Unit 4 of Cyber Law (syllabus: 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). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- Who is an intermediary, and why is the definition relational?
- When does an intermediary enjoy safe harbour, and how is it lost?
- What does the Baazee.com prosecution illustrate about a platform's liability?
- When is an officer of a company liable for a contravention by the company?
- Who may investigate an offence under the Act, and who may arrest without a warrant?
- What is the chain from an adjudicating officer to the High Court?
- Do the civil and criminal remedies exclude each other, and what does the Act not override?
- How is the problem of jurisdiction in cyberspace solved under the Act?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 2(1)(w)
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 79, read with s. 67C
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 67, 79 and 85
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. s. 85
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 78 and 80
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 46, 47, 48, 57, 58, 61, 62, 63 and 64
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 77, 77A, 77B, 81 and 81A
- Information Technology Act, 2000, s. ss. 1(2), 75 and 13
Leading cases
Full case summaries
- Avnish Bajaj v. State
- P.R. Transport Agency v. Union of India
- SMC Pneumatics (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Jogesh Kwatra