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The Digital India Act and the Strategic Partnership on ICETs

Writer's picture: AbhivardhanAbhivardhan


The Information Technology Act, 2000 has been in force for over 20 years. The legal instrument governs the use of electronic documents and digital transactions in the country. The act aimed to provide legal recognition for electronic documents and ensure the security and privacy of digital information. The law has had several key provisions, including the establishment of the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) to regulate digital signatures, the introduction of electronic contracts and digital signatures as legally binding documents, and the creation of an appellate body for cybercrime cases. At the time, the IT Act was considered a significant step forward in India's digital transformation. It created a legal framework for e-commerce, e-governance, and other digital activities, and paved the way for the growth of India's tech industry. However, over the years, the IT Act has become increasingly outdated and inadequate in addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapidly evolving digital landscape. New technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the internet of things have emerged, and cyber threats have become more sophisticated and pervasive. To address these issues and provide a more comprehensive framework for India's digital future, the government has proposed the Digital India Act. The proposed legislation seeks to create a new regulatory structure for emerging technologies and strengthen cybersecurity measures. It also aims to promote the development of a digital ecosystem that fosters innovation, entrepreneurship, and inclusive growth.


However, one has to reckon the fact that regulations and statutes work in sync with the economies they are used to govern. In the case of the IT Act and even the Digital India Act, it could be understood that the role of technology co-operation has been key to India's seemingly huge advances, both in regulatory governance and information economics. This explains the necessity of the US-India Strategic Partnership on Information, Communication and Emerging Technologies (ICETs) and its needed elevation in early 2023. Thus, India's relationship with the United States has been important to shape its mettle as a technology power. In this article, I have explored how the ICET partnership and the upcoming Digital India Act would shape India's technology governance avenues.


Confronting Horizons of Technology 2.0 and Technology 3.0 Together

The proposed Digital India Act represents a critical milestone in India's digital journey as the world grapples with the growing power and influence of Big Tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. These companies have amassed vast amounts of data and are using it to shape user behaviour, influence political outcomes, and dominate markets.


The Digital India Act is aimed to address the challenges posed by these Big Tech companies by introducing measures to promote competition and protect user privacy with unwavering determination. Moreover, the Digital India Act aims to ensure a level playing field for all players in the digital ecosystem, including startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Now, what one can understand is that it is these big technology companies whose actions in corporate governance, digital connectivity, intellectual property rights and business ethics, have led governments across the world to build their own regulations and standards, not to just hold them to account, but also estimate how they can develop better regulatory infrastructure keeping up with the changes that ICETs undergo.


To be fair, the European Union came up with the General Data Protection Regulation and then still is deliberating among countries and stakeholders about the impact of the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act. Despite these regulations being sophisticated and too specific on civil liability, digital rights and market economics, they are maximalist in nature. Similar concerns were raised by the US Chamber of Commerce.