CYBER LAW NOTES

PRESENTED BY
MANOJ AGRAWAL
 QUESTION-1 DESCRIBE THE ROLE OF CYBER LAW IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF E-
COMMERCE IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRY LIKE INDIA
OR
WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY THE TERM ‘CYBER LAWS ‘?HOW THEY ARE
DIFFERENT FROM THE GENERAL LAW?
Cyber Law (IT Law) in India
 Cyber Law also called IT Law is the law regarding Information-technology
including computers and internet. I
it is related to legal informatics and supervises the digital circulation of
information, software, information security and e-commerce.
IT law does not consist a separate area of law rather it encloses aspects of contract,
intellectual property, privacy and data protection laws.
Intellectual property is a key element of IT law.
The area of software licence is controversial and still evolving in Europe and
elsewhere.
According to Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology, Government
of India :
 Cyber Laws yields legal recognition to electronic documents and a structure to
support e-filing and e-commerce transactions and also provides a legal structure to
reduce, check cyber crimes.
Cyber law (also referred to as cyberlaw) is a term used to describe the legal
issues related to use of communications technology, particularly "cyberspace",
i.e. the Internet.
It is less a distinct field of law in the way that property or contract are as it is an
intersection of many legal fields, including intellectual property, privacy, freedom
of expression, and jurisdiction.
In essence, cyber law is an attempt to integrate the challenges presented by
human activity on the Internet with legacy system of laws applicable to the
physical world.

Importance of Cyber Laws

# We are living in highly digitalized world.
# All companies depend upon their computer networks and keep their valuable
data in electronic form.
# Government forms including income tax returns, company law forms etc are
now filled in electronic form.
# Consumers are increasingly using credit cards for shopping.
# Most people are using email, cell phones and SMS messages for communication.
# important evidence is found in computers/ cell phones e.g. in cases of divorce,
murder, kidnapping, organized crime, terrorist operations, counterfeit currency
etc.
# Since it touches all the aspects of transactions and activities on and concerning
the Internet, the World Wide Web and Cyberspace therefore Cyber law is
extremely important.
#It covers all transaction over internet.
#It keeps eyes on all activities over internet.
#It touches every action and every reaction in cyberspace
Role of Cyber Law:
Cyber laws contain different types of purposes. Some laws create rules for how
individuals and companies may use computers and the internet while some laws
protect people from becoming the victims of crime through unscrupulous
activities on the internet. The major areas of cyber law include:
Fraud:
Consumers depend on cyber laws to protect them from online fraud. Laws are
made to prevent identity theft, credit card theft and other financial crimes that
happen online. A person who commits identity theft may face confederate or
state criminal charges. They might also encounter a civil action brought by a
victim. Cyber lawyers work to both defend and prosecute against allegations of
fraud using the internet

Copyright:
The internet has made copyright violations easier. In early days of online
communication, copyright violations was too easy. Both companies and
individuals need lawyers to bring actions to impose copyright protections.
Copyright violation is an area of cyber law that protects the rights of individuals
and companies to profit from their own creative works.
Advantages of Cyber Law:
Organizations are now able to carry out e-commerce using the legal
infrastructure provided by the Act.
Digital signatures have been given legal validity and sanction in the Act.
It has opened the doors for the entry of corporate companies for issuing Digital
Signatures Certificates in the business of being Certifying Authorities.
It allows Government to issue notification on the web thus heralding e-
governance.
It gives authority to the companies or organizations to file any form, application
or any other document with any office, authority, body or agency owned or
controlled by the suitable Government in e-form by means of such e-form as may
be prescribed by the suitable Government.
The IT Act also addresses the important issues of security, which are so critical
to the success of electronic transactions.
 QUESTION-2 NAME THE RELEVENT PROVISION OF CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
APPLICABLE TO THE CYBER WORLD .DISCUSS THE AUTHORITY OF THE
GOVERNMENT TO REGULATE THE CYBER WORLD.
OR
WHAT ARE THE RELEVENT PROVISIONS OF CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
APPLICABLE TO CYBER WORLD?
OR
WHAT IS THE SCOPE AND AUTHORITY OF GOV. OF INDIA TO REGULATE CYBER
WORLD?
Relevent Provision of Constitution of India applicable to cyber world.
Everyone today must be aware about some very basic provisions of the two Acts which are
hereby used as a tool by the Courts for providing remedy to the victims of Cyber Crime. They
are as follows:
Information and Technology Act, 2000
Section 65: Tampering with the Computer Source Documents- If a person knowingly or
intentionally conceals, destroys or misuses any computer source code or software, then he
will be punished with an imprisonment which may extend up to three years or fine up to Rs.
20,000/-.
Section 66: Hacking the Computer System- If any individual knowingly with a criminal mind
accesses any computer resource in an un-authorized way which causes wrongful injuries to
that person or public at large then such offender is likely to be punished with an
imprisonment which may extend up to three years or fine up to Rs. 50,000/-.

