Shubhreet Oberoi
News Delhi 24 November 2005
BPOs are disappointed with the draft report to amend IT Act as it has failed to provide for any stringent punishment. Offshoring cos demand separate legislation for data safety.
All the noise made over the amendment in the Information Technology Act seems to have been rather futile. The move to amend the IT Act so as to introduce legal provisions for data security has failed its purpose. Why?...because the draft report does not provide for stringent punishment for data security breaches. This has disappointed BPOs whose clients are concerned about the data security provisions in the country. Now, the BPOs are demanding separate legislation for data security.
Making things worse, the draft clearly states that BPO companies will not be on the list of network service covered under the Act. It's no wonder then that the companies aren't too happy about it. Some analysts believe the reasons for excluding BPO firms are justified. The IT Act covers only network service providers, entities entrusted with network maintenance, storage service providers and internet cafes. While, BPOs are pure service providers and it will be difficult to include them under this category. This is because the existing Act was fashioned at a time when the all-important task was to certify electronic signatures. It is very closely related to technology in general and computers in particular. It is statute structured to tackle computer-related crime. Whereas a BPO firm may not use a computer at all; it may be running with the help of a telephone.
While all this sounds fair and satisfactory, BPOs are still hanging by a thread. According to Binod Singh, CEO, ILANTUS Technologies: "The government has always lagged on such issues. Unless incidents start coming to light where lack of provisions are leading to major issues, they do not wake up. Bringing issues into the open generally do not help."
So what's the solution? A separate data protection law for BPO companies is the need of hour. BPOs worry that anti-outsourcing parties are using this issue as a reason to curb outsourcing. Legal provisions are also required to enhance the level of customers, especially, in the western world.
"Laws in the US and UK address data security and privacy and future security breaches in Indian BPOs might emerge as serious deterrents to outsourcing. If current laws do not comprehensively address security concerns, it would be prudent to consider separate laws, if only to allay the fears in the minds of the outsourcers in the US and UK and silence critics of outsourcing," says B Ashok, senior vice-president, Cisco Systems, India and SAARC.
News Delhi 24 November 2005
BPOs are disappointed with the draft report to amend IT Act as it has failed to provide for any stringent punishment. Offshoring cos demand separate legislation for data safety.
All the noise made over the amendment in the Information Technology Act seems to have been rather futile. The move to amend the IT Act so as to introduce legal provisions for data security has failed its purpose. Why?...because the draft report does not provide for stringent punishment for data security breaches. This has disappointed BPOs whose clients are concerned about the data security provisions in the country. Now, the BPOs are demanding separate legislation for data security.
Making things worse, the draft clearly states that BPO companies will not be on the list of network service covered under the Act. It's no wonder then that the companies aren't too happy about it. Some analysts believe the reasons for excluding BPO firms are justified. The IT Act covers only network service providers, entities entrusted with network maintenance, storage service providers and internet cafes. While, BPOs are pure service providers and it will be difficult to include them under this category. This is because the existing Act was fashioned at a time when the all-important task was to certify electronic signatures. It is very closely related to technology in general and computers in particular. It is statute structured to tackle computer-related crime. Whereas a BPO firm may not use a computer at all; it may be running with the help of a telephone.
While all this sounds fair and satisfactory, BPOs are still hanging by a thread. According to Binod Singh, CEO, ILANTUS Technologies: "The government has always lagged on such issues. Unless incidents start coming to light where lack of provisions are leading to major issues, they do not wake up. Bringing issues into the open generally do not help."
So what's the solution? A separate data protection law for BPO companies is the need of hour. BPOs worry that anti-outsourcing parties are using this issue as a reason to curb outsourcing. Legal provisions are also required to enhance the level of customers, especially, in the western world.
"Laws in the US and UK address data security and privacy and future security breaches in Indian BPOs might emerge as serious deterrents to outsourcing. If current laws do not comprehensively address security concerns, it would be prudent to consider separate laws, if only to allay the fears in the minds of the outsourcers in the US and UK and silence critics of outsourcing," says B Ashok, senior vice-president, Cisco Systems, India and SAARC.
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