2000. In my opinion, implementation and definitions in the Indian IT Act need urgent amendments before any other aspects are looked into.