Section 66-A: Sending of Offensive Messages- The provision was inserted via an

Amendment in the IT Act in year 2008 which prevents the user of the computer or
electronic device to send any kind of offensive messages, false messages which may likely
to cause annoyance or inconvenience to the public at large. The accused is punishable with
an imprisonment which may extend up to three years or fine.
Section 66-B: Receiving stolen computer or electronic device- If an individual receives a
computer device or any electronic device which he knows to stolen or having a defective
title, shall be punished with an imprisonment which may extend up to three years or fine
up to Rs. 100000/-.
Section 66-C: Fraudulently using password of any another person: A person fraudulently
using the electronic password, or Digital Signature which may be delegated to him for it’s
lawful use in the capacity of servant or agent, is punishable with an imprisonment which
may extend up to three years or fine up to Rs. 1 Lack.
Section 66-E: Publishing private images of other persons without consent-  If any person
captures or obtains the private images of any another person and publishes it on any social
platform via an electronic medium without the consent of that person, is punishable with
an imprisonment which may extend up to three years or a fine of Rs. 2 Lacks.
Section 66-F: Cyber Terrorism- If any individual who is denied to access any particular
website of any Ministry or Government Department does so in an un-authorized way
which may threaten or can cause detriment to the sovereignty or integrity of India, is
punishable with imprisonment which may extend up to life.
Section 67: Publishing information which is obscene via electronic form-  If any individual
publishes or transmits any message or image which in itself is objectionable in nature,
which may lower the image of the alleged person in the eyes of others, is a crime
punishable with an imprisonment which may extend up to five years or fine up to Rs. 1
Lack.
Section 67-A: Publishing images or sexual content- If anyone publishes or transmit any
image or video which contains serious or violent sexual content in it, then the publisher of
such content shall be punished with an imprisonment which may extend up to seven years
or fine up to Rs. 1 Lack. In such cases even the person accessing or forwarding such content
may also be held liable or can be made a party to the crime, as he is also expressly
participating in the offence by doing so.
Section 71: Misrepresentation- If any individual makes any mis-representation before the
Certifying Authority or conceals any material fact from them for obtaining any license,
Digital Signature Certificate shall be punishable with an imprisonment which may extend
up to two years or fine up to Rs. 10,000/-.
Scope Of Cyber Laws In India
Cyber: The term “cyber” owes its origin to the term “cybernetics,” which in turn derived
from the Greek word “kubernetes” or governor. Nobert Wiener, an American
Mathematician, coined the term “cybernetic” in the 1940s to describe the theory of
communication. Subsequently, the term “cybernetics” popularly came to be known as
“cyber.”
Cyber Law: Cyberlaw is the law that governs cyberspace. In general, it means the law that
governs not only the internet but also electronic data which may be stored in a standalone
computer system. The reason for including data stored in a standalone computer is one
had to include merely communication process occurring via, the internet; the term would
be extremely narrow in scope. This would, in turn, leave out computer systems from the
scope of cyberlaw, thereby creating confusion as to the law applicable to regulate
electronic data store in a standalone computer.
In India, there’s no cyber law in particular, but there is the IT Act 2000 which provides for
the cyber-crimes and the punishments thereto. The Information Technology Act is a Cyber
Crime Act of India. In India, the bill was finalized by the group of officials headed by the
minister of Information Technology Mr. Pramod Mahajan. Signed by President K.R.
Narayanan, the bill was passed in the budget session of 2000 on 9 May 2000.
The salient feature of this bill is that it punishes the persons of other nationality too if their
crimes involve any computer or network located in India.
Impact in India
As a user of the digital format, one needs to know five broad things that the Indian Cyber
Law covers because it impacts all of us in one way or the other.
First – the Indian Cyber Law makes the electronic format legal, anything that you write,
publish share, transmit electronically is now legal.
Second – it also grants legality to electronic contracts, you can make an offer electronically
you can accept an offer, and that results in a valid, binding electronic contract.
Third – the law recognizes the concept of digital signatures and the form of electronic
authentications. So your digital signature is now legal and valid and can be used in any
proceedings.
Fourth – almost all cyber-crimes are already covered under the Indian Cyber Law. There
are various activities which can now be booked and are made punishable with
imprisonment ranging from life imprisonment to 2-3 years imprisonment or fine from 1
lakh – 10 lakh rupees, or both 
Fifth – the Indian Cyber Law has come up with a broad concept known as that of an
intermediary. This includes almost all the service providers and companies who on behalf
of any company or a person is sharing, transmitting any particular electronic record or
providing any service with respect to that record and all other intermediaries in India are
mandated to exercise due diligence whether obliged under the law or not.
AUTHORITY OF GOVT. OF INDIA TO REGULATE CYBER WORLD

