• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
WHEN RUNNING CODE IN FILIPINO
Written byCocoy 
FILIPINOVOICES
Powered by a collective voice (politics, news and social commentary)
www.twitter.com/cocoy•www.filipinovoices.com
 
When Running Code in Filipino
Executive Summary
The Filipino is searching for answers on what the Internet is and what telecommunica-tion is for them. The proposed draft memorandum by the National Telecommunica-tions Commission (NTC) on 22 December 2008, “ 
Guidelines on the Provision of Con-tents, Information, Applications, and Electronic Games
 ,” is just one of many such de-bate. If this push by the NTC succeeds, according to Philippine Law, the NTC will 
fi
nd it-self outside its mandate.This paper will show:1)That New Media makes it possible for anyone to be both content provider and content developer, and thus blurring the line between creator and pro-vider.2)That the de
fi
nition of content makes it utterly futile to subject online content to a licensing fee, even if Law puts it under the jurisdiction of the NTC,3)That content, meant for mobile phones or not is already governed by TheElectronic Commerce Act and ergo, the primary agency ought to be the De- partment of Trade and Industry. As clearly all of it is a matter of commerceand not mere telecommunication infrastructure.4)That regulation already exist, but it is a di 
ff 
erent kind of regulation than what Government understands it to be.Beyond 
 The Electronic Commerce Act
 , as increasingly Filipinos go online and partici- pate with the larger Network whether through the computer or through mobile phone,there is a clear and present danger that the Filipino’s right to Free Speech and Free Ex- pression are trampled.Decriminalizing defamation law as well as the formation of a non-pro
fi
t FreedomFoundation to ensure Free Speech and Free Expression is clearly needed.
www.filipinovoices.com
When Running Code in Filipino1
 
The Blue and The Red Pill
 About a decade ago, in the mid-1990s, just about the time when this post-communist euphoriawas beginning to wane, there emerged in the West another “new society,” to many just as excit-ing as the new societies promised in post-communist Europe. This was the Internet, or as I’ll de-
fi
ne a bit later, “cyberspace.” First in universities and centers ofresearch, and then throughout society in general, cyberspace became a new target for libertarian utopianism. Here freedomfrom the state would reign. If not in Moscow or Tblisi, then in cyberspace would we
fi
nd the ideal libertarian society.The catalyst for this change was likewise unplanned. Born in a research project in the DefenseDepartment, cyberspace too arose from the unplanned displacement ofa certain architecture of control. The tolled, single-purpose network of telephones was displaced by the untolled and mul-tipurpose network of packet-switched data. And thus the old one-to-many architectures of pub-lishing (television, radio, newspapers, books) were complemented by a world in which anyonecould become a publisher. People could communicate and associate in ways that they had never done before. The space seemed to promise a kind of society that real space would never al-low—freedom without anarchy, control without government, consensus without power. In thewords of a manifesto that de
fi
ned this ideal: “We reject: kings, presidents and voting. We believein: rough consensus and running code.” - Lawrence Lessig,Code 2.0
 This is an
awakening
. Since the
fi
rst packet traversed the Internet, a debate has raged betweennorms prevailing between
Cyberspace
(that ethereal “place” between
fi
ber optic lines, and wi
fi
,where the Internet exists) and how such universe relates to Real Life. Often, theEthosof Online Life
fi
nds itself disjointed with Real Life. As a sub-genre Netizen of The Internet, Filipinos in all  strata of Real Life are awakening. Quite naturally, they’ve woven threads online, asking questionsof what the Internet is, and what it means for them. Threads likewhat blogging is, andwhat New Media is, notwithstanding, are just some of those questions. This search for an Interface between what is acceptable online and what is acceptable in Real Life requires an elusive Rosetta stone. Take for example how the Philippine Government and its Law recognizes the Network and all thegifts associated with it is likewise being debated and its implication for the future of what theInternet means to the Filipino is equally diverse and more so important. The National Telecommunication Commission on 22 December 2008 issued a draft memoran-dum circular that pertained toGUIDELINES ON THE PROVISION OF CONTENTS, INFORMATION,APPLICATIONS, AND ELECTRONIC GAMESall inpursuant to RA7925, Executive Order (EO) No. 546series of 1979:WHEREAS, the 1987 Constitution fully recognizes the vital role of commu-nications in nation building and provides for the emergence of communi-cations structures suitable to the needs and aspirations of the nation;WHEREAS, the promotion of competition in the telecommunicationsmarket is a key objective of Republic Act No. 7925 (RA7925, for brevity),otherwise known as The Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Phil-
www.filipinovoices.com
When Running Code in Filipino2
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...