By Fr.
Shay Cullen
A
new Philippine law called draconian by some and a danger to free
speech by others if implemented could drive a spike of fear and
deterrence into the corrupt and evil hearts of the Internet
paedophiles and child abusers. But it is also sending a shiver down
the spines of freedom-loving Filipinos. Journalists, Internet
bloggers, Facebook commentators, tweeters and critics of government
and political dissidents see the hand of censorship and prior
restraint in the law named Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012
(Republic Act No.10175)
The
new law allows police access to personal Internet accounts, eavesdrop
on phone conversations by Skype and cellphones, reads email at will,
all without search warrants or court approval. The same provisions
that could catch child traffickers and pedophiles and child rapists
can be used to stifle freedom of speech and expression that violate
constitutional rights. The law makes libel a serious criminal offense
with 12 years in prison for a private person and a huge fine. If a
media practitioner is convicted, it is a 4-year sentence.
The
law is discriminatory in that provision. It violates the principle of
equality of all before the law.
The
penalty should be the same for all who violate it. The legislators
behind it admit shortcomings and oversights and a failure to read the
provisions closely before voting. The few lawmakers that pushed this
law through got way with extreme measures that may be
unconstitutional. It would surely deter whistle blowers from
revealing over the Internet the corrupt practices of some
politicians. That may be the point, if I named anybody in this column
who was accused of wrongdoing or child abuse, I could be jailed for
12 years if convicted under the new law.
Strong
public reaction has erupted against these provisions. The law needs
serious revision. Senator Teofisto Guingona III has filed a petition
before the Supreme Court to declare parts of it unconstitutional,
there are “confusing and vague provisions that suppresses the
citizens’ right to freedom of speech and expression”. He said,
“without a clear definition of the crime of libel and the persons
label, virtually, any person can now be charged with a crime-even if
you just like, re-tweet or comment on an online update or blog post
containing criticisms.” It gives police excessive access to
people’s Internet accounts based not on an arrest warrant but on
“reasonable grounds,” it does not say who decides what reasonable
grounds are.
There
are positive aspects to the law that could deter and capture cyber
criminals. The dark side of the Internet is when child abusers use it
to send pornographic pictures of children to others or use it to
contact, groom and abduct children and sexually abuse them. Some of
the secret web sites on the Internet are so secure that even police
forensic computer experts find it hard to detect them. They hold and
trade thousands of horrific pictures and videos of children as young
as three years old being sexually abused. All they need is a computer
and a paid up connection to the Internet provided by the
communication companies.
To
join some of these sites and view and copy the illegal images,
pedophiles have to submit pictures of children being abused by
themselves or others. This incitement to abuse children and
photograph the act is the most serious cyber crime. Thousands of
children are abused as a result. No undercover investigator could
join such a group on the Internet.
However,
a few weeks ago, British police broke a huge pedophile internet ring
by getting permission from an Internet provider to access the files
and contacts. They discovered web sites where as many as 10,000 users
were viewing, sharing and downloading images of children being
abused.
Seven
suspects have been arrested in the UK and 130 arrest and search
warrants have been issued in 19 countries including Australia,
Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan,
Turkey, the UK and the United States. (See full story on
www.preda.org).
This kind of investigation could be done in the Philippines too if
the Internet service providers cooperate with investigators.
The
existing Philippine Internet law mandates that Internet service
providers install software that will block access to child
pornography web sites. But to date, the law is allegedly not being
implemented.
If
I am incorrect, I welcome correction by PLDT, Globe, Digitel, Bayan
and Smart. The good aspects of Cybercrime law should be retained for
investigating child abusing suspects but it should be changed to
remove libel as a criminal Internet crime. The freedom of speech is
too precious to have it crushed and gagged by this faulty
law.
No comments:
Post a Comment