From hacking into computers to making fraudulent transactions online, there are

many ways in which we can become a victim of illegal cyber activities.
To regulate such activities that violate the rights of an Internet user, the Indian
government has the Information Technology Act, 2000, in place.
 Question-3 WHAT IS HISTORICAL BACKGROUND IT ACT
2000 ?
The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA-2000, or the IT Act) is an Act of
the Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) notified on 17 October 2000.
 It is the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.
Secondary or subordinate legislation to the IT Act includes the Intermediary Guidelines
Rules 2011 and the 
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 202
1
. The bill was passed in the budget session of 2000 and signed by President 
K. R. Narayanan on 9 June 2000. The bill was finalised by a group of officials headed by
then Minister of Information Technology Pramod Mahajan.

The original Act contained 94 sections, divided into 13 chapters and 4 schedules.
The laws apply to the whole of India.
 If a crime involves a computer or network located in India, persons of other nationalities
can also be indicted under the law,
The Act provides a legal framework for electronic governance by giving recognition to 
electronic records and digital signatures.
 It also defines cyber crimes and prescribes penalties for them.
 The Act directed the formation of a Controller of Certifying Authorities to regulate the
issuance of digital signatures.
It also established a Cyber Appellate Tribunal to resolve disputes rising from this new law.
 The Act also amended various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the 
Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Banker's Book Evidence Act, 1891, and the 
Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 to make them compliant with new technologies

A major amendment was made in 2008.

 It introduced Section 66A which penalized sending "offensive messages".
It also introduced Section 69, which gave authorities the power of "interception or
monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource".
Additionally, it introduced provisions addressing - pornography, child porn, 
cyber terrorism and voyeurism.
The amendment was passed on 22 December 2008 without any debate in Lok Sabha.
The next day it was passed by the Rajya Sabha.
It was signed into law by President Pratibha Patil, on 5 February 2009
Offences
List of offences and the corresponding penalties:

