Attribution, Acknowledgment and Secure Records

In one line

An electronic record is attributed to the person who sent it, authorised it or programmed the system that sent it; it is despatched when it leaves the sender's control and received when it enters the addressee's designated resource; and it is deemed sent and received at the parties' places of business wherever the machines are.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: by section 13(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, save as otherwise agreed, an electronic record is deemed to be despatched at the place where the originator has his place of business and to be received at the place where the addressee has his place of business, and by section 13(4) that is so notwithstanding that the computer resource may be located elsewhere.

Why these sections exist

A paper letter has an author, a postmark and an address. An electronic record has none of those by nature. It can be sent by a machine, routed through five countries, and arrive in a mailbox its owner never opens.

So the Act supplies each of them by rule. Section 11 supplies the author. Section 12 supplies the acknowledgment. Section 13 supplies the postmark and the address. Sections 14 to 16 supply the idea of a record that can be trusted.

Section 11, attribution

An electronic record is attributed to the originator:

(a) if it was sent by the originator himself;

(b) by a person who had authority to act on behalf of the originator in respect of that record; or

(c) by an information system programmed by or on behalf of the originator to operate automatically.

Clause (c) is the one to remember. An automatic reply, an order confirmation or a payment instruction generated by a system is attributed to the person who programmed it or had it programmed. There is no human decision behind it and the record is still his.

And note what the section does not say. It does not attribute a record to the owner of the account from which it came. If a record is sent by someone who had no authority, none of the three clauses is satisfied, and the section does not attribute it to the account holder.

Section 12, acknowledgment of receipt

Sub-section (1), the form. Where the originator has not stipulated a particular form or method, an acknowledgment may be given by any communication by the addressee, automated or otherwise, or by any conduct of the addressee sufficient to indicate that the record has been received.

The word "stipulated" is an amendment. The footnote records that it replaced "agreed with the addressee" by Act 10 of 2009 with effect from 27 October 2009, so what governs is now the originator's own stipulation and not a bargain between the two.