NBI asked: Investigate circulation of lewd pics on Internet

The circulation of lewd photos of women continues to be the headache confronting the Internet business in the city, according to Councilor Edgardo Labella.

Labella, the chair of the council committee on laws, ordinances, good government and public accountability, has filed a resolution asking the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the report that a local web site is illegally providing lewd photographs of women taken from cell phone cameras.

Labella also asked the Internet Café Association of Cebu to look into the issue.

Last April 23, a certain Cris Mendoza had filed a complaint to Labella against the web site that is allegedly offering a pay-per-view of upskirt photos of Filipino women. The web address is http://cameramanyak.forumsplace.com.

"There's a Pinoy web site most probably based in Manila who solicits a fee for these photos. I was hoping you could do something about it. Trace the culprits with the help of NBI or at least bring them down the web site," Mendoza said in his letter to Labella.

Labella said that if the report is true, the illicit voyeuristic camera phone photos of women have now become a commercial item to some unscrupulous local web site operators.

"The unfettered proliferation of camera phone-made photographs of women or girls in the web sites and mailing lists in the Internet tend to violate the privacy rights since the photos were certainly taken without their knowledge and consent," Labella added.

Section 5.5 of City Ordinance No. 1901, known as the Internet Ordinance, mandates Internet café operators to install a licensed filtering device against pornographic web sites. - Garry B. Lao