Net nanny

THIS Government is getting very good at using its media to make money. Time slots are being sold on Doordarshan, and the new IT law intends to levy hefty fees for the electronic commerce services it will enable. Such as Rs. 25,000 for registering a digital signature.

Nevertheless, with an IT law in place India is all set to storm the world of e-commerce. The Nasscom types are happy enough, and ordinary Internet users will be happy that they do not have to produce ration cards or other forms of identification every time they visit a cyber cafe. One discovers from a reading of the 79th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology that this particular idea came from the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, who made a presentation to the parliamentarians. The other bright idea of requiring the internet service provider to maintain a record of users "and provide details of every cyber activity" was also his. It was rejected by the Government.

The honorable CP also objected to the clause in the bill which provided that only an officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police or above would be authorised to investigate offences under the Bill. He thought it should be any policeman sufficiently knowledgable about computers, even an inspector or sub-inspector. Fortunately, his suggestions have not been finally taken. We are still free to surf in public places without the ISP maintaining records of the sites we visit. And every passing policeman does not have the authority to raid a cyber cafe.

However what has been left in, in the category of offences, is intriguing. The lawmakers in the home of the Kamasutra do not like the thought of people looking at dirty pictures or text on the computer screen. They have attempted an electronic extension of film and cable TV censorship. They have provided for punishment which includes imprisonment and a fine for "whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published in the electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it".

How they intend to punish originators of such sites who may be residing any where in the world, is a mystery. How they will measure the depraving effect of such sights, is another mystery. For that matter who will define what is corrupting and what is not? And in a world of hyperlinks, where does the offence begin or end?

The bill did not originally have a clause pertaining to hacking, but the amended version does. It is punishable by three years imprisonment, or a fine which could extend to Rs. 2 lakhs or both. Netizens make a fine distinction between hacking and cracking. The bill does not. What comes in the category of cracking is covered by Section 65 of the bill and attracts the same order of punishment. It is worth recalling at this point that we have had a cable TV law in force for five years. How often has it been enforced? Hardly at all. So whereas in theory any policeman of a certain rank could now go on the prowl for a cyber crime that is being committed somewhere by someone, the chances are that cyber policing will not be done with any more enthusiasm than cable content policing. Anywhere in the country.

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Last fortnight a private consultancy firm announced the results of a survey showing that in 1999 the turnover in desktop PC shipments went up by 38.8 per cent. This represented a 108 per cent increase in personal computer sales to small businesses and the small-office-and-home segment. With Internet and e-commerce driving it this segment of PC ownership will only grow.

That is wonderful. What is less rosy is what the home-based PC owner can expect from the industry by way of support. What the new IT law will not do is make life any easier for those who are dependent on computers and their wayward performance for their livelihood, but have to contend with an industry whose service record is lousy. If you work from home, most big computer companies could not be bothered giving proper service even within the guarantee period.

Let me recount my experience with Hewlitt Packard which relieved me of the better part of a lakh of rupees last month for their latest Pavilion model with gargantuan disk space and loads of unasked software add ons. Since it came I have not been connected to the Internet for more than five minutes on most days. The average is three minutes. There was a brief period when that went up to one hour and we said wow! Meanwhile three engineers from HP have had a bash at trying to solve the problem, and unable to solve it have blamed it on the phone line and disappeared.

For three years the same phone line functioned perfectly well with an ancient Compaq and an external modem. But HP's machines are fussier.

And when you check out the innards, you find that the internal modem installed is not from one of the better modem manufacturers. It is some unheard-of model.

When you buy a fancy computer from a fancy company they take the money in advance. They then forget to complete your order. A guy in a tie will sweet talk you and sell you the package. Three weeks later I am still waiting for the 17-inch monitor that was paid for in advance. The HP distributor says he does not have transport. When the computer came with a substitute monitor they did not have transport either. It came home in my car.

No Internet access and no proper service either. So much for the PC revolution.

Power Politics: purports to be the theme of "Rajdhani" which began last week on Star Plus with Dilip Tahil in a leading role. Bhishm Sahani acts in it, which is a good reason to catch it. Judging by the first episode it is a take off on politicians and their hangers on embellished with lavish settings and good- looking women. Mondays at 10 p.m..

Too many talking heads: in "Satya", a non-fiction series on the DD News channel, telecast on Friday evenings. Last week it dealt with incest but failed to probe the whys of the phenomenon adequately. This series has interesting off-beat ideas: looking at whether platonic relationships are possible within the sexes, what makes Catholic nuns tick, the reasons for road rage, what happens in the green room during theatre productions and so on. However by merely assembling endless soundbites, it only skims the surface of the subjects it explores.

New BBC offering: "IT: India Tomorrow" began last week, yet another New Delhi Television (NDTV) production on BBC World. At 10 p.m. , Mondays. It is anchored by a Good Morning India regular, and judging by the contents of the first episode is not terribly futuristic in its content.

SEVANTI NINAN

E-mail the writer at sevantininan@vsnl.com

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