The IT Act 2011 gives the government and its agencies multiple tools to address issues related to cyber security, online gambling, betting, international money laundering and financial fraud amongst many others. The government with its misplaced priorities has misused certain provisions to curb freedom of speech, remove politically inconvenient content and harass young netizens of India through blocking of twitter, Facebook and website pages while being completely oblivious to certain internet based illegal businesses and malpractices that pose grave financial, social and security threats.
In India gambling is prohibited by Public Gambling Act, 1867 and Internet Gambling is further prohibited under various section of Indian IT Act. It is appalling that the Indian net space is filled with online Casinos, Poker, Betting and Online Lottery. Specially, considering the fact that a recent study has revealed that 40% of netizens of India could be prone to participating in online gambling and betting.
Sikkim Online gambling legislature 2009 permitted few operators to offer online gambling within the state of Sikkim, but neither the Central nor the Sikkim government are able to stop the blatant misuse of this Act by Indian and Offshore companies offering betting and gambling services throughout India. Most online gambling sites are using Indian issued International Debit / Credit Cards and intermediary issued e-wallets like Moneybookers / Neteller etc. to facilitate placing wagers and receiving winnings in foreign currencies.
And, now with the IPL season in full swing, manipulative Indian operators have tied up with their global counterparts to allow Indians netizens to conduct these transaction using Indian Rupee itself. The easy access to such services right under the nose of the government is bound to cause societal issues and as well as facilitate international money laundering without government surveillance. Essentially these activities, illegal by themselves, have also become a tool for money laundering, along with some of the existing online money laundering services, banned by various financial acts as well as IT Act.
Most of these sites are not being blocked or monitored to prevent misuse. It’s a shame that despite alerts by International agencies on usage of such money laundering sites, unrecorded internet payment system and virtual currencies to transfer money illegally in and out of India without government surveillance. SEBI the capital market regulator has also raised concerns on wrongful usage of Internet messengers and social media for anonymously disclosing non public information to manipulate stock prices, thus leading to financial frauds.
The IT Act 2011 has become draconian because of its repeated misuse to curb freedom of speech where as it should be used by cyber intelligence and security agencies to curb online gambling, money laundering, child pornography etc. It is high time that the UPA government should it put its priorities in the right places and make suitable provisions within our financial system to curb making and receiving payments which facilitate online gambling, betting and e-wallet services. It is also about time that the government should review its preparedness to deal with cyber security, innovative cyber crime and use its cyber intelligence in an organized and structured manner.
