Cyber Crime Law
When Tim Berners Lee shared the Internet to the world, the World Wide Web was born. One of his objectives was to open up a world where the participants can freely share beneficial information. 23 years later and as the world moves forward, the Philippines takes a step back.
“Effectivity of that law is not conditioned upon the adoption of the IRR and the setting up of the Office of Cybercrime. No legal impediment for the law’s implementation, given the absence of a TRO or injunction,” sends Dept of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima through SMS to newsinfo.inquirer.net.
Some problems of the new law (including the Data Privacy Law) that I realized as discussed by Atty. JJ Disini in the recent Digital Influencers Marketing Summit in SMX are the following:
- A number of clauses and provisions were poorly worded with a lot of loopholes.
- Ambigiuos statements leading to misinterpretations.
- Section 6 raises punishment (from the Revised Penal Code) to all crimes committed through ICT (including libel or any crimes you can think of), a degree higher with a lot of dangerous implications.
- Being an accessory to a cybercrime act such as ‘liking‘ or ‘sharing‘ a social network status can actually be used as basis to arrest a person.
Stop Cyber Martial Law (Image from pifa.ph)
What Now?
Plagiarism Punishable Under Cybercrime Law
I just really hope that Senator Tito Sotto did not just insert the libel clause in the Cyber Crime Law for any selfish motives arising from the embarrassment caused by the related plagiarism issue. Because in essence, he will be getting a taste of his own medicine since plagiarism leading to copyright infringement can be punishable under the Cybercrime Law as per DOJ secretary De Lima.
Go to Jail for Social Network Posts
Go to Jail for Social Network Posts
Current Government React, Guarantees.
Earlier today, the Palace has issued a statement calling on the vigilant netizens not to worry about the law in question as such will be constitutionally addressed through constitutional means, if needed, such as the Implementing Rules and Regulations. This call was also made in relation to a number of hacked government websites made inaccessible by an anonymous group.
There will be a lot more developments happening in the next few weeks on this matter as some Senators who approved the law are now thinking twice about their decisions and as the netizens continue to shout for justice online and offline. Amidst this all, let us remain vigilant as we are all stakeholders in this exercise.
Jonel Uy is the EIC of BloggerManila.com. Graduating from UP Diliman with a degree in Computer Science, he is also the Managing Director of #DigitalCircles.asia engaging and amplifying social media campaigns for brands. On Mondays, he teaches information technology classes at Grace Christian College.
Know more about him at JonelUy.com 
OA kasi ung cybercrime law na yan
Goodness, buti na TRO na yan
Yet for TRO!