WHAT NOW?

Society is reaping the results of our failure to give priority to life. What now? Children are growing contrary to god’s plan that is without knowledge what true love is. They lack basic understanding of what is supposed to be done. As a result thereof, we are improperly prepared to face issues of today. In the Philippines, the issue is noticeable. All roads lead back to the fundamental character of the Filipino and the dis-functional culture it spawned to the tune of a nation of 100 million. Filipinos are unable to control and police themselves. These kinds of performance expected of a modern society are simply beyond the intellectual reach of the average Filipino minds. It is evident in the way the simplest of rules and the most basic of courtesies simply escape the grasp of Filipino thinking. To such a society, the very modern privilege of freedom of speech and the right to elect their leaders have been granted. But questions remain as to whether Filipinos have truly earned these privileges.

The enactment of the Republic Act 10175 also known as the Philippine Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 became a celebrated event in our nation. It became a pre-new year celebrations for us! Filipino antagonists started, questioning people behind the said law. What now? They mocked some legislative personae. They are in the position that, the enactment of such law is, for protection of the administrators of the government against public disclosure of their shit! They protested publicly, through online forum and social discussion in the newspaper. For example, in a news column, a contributor expressed that, “unprecedented freedom, anonymity and democracy allowed by the Internet may have come to a screeching, crashing halt”) has caused quite an amusing hysteria in the online commentary community.ⁱ Some of the many antagonists brought the same to the judiciary and asked the high court concerning its applicability without disregarding basic constitutional rights. My perusal readings in the cyber world and in some newspapers, including reporters’ discussions after the aftermath one thing has quite evident amongst the social networker: they have been terrified by the passage of the law!

What now? Quite interesting to depict, are the reactions of networkers who, by evident dissatisfaction of the law personally disarmed some political figures. Even the law provides penalty against violators, they never hesitated bringing some comments against them. For example, a provocative statement by someone against the law, speak against a senator. I quote, “Heard [Philippine Senator] Tito Sotto was cruising a gay bath house in Quezon City last week. Spread your own truth about Sotto today!” and “Senator Tito Sotto is not only a plagiarist and misogynist, but he is also a coddler of rapists, drug dealers”.ⁱⁱ Various networkers expressed their sentiments against the law saying “that who cares about this cybercrime law!?hindi pa rin maitatago ang KATOTOHANAN na ABNOY! BAKLING! PANOT! BAD BREATH (TALSIK LAWAY)! TAMAD at B0B0 si NOYNOY! hindi rin nila MAIKAKAILA na MAKATI pa sa GABING BICOL, MANGWAWASAK ng PAMILYA (mahilig KUMABIT!), MALANDI at MAY STD yang si KRIS AQUINO!”ⁱⁱⁱ

The outbreak of this kind of character, to me is too personal. This must not be done. We should learn to exercised rights granted by the government, in such a manner not injurious to others. Not the other way around. That is why I mostly admire Senator Santiago, for trying to come up a suggestion to push for the passage of a bill dubbed as anti-cybercrime law version 2.0 that would replace the controversial Republic Act No. 10175. In a way it may solve the impasse brought about by the passage of the law and to reasonably fulfill the purpose of the law for which it was in the first place created. The purpose of the law is express in section 2 of R.A. 10175.^iv Santiago said her Senate Bill 3327, known as the Magna Carta for Philippine Internet Freedom (MCPIF), will guard the rights and freedoms of Filipinos in cyberspace, while defining and penalizing cybercrimes. While it is important to crackdown on criminal activities on the internet, protecting constitutional rights like free expression, privacy, and due process should hold a higher place in crafting laws,” she said.

Is the proposed bill better than the law passed? What now? The antagonists argued that the law, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or Republic Act No. 10175 threatens our basic rights and freedoms. This law works against ordinary citizens, bloggers, freelance writers, website owners, social network users and disregards, among other things, our right to privacy and freedom of expression.

