The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has made important changes to the Information Technology Rules lately. The department wants to make surveillance practices more transparent as well as more accountable.<\/p>\n
Under the new rules outlined in a gazette notification dated February 26, both Union and state home secretaries now possess the authority to order the deletion of surveillance data after a period of six months. Previously, this power solely rested with the security agencies conducting the surveillance.<\/p>\n
The change is different from previous amendment when only certain security agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and Narcotics Control Bureau reserved the power to do so. Now, designated home secretaries at both central and state levels are recognized as competent authorities empowered to issue the deletion orders.<\/p>\n
The new rules make it easier to handle surveillance data and clarify who has the power to delete it. MeitY officials say these changes make it clearer as well as more efficient when ordering tasks like intercepting, monitoring and decrypting information.<\/p>\n
In addition to empowering home secretaries, MeitY also designated the computer resources of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as \u201ccritical information infrastructure\u201d under Section 70 of the IT Act 2000. This decision reveals the government is serious about making the cybersecurity rules stronger in the country.<\/p>\n
In short, it can be said that these changes show the government is working hard to make sure surveillance is done responsibly. This helps protect people\u2019s privacy while keeping the country safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"