>From Totaltele.com (It's one of those free-registration online trade rags; the amount I quoted below looks like fair-use quantities, and you can read more at the web site...) India's doing a big telecom/ecommerce bill, and various people have been throwing stuff into it. This part fortunately failed. 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 http://www.totaltele.com/secure/view.asp?ArticleID=27536&pub=tt&categoryid=626 The Indian government has dropped a proposed amendment to a planned information technology bill that would have required compulsory monitoring of cybercafe users by proprietors, an official said on Monday. "It has been deleted. It is not here, the amendments proposed," said an official, who did not wish to be identified. The bill, which aims to provide a legal framework for electronic commerce, was listed for debate and passage in the lower house of parliament on Monday. It aims at faciliating digital signatures, electronic transactions and use of electronic documents as legal records. The government's decision to drop the proposed amendments came after industry opposition to certain provisions of the bill and criticism from opposition parties in parliament. Criticism mainly concerned amendments of the bill which stipulated compulsory registration of details on Web sites hosted from India and also a thorough recording of visitors to Internet cafes and the sites they visit by the cafe owners. The clause was considered draconian because it prescribed fines and imprisonment in cases where the rules are breached, and also set a six-month deadline on providing Web site details. Opposition deputies said the government was seeking to rush the bill through without giving them enough time to analyse the proposed landmark legislation. ...more...