I agree with Senator Santiago that the bill being push be her is quite better than the other. Here are my reasons:

1. First, the policy of MCPIF does not suffer from over breadth and vagueness. It expressly affirmed the rights contained in the Constitution and guarantees its observance and protection. This confirmation is not present in the said law. It likewise acknowledge the potential harm which the internet may bring, which she herself coined as cyber weapons, which to her is inimical to national interest. I quoted (some portion of section2), the State reaffirms its renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy. Therefore, consistent with the national interest, the State shall pursue a policy of "no first use" of cyber weapons against foreign nations and shall pursue a policy of cyber defense, and shall endeavor to develop plans, policies, programs, measures, and mechanisms to provide security for Internet and information and communications technology infrastructure for and in the defense of the Filipino people.
2. Secondly, R.A. 10175 violates the right to privacy and the Constitutional guarantee against illegal search and seizure through allowing the warrantless real-time collection of traffic data. Section 12^v of the law is not clear when may be the real time to collect on such potential data. Although the section produced, enumerate the elements when this section is applicable, the wordings of the said enumerations is ambiguous that would lead a reasonable man to evident mistakes. In contrast, the MCPIF ensures due process by providing strict guidelines for any collection of any data, including the securing of warrants, obligating notification, and limiting seizure to data and excluding physical property. Santiago’s bill differed from R.A. 10175 as it guaranteed the right against illegal searches and seizures. The internet rights and privileges^vi are contained in articles 4-12 of the proposed bill. A feature outstanding in the proposed bill is the acknowledgment of the internet as an open area, where ideas is shared and passed. The law contained no provision in this respect.

3. Thirdly, the MCPIF authorized government agencies to provide security for the data they collected from citizens to ensure their right to privacy. This provision is absent in the law signed by President Aquino. As an illustration, The dangerous ‘takedown’ clause of R.A. 10175 where the government may have a website or network blocked or restricted without due process of law, is not present in the MCPIF. The bill provides for court proceedings in cases where websites or networks are to be taken down, and prohibits censorship of content without a court order. It connotes that the judicial power to decide any existence controversy pertaining to the subjects covered by the law is retained by the courts and courts alone and not to be transfer to any government agencies which are not competent to decide the case.

4. Fourth, the MCPIF did not curtail the freedom of expression via internet. This is expressed in section 8 of the bill. It provides that the State shall, within its jurisdiction, protect and promote the freedom of speech and expression on the Internet. In connection thereto, The State shall, within its jurisdiction, protect the right of the people to petition the government via the Internet for redress of grievances. The State shall, within its jurisdiction, protect the right of any person to publish material on or upload information to the Internet. This right as granted by the constitution was never touch by the legislature.

5. Fifth, the MCPIF also prohibits double jeopardy. R.A. 10175 allows double jeopardy through prosecution of offenses committed against its provisions and prosecution of offenses committed against the Revised Penal Code and special laws, even though the offenses are from a single act. Double jeopardy is a prohibition against second prosecution after a trial for the same offense. The evil sought to be avoided is the double trial and double conviction and not the double punishment. Right against such cruel punishment is being affirmed in the bill proposed by Senator Santiago.

6. Sixth, Santiago’s bill also seeks to clarify the mandate and organization of the proposed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the creation of which is currently pending before Congress. Because of the broad range of responsibilities related to the enforcement of laws governing ICT, a department-level office should be established and its functions and jurisdiction should be clear-cut. There is no said the matter concerning the new law. To me, there must be a clearly established body that oversees the enforcement and applicability of law. A body which its primordial concern it to see to it, that, the law is use to fulfill its function and not otherwise. In connection thereto, the MCPIF prepared the proposed DICT, law enforcement agencies, and the military with provisions for handling cybercrimes. Section 47 of the bill provides amendments to the AFP Modernization Act to ensure the country has weapons and defenses against cyber-attacks by terrorists, violent non-state actors, and rogue or enemy nation-states. Cyber-attack means An attack by a hostile foreign nation-state or violent non-state actors on Philippine critical infrastructure or networks through or using the Internet or information and communications technology. The term may also be used to mean an assault on system security that derives from an intelligent threat, i.e., an intelligent act that is a deliberate attempt to evade security services and violate the security policy of a system. Also, the bill’s Section 48, on the other hand, mandates the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to combat cyber terrorism. It is proper to recognize that child pornography, child abuse, and human trafficking can be committed through the internet, as much as hacking, piracy, and copyright infringement. Santiago’s bill also enables the country to harness ICT for national development by ensuring government agencies are keeping up with the realities of and advances in information technology, such as those involving consumer welfare and copyright laws.