Section Offence Penalty

Tampering with computer  Imprisonment up to three

65 years, or/and with fine up
source documents
to 200,000
Imprisonment up to three
66 Hacking with computer system years, or/and with fine up
to 500,000
Imprisonment up to three
Receiving stolen computer or
66B communication device years, or/and with fine up
to 100,000
Imprisonment up to three
66C Using password of another per years, or/and with fine up
son to 100,000
Imprisonment up to three
66D Cheating using computer reso years, or/and with fine up
urce to 100,000
 Publishing private images of Imprisonment up to three
66E years, or/and with fine up
others
to 200,000
66F Acts of cyberterrorism Imprisonment up to life.
Imprisonment up to five years,
Publishing information which
67 is obscene in electronic form. or/and with fine up
to 1,000,000
Imprisonment up to seven
67A Publishing images containing  years, or/and with fine up
sexual acts
to 1,000,000
Imprisonment up to five years,
or/and with fine up
to 1,000,000 on first
Publishing child porn or 
67B conviction. Imprisonment up
predating children online to seven years, or/and with
fine up to 1,000,000 on second
conviction.
67C Failure to maintain records Imprisonment up to three
years, or/and with fine.
 Failure/refusal to comply with Imprisonment up to 2 years,
68
orders or/and with fine up to 100,000
69 Failure/refusal to decrypt data Imprisonment up to seven
years and possible fine.
Securing access or attempting
70 to secure access to a Imprisonment up to ten years,
or/and with fine.
protected system
Imprisonment up to 2 years,
71 Misrepresentation
or/and with fine up to 100,000
Breach of confidentiality and Imprisonment up to 2 years,
72 privacy or/and with fine up to 100,000
72A Disclosure of information in Imprisonment up to 3 years,
breach of lawful contract or/and with fine up to 500,000
Publishing electronic signature
Imprisonment up to 2 years,
73 certificate false in certain
or/and with fine up to 100,000
particulars
74 Publication for fraudulent Imprisonment up to 2 years,
purpose or/and with fine up to 100,000
Information Technology Act, 2000
In 1996, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted
the model law on electronic commerce (e-commerce) to bring uniformity in the law in
different countries.
Further, the General Assembly of the United Nations recommended that all countries must
consider this model law before making changes to their own laws.
India became the 12th country to enable cyber law after it passed the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
While the first draft was created by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India as the
ECommerce Act, 1998, it was redrafted as the ‘Information Technology Bill, 1999’, and
passed in May 2000.
Objectives of the Act
The Information Technology Act, 2000 provides legal recognition to the
transaction done via electronic exchange of data and other electronic 
means of communication or electronic commerce transactions.
This also involves the use of alternatives to a paper-based method of 
communication and information storage to facilitate the electronic filing of
documents with the Government agencies.
Further, this act amended the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Indian Evidence Act
1872, the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act 1891, and the Reserve Bank of India Act
1934.
The objectives of the Act are as follows:
1-Grant legal recognition to all transactions done via electronic exchange of data or other
electronic means of communication or e-commerce, in place of the earlier paper-based
method of communication.
2-Give legal recognition to digital signatures for the authentication of any information or
matters requiring legal authentication
3-Facilitate the electronic filing of documents with Government agencies and also
departments
4-Facilitate the electronic storage of data
5-Give legal sanction and also facilitate the electronic transfer of funds between banks and
financial institutions
6-Grant legal recognition to bankers under the Evidence Act, 1891 and the Reserve Bank of
India Act, 1934, for keeping the books of accounts in electronic form.
Features of the Information Technology Act, 2000
1-All electronic contracts made through secure electronic channels are legally
valid.
2-Legal recognition for digital signatures.
3-Security measures for electronic records and also digital signatures are in place
4-A procedure for the appointment of adjudicating officers for holding inquiries
under the Act is finalized
5-Provision for establishing a Cyber Regulatory Appellant Tribunal under the Act.
Further, this tribunal will handle all appeals made against the order of the
Controller or Adjudicating Officer.
6-An appeal against the order of the Cyber Appellant Tribunal is possible only in
the High Court
7-Digital Signatures will use an asymmetric cryptosystem and also a hash function
Penalties, Compensation and Adjudication under Information
Technology Act, 2000
Section 43: Where a person without the permission of owner or any other
person-in-charge damage the Computer, or Computer System, or Computer
Network, the he shall be liable for Penalty and Compensation to such person so
affected.
Section 44: Where a person fails to furnish any document, return, report to the
controller, or certifying authority, then he shall be liable to pay penalty
upto Rs.1,50,000/- per failure. Further where a person fails to furnish any
information, books or other documents within time specified, then he shall be
liable to pay penalty upto Rs.5,000/- per day. Further provided that where a
person fails to maintain books of accounts or other records, then he shall be
liable to pay penalty upto Rs.10,000/- per day.
Offences under Information Technology Act, 2000
Section 65: Any person tamper, conceal, destroy, or alter any computer source
document intentionally, then he shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.2,00,000/-,
or Imprisonment upto 3 years, or both.
Section 66: Any person dishonestly, or fraudulently does any act as referred
in Section 43, then he shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.5,00,000/-, or
Imprisonment upto 3 years, or both.
Section 66B: Any person dishonestly, or fraudulently receives or retains any stolen
computer resource or communication device, then he shall be liable to pay penalty
upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 3 years, or both.
Section 66C: Any person dishonestly, or fraudulently make use of Electronic
Signature, Password or any other Unique Identification Feature of any other
person, then he shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment
upto 3 years, or both.
Section 66D: Any person dishonestly, or fraudulently by means of any
communication device or computer resource cheats by personating, then he shall
be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 3 years, or both.
Section 66E: Any person intentionally captures, publishes, or transmits image of
private area of any person without consent, then he shall be liable to pay penalty
upto Rs.2,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 3 years, or both.
Section 66F: Any person does any act electronically, or with use of computer with
intent to threaten unity, integrity, security, or sovereignty of India, then he shall
punishable with Imprisonment for Life.

