The Delhi High Court, in a PIL, is examining,
among other things, the aspect of breach, if any, of provisions of Information
Technology Act and of rules framed thereunder by internet sites like facebook
and google by allowing persons below 18 years to enter into an agreement with
these sites. It was pointed out by these sites that if it comes in the
knowledge of any person that a child below the age of 13 years has opened such
an account, he may make a complaint to the social networking site who
then take appropriate action, after verification, for deletion of that account.
In this regard, Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011
have been notified under the IT Act. Rule 3 requires due diligence to be
observed by the intermediary. The social networking sites such as
Facebook and Orkut fall within the definition of “Intermediary” as per Rule
2(i) of the said Rules read with Section 2(1)(w) of the Information Technology
Act, 2000. Therefore, the provisions of Rule 3 of the said Rules applies to them.
It was informed that in accordance with Rule 3(1), both Facebook and Orkut have
published the Rules and Regulations as also the privacy policy and user
agreements for access and usage of their computer resource. Rule 3(2) contains
certain other directions as to what should be the content of the Rules and
Regulations, terms and conditions and the user agreements. Under Rule 3(4), the
intermediary can take action for disabling any such information as mentioned in
rule 3(2), both on a complaint in writing from affected persons as well as on
obtaining knowledge by itself. By virtue of a subsequent clarificatory
notification, it has been clarified that the intermediary shall respond to or
acknowledge the complainant within thirty six hours and the same shall be
redressed promptly but in any case within 30 days.
The court vide its order dated 23rd August 2013
directed, after being pointed out Rule 3(11), that intermediaries,
including the social networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut, should
immediately publish the names of the respective Grievance Officers on their
websites alongwith contact numbers as well as the mechanism by which any user
or any victim who suffers as a result of access or usage of computer resource
by any person in violation of rule 3, can notify their complaints against such
access or usage. This order was complied with by these websites, as recorded by
the court in its order dated 23rd September 2013 and 30th October
2013.
The court in the said PIL is also looking into the issue of
Government departments and officers using email accounts of service providers
having servers located outside India and whether this violates provision of Public Records Act, 1993. It was informed to the court by the Government of India that
the Government is on the verge of finalizing an E-mail Policy and Govt would
ensure that there is complete conformity between E-mail Policy and the said Act
with regard to public records.
The PIL will now come up on 26th September 2014. It was
filed by shri K.N.Govindacharya and its case no. is Writ Petition (civil)
No.3672/2012.
