PHNO-PCIJ BLOG: CYBERCRIME, DATA PRIVACY ACTS A DOUBLE BLOW ON NETIZENS

PCIJ BLOG: CYBERCRIME, DATA PRIVACY ACTS A DOUBLE
BLOW ON NETIZENS
MANILA, OCTOBER 8, 2012
(PCIJ BLOG) TWO LAWS REGULATING THE INTERNET and signed
just less than a month apart constitute a double whammy against proponents of
free expression, freedom of the press, and free speech.
This much was made clear by information technology experts during a virtual
roundtable discussion Thursday night on the implications of the passage of the
Cybercrime Law and the Data Privacy Act.
The Cybercrime Law, or Republic Act 10175, which penalizes the abuse of the
internet in order to commit crimes, was signed by President Benigno S. Aquino
III into law on September 12 this year. The Data Privacy Act, Republic Act
10173, another law reportedly pushed by members of the business outsourcing
community in order to protect the privacy of their clients, was signed into law
on August 15.
"We are one of the first nations to put up a rather draconian law," said
University of the Philippines College of Science professor Ben Vallejo. "In
other countries, like in the US, they have already had similar attempts, but all
the attempts were impaled on the first amendment of the US Constitution."
"It seems our legal and political systems have not caught up with the
expanded possibilities for free speech and the internet," he added.
Atty. Jose Jesus Disini, a legal expert on information technology, said the
Cybercrime Law gives government vast powers to shut down websites, search homes
and offices, and confiscate computers and hard drives on the basis of prima
facie evidence only. This is tantamount to giving an executive body vast powers
of censorship, he said.
Media groups have also decried the Cybercrime Law for imposing the country's
archaic 80-year old libel laws on the internet, and increasing the penalties as
well.
Media organizations have been trying to get Congress to have libel
decriminalized for several years now. In October 2011, the United Nations
Committee on Human Rights even reprimanded the Philippine government for its
draconian libel law, and urged that the law be amended immediately.
Under Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code, the crime of libel is punishable
with up to four years in prison. In addition, libel is the one law in the
country where the accused is considered guilty until he proves himself innocent
of any malicious intent to defame the complainant. The libel law has been used
by many politicians in the last 8 decades to harass members of media.
But while the Cybercrime Law has received most of the attention from media
and netizens, Disini said the Data Privacy Act has more far reaching
implications on the internet.
"If you think the cybercrime law was bad, the data privacy law is even
worse," Disini said. "To begin with, it is difficult to understand what its
saying, and I had to read it four to five times before I had a framework on how
it works."
But more importantly, Disini said, the Data Privacy Act is "more
encompassing" in how it regulates the flow of information. While the law was
meant to protect personal medical information being handled by business process
outsourcing companies, the law was worded so vaguely that it could apply to
almost anything online.
"I can tell you with a very high degree of confidence that people in Facebook
violate the data protection law." Disini said.
"For example, if I said on Facebook that Noemi has a cold, so I identified
her, and I even retweeted it, I already processed sensitive personal
information," he said. "Since there was no expressed consent (from the subject),
I violated the Data Protection and the Cybercrime Acts."
"I think a lot of people need to do is assess how you process private
information or personally identifiable information, and see how you comply with
the law," Disini said.


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved




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