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Theory paper

Cyber Law

Examined on Information Technology Act 2000 (as amended in 2008), Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, Electronic evidence. The Act is used as amended by the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008, which inserted the provisions this paper turns on — compensation for failure to protect data, the cyber offences, the power to block, and the intermediary safe harbour. Section 66A is printed in the Act but was struck down by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India on 24 March 2015; the chapters say so wherever it arises, because an answer that states it as live law is wrong.

This page is the map of the paper: every syllabus unit, the leading cases with full summaries, and the exam questions the paper actually sets.

Units

  1. Unit 1 · E-commerce, Electronic Contracts and the Scheme of the IT Act — Module I — why a cyber law was needed; the Act’s extent and its application to offences committed outside India; electronic records and electronic contracts; attribution, acknowledgement and despatch; and the documents the Act does not apply to
  2. Unit 2 · Electronic Signatures, Certifying Authorities and Civil Wrongs — Module II — digital and electronic signatures and their authentication; the Controller and the Certifying Authorities; subscribers’ duties; and the civil wrongs — damage to a computer, failure to protect data, and the adjudication of compensation
  3. Unit 3 · Cyber Offences, Data Protection and the Limits of the Criminal Law — Module III — the offences under the Act; the striking-down of section 66A in Shreya Singhal and what survives it; interception, monitoring and blocking; the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and the duties it creates
  4. Unit 4 · Intermediaries, Jurisdiction and Enforcement — Module IV — intermediary liability and safe harbour; jurisdiction in cyberspace; the Appellate Tribunal and the police powers under the Act; compounding, confiscation and the Act’s relation to other laws

Leading cases in this paper

Exam questions

Where it sits

    Statutes