7. Seventh, if passed into law, S.B. No. 3327 will be the first law to be created through “crowdsourcing.” Crowdsourcing is an online process of getting work done by tapping people on the Internet who volunteer their talent and skills. This is not tackle even by glance in the law. This is an emerging epidemic in the internet and lastly,

8. “The MCPIF does not suffer from over breadth and vagueness in its provisions on libel, unlike the law it tries to replace. The law provides that, the unlawful or prohibited acts of libel as defined in Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future. In fact, it treats libel as a civil liability rather than a criminal act, which is a step forward in the move to decriminalize libel.

Although the proposed bill quite long, to me it is better than the law. I suggest that it be acted upon, in order that to safeguard the law will bind us all. And to stop the inimical dialogue amongst man concerning the unconstitutionality of the law, let us be reminded that, legislature are also humans such that, they are may insist on setting up standards which may in the end violates any right, this is not a permission upon us to mocked them. They are also entitled to what we post on our blogs or on our pager, or in the new column, which is due process. No one is above each other.

Freedom and right must not be curtailed. That slogan, are cries of all walks of life and yet, they remain useless in my ears. It must not be a one way thing to do! Government and its inhabitant must do their stuffs. No one is to be blame. We must resolve to follow the uniform standard to keep up with the rest of the western world and put order in our communities. We cannot continue to run our organizations or communities like the Wild, Wild West and expect progress to happen. a

i MANILA STANDARD ARTICLE by Jojo Robles,

ii Carlos Cledran, on his TWITTER

iii The latest outrage fad: Protests against the new Philippine anti-cybercrime law have become personal. This article is posted by one Benigno on September 19, 2012.

iv SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — The State recognizes the vital role of information and communications industries such as content production, telecommunications, broadcasting electronic commerce, and data processing, in the nation’s overall social and economic development. The State also recognizes the importance of providing an environment conducive to the development, acceleration, and rational application and exploitation of information and communications technology (ICT) to attain free, easy, and intelligible access to exchange and/or delivery of information; and the need to protect and safeguard the integrity of computer, computer and communications systems, networks, and databases, and the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and data stored therein, from all forms of misuse, abuse, and illegal access by making punishable under the law such conduct or conducts. In this light, the State shall adopt sufficient powers to effectively prevent and combat such offenses by facilitating their detection, investigation, and prosecution at both the domestic and international levels, and by providing arrangements for fast and reliable international cooperation.

v SEC. 12. Real-Time Collection of Traffic Data. — Law enforcement authorities, with due cause, shall be authorized to collect or record by technical or electronic means traffic data in real-time associated with specified communications transmitted by means of a computer system. Traffic data refer only to the communication’s origin, destination, route, time, date, size, duration, or type of underlying service, but not content, nor identities.

All other data to be collected or seized or disclosed will require a court warrant.

Service providers are required to cooperate and assist law enforcement authorities in the collection or recording of the above-stated information. The court warrant required under this section shall only be issued or granted upon written application and the examination under oath or affirmation of the applicant and the witnesses he may produce and the showing: (1) that there are reasonable grounds to believe that any of the crimes enumerated hereinabove has been committed, or is being committed, or is about to be committed: (2) that there are reasonable grounds to believe that evidence that will be obtained is essential to the conviction of any person for, or to the solution of, or to the prevention of, any such crimes; and (3) that there are no other means readily available for obtaining such evidence.

vi A right that, when granted to an entity, permits the entity to perform a privileged access that is the completely unrestricted access of a user to the resources of a device, computer, system, or network, and the privileged control which means The completely unrestricted ability of a user to use the resources, modify the configuration, and otherwise exert a directing influence on the operation of a device, computer, system, or network.