Section 67: Any person publishes, or transmits in electronic form any material

which appeals to prurient interest, or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and
coorupt persons who are likely to read, see, or hear matter contained in it, then
he shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.5,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 3
years, or both, And in the event of second or subsequent conviction, he shall be
liable to pay penalty upto Rs.10,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 5 years, or both.
Section 67A: Any person publishes, or transmits in electronic form any material
which contains sexually explicit act, or conduct, then he shall be liable to pay
penalty upto Rs.10,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 5 years, or both, And in the
event of second or subsequent conviction, he shall be liable to pay penalty
upto Rs.10,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 7 years, or both.
Section 68: The Controller may, by order, direct a Certifying Authority or any
employee of such Authority to take such measures or cease carrying on such
activities as specified in the order if those are necessary to ensure compliance
with the provisions of this Act, rules or any regulations made thereunder and if
any person who intentionally or knowingly fails to comply with the order, then he
shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 2 years,
or both.
Section 69: Where the Central Government or a State Government or any of its
officers specially authorized by the Central Government or the State Government,
as the case may be, in this behalf may, if satisfied that it is necessary or expedient
so to do, in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of India, defense of India,
security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for
preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to
above or for investigation of any offence, it may with reasons to be recorded in
writing, by order, direct any agency of the appropriate Government to intercept,
monitor or decrypt or cause to be intercepted or monitored or decrypted any
information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource,
Any person who fails to comply with the order, then he shall be liable to
Imprisonment of 7 years, along with the fine (amount of fine is not specified in
the act).
Section 70: The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, declare any computer resource which directly or indirectly affects the
facility of Critical Information Infrastructure, to be a protected system, Any person
who fails to comply with the notification, then he shall be liable to Imprisonment
of 10 years, along with the fine (amount of fine is not specified in the act).
Section 71: Whoever makes any misrepresentation to, or suppresses any material
fact from the Controller or the Certifying Authority for obtaining any License or
Electronic Signature Certificate, as the case may be, then he shall be liable to pay
penalty upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 2 years, or both.
Section 72: If any person who has secured access to any electronic record, book,
register, correspondence, information, document or other material without the
consent of the person concerned discloses such electronic record, book, register,
correspondence, information, document or other material to any other person,
then he shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 2
years, or both.
Section 72A: If any person who has secured access to any material containing
personal information about another person, with the intent to cause or knowing
that he is likely to cause wrongful loss or wrongful gain discloses, without the
consent of the person concerned, or in breach of a lawful contract, then he shall
be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.5,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 3 years, or
both.
Section 73: If any person publishes a Electronic Signature Certificate, or make it
available to any other person with the knowledge that
Certifying Authority has not issued it, or
Subscriber has not accepted it, or
Certificate has been revoked or suspended
then he shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 2
years, or both.
.
Section 74: If any person knowingly creates, publishes, or otherwise makes
available Electronic Signature Certificate for any fraudulent or unlawful purpose,
then he shall be liable to pay penalty upto Rs.1,00,000/-, or Imprisonment upto 2
years, or both.
Section 75: If any person have committed an offence, or contravention committed
outside India, and if the act or conduct constituting the offence or contravention
involves a computer, computer system or computer network located in India, then
the provisions of this Act shall apply also to any offence or contravention
committed outside India by any person irrespective of his nationality

