Wednesday, June 29 2005 19:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Concerned over instances of leakage of personal information in the data processing industry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Jun 29, 2005) favoured changes in cyber laws to make illegal transfer of data a punishable offence but said occasional misguided acts of individuals should not be allowed to damage the reputation of all professionals.

In the face of the controversy generated over leakage of personal information of UK customers through an Indian web-marketing firm, Singh reviewed the steps taken by the Government and industry to deal with the challenge of cyber crime and to ensure data secrecy, Sanjay Baru, PM's media advisor, told reporters.

During the meeting, Singh asked the IT department and industry association Nasscom to consult all stakeholders and give suggestions for changes in the existing laws and, if necessary, to ensure that any breach of secrecy, illegal transfer of commercial and other privileged information and any other form of cyber crime is made a punishable offence.

"Indian professionals have built for themselves an enviable global reputation through hard work, dedication and commitment and the occasional misguided acts of some individuals should not be allowed to damage the high reputation of all professionals," he said.

The meeting was held in the context of a recent 'media sting operation' involving the employee of a private data processing company where allegations of breach of data secrecy have been levelled.

Singh stressed on the need to maintain high standards of quality, confidentiality and reliability in the data processing business.

Nasscom president Kiran Karnik, present at the meeting, assured the Prime Minister that the Indian data processing industry is fully committed to ensure the highest standards of data privacy.

"India's brand equity in this area may well have been a 'sting operation' directed to give Indian industry a bad name against the background of its growing competitiveness," Karnik said, adding Nasscom was building a database of all employees in the BPO industry to ensure that there is adequate quality assurance.

Besides IT Secretary Brijesh Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister T K A Nair was also present at the meeting.