A database of millions of customers including their contact details are found freely accessible online and are available for sale at a very nominal price at various online social media platforms has brought a serious and basic question in focus- who all can be held responsible and accountable for such unauthorize and illegal acts? Prima facie , the person who is selling the database is responsible under the eyes of law, but do the technology services providers or the platform where such database is been listed, owes any obligation to the customers and can be held responsible for unauthorize acts by a third party on their platform? The technology service providers or the online platform operators are commonly known as “ Intermediaries ”. In India, these technology service providers or Intermediaries are governed by the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000 (“ IT Act ”) along with Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 (“ Intermediary Rules ”) ...
Equi Corp Associates (ECA) is a multispecialty law firm based in Delhi/NCR, India for providing affordable access to legal counsel benefitting start-ups, small and growing businesses, social business enterprises, impact investors and non-profit organizations. ECA boutique service offerings are primarily at the intersection of start-up, sustainable development, social enterprise and investment sectors, designed to help clients wade through laws that were not originally designed with them in mind.