Section 76: Any computer, computer system, floppies, compact disks, tape

drives, or any other accessories related thereto, in respect of which any provision
of this Act, rules, orders, or regulations made thereunder has been, or is being
contravened, shall be liable to confiscation. However, if it is proved that such
resources were not used in committing fraud then only person in default will
be arrested
 INTRODUCTION
–Right to privacy and Right to Information

RIGHT OF INFORMATION PRIVACY ISSUE & ACCESS RIGHT

The right to privacy and the right to information are both essential human rights
in the Modern information society.
For the most part, these two rights complement each other in holding
governments accountable to individuals.
But there is a potential conflict between these rights when there is a demand for
access to personal information held by government bodies.
Where the two rights overlap, states need to develop mechanisms for identifying
core issues to limit conflicts and for balancing the rights.
The “two forms of protection against the Leviathan state that have the aim of
restoring the balance between the citizen and the state: On first inspection, it
would appear that the right of access to information and the right to protection
of personal privacy are irreconcilable.
Laws provide a fundamental right for any person to access information held by
government bodies.
 At the same time, right to privacy laws grant individuals a fundamental right to
control the collection of, access to, and use of personal information about them
that is held by governments and private bodies.
However, the reality is more complex. Privacy and RTI are often described as
“two sides of the same coin”—mainly acting as complementary rights that
promote individuals ’ rights to protect themselves and to promote government
accountability.
The relationship between privacy and RTI laws is currently the subject of
considerable debate around the globe as countries are increasingly adopting
these types of legislation. To date, more than 50 countries have adopted both
laws.
The right of access to information held by government bodies (RTI) provides that
individuals have a basic human right to demand information held by government
bodies. It derives from the right of freedom of expression to “seek and receive
information,” and is recognized worldwide as a human right.
Under this right,any person may make a request to a public body;
the body is legally required to respond and provide the information, unless there
is a legally compelling reason to refuse the request.
The RTI is “a requisite for the very exercise of democracy” (OAS 2003).
Democracy is based on the consent of the citizens,and that consent turns on the
government informing citizens about its activities and recognizing their right to
participate.
The collection of information by governments is done on behalf of its citizens,and
the public is only truly able to participate in the democratic process when it has
information about the activities and policies of the government.
The RTI is also an important tool for countering abuses,mismanagement,and
corruption and for enforcing essential economic and social rights.
Civic activists in Rajasthan, India,have used it to ensure that the poor get the
food they are entitled to receive from corrupt food distributors (Calland
andTilley 2002),and an angry mother inThailand used it in her efforts to learn
why her daughter was not allowed into a top-quality school (Coronel 2001).
It also is commonly used by environment-focused nongovernmental
organizations to reveal pollution dangers in communities.
The right is typically recognized at the national level through constitutional
provisions and national laws.
Some of this legislation has existed for more than 200 years. Section 6 of the
Swedish Freedom of the Press Act (adopted in 1766) set the principle that
government records were open to the public by default and granted citizens the
right to demand documents from government bodies.
The 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man called for information about
the budget to be made freely available:
“All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives,as to the
necessity of the public contribution;to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put.”
Most nations have adopted laws in the past 20 years.
Today, nearly 90 countries around the world have adopted a national law or regulation that
sets out specific rights and duties for facilitating access to information .

The following elements are typically found in national RTI laws:

• A right of an individual, organization, or legal entity to demand information
from public bodies, without having to show a legal interest in that information.
• A duty of the relevant body to respond and provide the information.This
includes mechanisms for handling requests and time limits for responding to
requests.
• Exemptions to allow the withholding of certain categories of information.
These exemptions include the protection of national security and international
relations, personal privacy, commercial confidentiality, law enforcement and
public order, information received in confidence,and internal discussions
.Exemptions typically require that some harm to the interest must be shown
before the material can be withheld.
.
• Internal appeals mechanisms for requestors to challenge the withholding of
information.
• Mechanisms for external review of the withholding of information.
This includes setting up an external body or referring cases to an existing
ombudsman or to the court system.
• Requirement for government bodies to affirmatively publish some types of
information about their structures, rules, and activities.
This is often done using information and communications technologies