SC tackles today 15 petitions vs cybercrime law

MANILA, Philippines - Justices of the Supreme Court (SC) are set to tackle 15 petitions questioning the legality of Republic Act 10175 – the Cybercrime Prevention Act – in regular session today. 

Bayan Muna Representatives Neri Colmenares and Teddy Casiño and the National Press Club filed three other separate petitions yesterday.  

At the Department of Justice (DOJ), a multi-sectoral forum will be held to gather inputs from stakeholders in drafting the implementing rules and regulations of RA 10175. 

The forum will be held at the Land Bank building in Manila starting at 9 a.m. 

It will be opened by Taguig City Rep. Sigfrido Tinga, House of Representatives committee on information and communications technology chairman. 

Participants will include representatives of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Science and Technology, and agencies under the DOJ like the National Bureau of Investigation, National Prosecution Service and Public Attorney’s Office.

Other participants include Internet Society-Philippines chapter, PH Net Foundation, UP College of Law, La Salle Institute of Governance, Foundation for Media Alternatives, Globe Telecommunications, Imperium Technologies, Philippine Software Industry Association, Business Processing Association of the Philippines, Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team, IdeaCorp Philippines, National Security Council, National Defense College of the Philippines, and Freelance Writers Guild of the Philippines. 

The forum will have a live webcast in www.doj.gov.ph.   

Palace warns hackers

Malacañang warned yesterday people hacking government websites to protest the enactment of RA 10175 that their days are numbered. 

Speaking to reporters, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the NBI is working to identify and arrest hackers of government websites. 

“Let me remind everyone that hacking is a crime punishable even under the e-Commerce Act,” he said.  

“Hacking is not a new phenomenon. But we will not telegraph our punches in media.  

“This hacking is not a positive activity on the part of those who seek to hamper government activities, services online.”  

Lacierda said the executive department is duty-bound to implement RA 10175 despite petitions before the SC for the law to be voided. 

“In the absence of any movement or any effort to suspend the implementation, we as the executive branch are duty-bound to implement the law,” he said. 

Lacierda said the libel law has been part of the Revised Penal Code for a long time. 

“There are plans, for instance, to remove libel,” he said.  

“But it’s an act of legislature. It is now subject to the wisdom of the legislature. The subject of libel is already found in the Revised Penal Code. Never at any time did the Supreme Court rule that libel was unconstitutional.”    

DOTC website defaced

An entity reportedly in Turkey defaced the website of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) yesterday. 

However, the DOTC managed to restore the website back online a few hours after an entity identified as “Aksuvari Gandalf,” purportedly in Turkey, vandalized it. 

In a statement, Nic Conti, DOTC spokesman, said the agency’s Management Information System (MIS) Office quickly published the original content of dotc.gov.ph using the most recent backup it had of the website.  

“The DOTC MIS and its hosting provider conduct regular backups of the website so we are prepared for cases of vandalism such as this,” he said. “The most recent file that was uploaded last Friday was included in the clean backup that was used to replace the vandalized content.”  

Conti assured the public no uploaded DOTC files were deleted or corrupted. 

“Our MIS team is currently retracing the activities in our logs to determine how the vandalism took place,” he said. “We are now looking for the vulnerabilities so we can plug whatever gap to prevent this from happening again.”

Conti said the DOTC website was, technically, not hacked because the disruption was limited to the published content in the website. It did not go as far as interrupting all other online systems and electronic-based operations of the DOTC, he added. 

The vandalism was not connected with the anti-cybercrime law campaign, Conti said. 

Offline tweets protest RA 10175

A day before the SC is scheduled to decide on petitions against RA 10175, several groups mounted several activities to protest the Cybercrime Law. 

In a press conference in Quezon City, child welfare group Akap Bata Youth Advocates declared Oct. 13 as “No Video Games Day” and called on online gamers, owners of computer shops, children and their parents to stop playing online games. 

Love Carlos, Akap Bata Youth Advocates spokesperson, said a day of moderation and sacrifice in playing online games will define long-term gains for the people.  

“As we register our protest on Saturday, we are ensuring that our children will still enjoy their freedom to express, be informed and play online in the years to come,” Carlos said. 

The group urged everyone to participate in a sports fest for children in the morning of Oct. 13 at the Quezon Memorial Circle. 

Militant group Anakbayan staged an “offline tweets protest” against RA 10175, near various universities and colleges in Manila. 

Citing the use of social media site Twitter to call for the junking of the law, members of the group aired their sentiments by writing “offline tweets” together with the hashtag #NoToCybercrimeLaw.

Different groups are expected to hold a protest action at the SC today.   

Ally criticizes Aquino

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, an ally of President Aquino, criticized him yesterday for insisting on retaining the provision against online libel of the Cybercrime Prevention Act.          

“P-Noy’s support for the cyber libel provision in the face of legitimate concerns raised against it by netizens and journalists is extremely disappointing,” he said.         

Bello said Aquino’s offer of a reduction in the proposed penalty for Internet libel “will not result in a reduction of the chilling effect of the provision.”” “The reduction in penalties does not address the inherent flaw of the law, which will primarily target not only professional media practitioners, but also private individuals who look to cyberspace, particularly social networking sites, as a medium to freely express their sentiments,” he said. “The fact of penalty is enough to create prior restraint on the author of the speech, particularly if the author... is a private individual without the wherewithal to fight off the criminal charges that may potentially arise. Critical debate and the articulation of divergent ideas will wither from the looming shadow of criminal liability.”  

Bello said the reduction in penalty does not address the issue of the power of the secretary of justice to take down or block speech upon a prima facie showing that a violation of the Cybercrime Act has been committed.           “We strongly believe that even if the criminal charge does not eventually prosper, the clamp-down on speech found to be libelous at the discretion of one government agency is a clamp-down on freedom of expression and civil liberties,” he said.           

Sotto defends self

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III defended himself yesterday from accusations that he inserted the provision on libel in RA 10175. 

Sotto said the measure had been deliberated on many times last year, and that the individual amendment on libel, and the inclusion of a higher penalty for libel, were put months prior to his privilege speech at the Senate about the RH bill. 

“As of June 5, it is already out of the hands of the Senate,” he said.  

“It was already enrolled and sent to the President of the Philippines. Now there are claims that this is a retaliation for the cyber bullying attacks which I got... The cyber bullying attacks I got was in August of 2012 which was way, way beyond June.” 

Sotto said the Senate approved the measure on second reading on Jan. 4, meaning that the product of interpellations from December to January as well as amendments were okayed by the majority of senators. 

Only Sen. Teofisto Guingona III voted against the measure, Sotto said. 

Senators who approved the measure on third and final reading were Pia Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Chiz Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Aquilino Pimentel III, Ralph Recto, Ramon Revilla Jr., Vicente Sotto III, and Manuel Villar Jr. 

The House of Representatives approved the measure on June 4 this year, and Congress held a bicameral conference to consolidate the two measures. – Edu Punay, Delon Porcalla, Lawrence Agcaoili, Rainier Allan Ronda, Janvic Mateo, Jess Diaz, Mayen Jaymalin, Christina Mendez