The Information Technology Act, 2000 is based on which international instrument?

The correct answer is B, 2000. The Information Technology Act was passed by Parliament in 2000, received assent on 9 June 2000 and came into force on 17 October 2000; it is therefore cited as the Information Technology Act, 2000. Option A is wrong because 1998 precedes the Act, though the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce on which it is modelled dates from 1996. Option C is wrong because 2005 is the year of the Right to Information Act, which is often confused with it in lists of early twenty-first century legislation. Option D is wrong because 2008 is the year of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, which substantially rewrote the parent Act and came into force on 27 October 2009; that amendment year is the commonest distractor in this question.

The correct answer is A, Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. In 2015 the Supreme Court struck down section 66A, which punished the sending of offensive messages, holding it vague and overbroad and therefore a violation of the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a). Option B is wrong because the Puttaswamy case of 2017 declared the right to privacy a fundamental right under Article 21; it is related in subject but is a different judgment. Option C is wrong because Kesavananda Bharati, decided in 1973, laid down the basic structure doctrine. Option D is wrong because the Vishaka judgment of 1997 laid down guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace, later replaced by legislation in 2013. Note that the same judgment upheld section 69A on the blocking of content and read down section 79, so it did not sweep away the whole chapter of offences.

The correct answer is C, section 66F. Section 66F, inserted by the amendment of 2008, defines cyber terrorism and is the most severely punished offence in the Act, carrying imprisonment which may extend to life. Option A is wrong because section 65 deals with tampering with computer source documents and carries up to three years or a fine up to two lakh rupees. Option B is wrong because section 66E punishes violation of privacy by capturing or publishing an image of a private area of a person without consent. Option D is wrong because section 67B punishes publishing or transmitting material depicting children in a sexually explicit act, the most severely punished of the obscenity provisions but not cyber terrorism. The order of sections 66A to 66F is worth memorising.

The correct answer is C, section 70B. Section 70B, inserted in 2008, appoints the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team as the national nodal agency for collecting, analysing and circulating information on cyber incidents and for issuing advisories; it works under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and was set up in 2004. Option A is wrong because section 43A provides compensation where a body corporate fails to protect sensitive personal data. Option B is wrong because section 69A empowers the government to block public access to information, a power upheld in the Shreya Singhal judgment. Option D is wrong because section 79 gives intermediaries a safe harbour from liability for third party content provided they observe due diligence. The Controller of Certifying Authorities, which licenses the issuers of digital signature certificates, works under the same ministry but is created by section 17.

The correct answer is C, a will. The First Schedule to the Act excludes certain documents from electronic form: a negotiable instrument other than a cheque, a power of attorney, a trust deed, a will or other testamentary disposition, and any contract for the sale or conveyance of immovable property. Option A is wrong because a cheque is specifically carved out of the exclusion of negotiable instruments. Option B is wrong because a contract for the sale of goods may be made electronically, and section 10A expressly confirms the validity of contracts formed by electronic means. Option D is wrong for the same reason; purchase orders and similar commercial communications are exactly the transactions the Act was passed to facilitate. Section 10A, added in 2008, puts the matter beyond doubt by providing that a contract formed through electronic means is not unenforceable merely on that ground.