WYSIWYG?

A Closer Look Into Proposed Cyber-Related Bills in the House

Prepared by the Office of Kabataan Rep. Mong Palatino, August 2009

There are currently nine (9) cyber-related House Bills pending in the 14th Congress (filed July 01, 2007 to present), ranging from general scopes of cybercrimes such as computer/cyber-fraud and cyber-sex trafficking to addressing technical complaints such as anti-phishing or spamming. The pending bills have common positive points: All recognize Internet usage as a positive development in technology, that it has become a way of life in almost all government, corporate and even personal operations, functions and communications. All see the necessity to come up with legislation to protect the right to privacy of Internet users and cyber citizens, particularly HBs against phishing and spamming. All are efforts to instill into the Internet somehow a code of ethics, or standards for correct and responsible usage as is the practice being followed and abided by users of other medium as dictated by law or community-accepted values. However, some proposals may be deemed problematic, either in premise or presentation, such as: The overly-broad definitions of terms such as cyber-crime, cyber-sex etc., as well as the overly-loose arguments and principles of punishable acts may be used to wrongfully trample upon, disregard and/or discount the inherent rights of citizens to freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the press (for online media entities). To cite an example, in HB 4315 or An Act to Prohibit and Penalize the Recording of Private Act or Acts and Other Violations of the Privacy of An Individual, and for Other Purposes, otherwise known as the Cyber-Boso Bill, Section 1 stipulates that, It shall be unlawful for any person, without the consent of all the parties to any private act or acts, including but not limited to sexual act, to record or attempt to record the same, in any form and for whatever purpose. It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in the act or acts penalized in the preceding sentence, to knowingly possess any video tape, disc record, or any other such record or copies thereof, of any private act secured either before or after the effectivity of this Act in the manner prohibited herein; or to replay the same for any other person or persons; or to share, relay or exhibit the contents thereof in any form These stipulations, wittingly or unwittingly, provide prejudice even against political issues or matters of public interest (i.e Hello Garci scandal and such), including investigative news reports and news exposes.

Further, Section 4 of the same HB states that, Any record or copy obtained or secured by any person in violation of the preceding sections shall not be admissible in evidence in any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative or administrative or investigation. Does this then incur that tips and information obtained by the media, for instance, which may provide strong evidence against criminal acts or acts of graft and corruption would otherwise be rendered useless in court and other judicial proceedings? Other proposals, on the other hand, essentially contest the widespread practice and general convenience that anything uploaded in cyberspace, unless password-protected or requiring registration for access, is somehow automatically available for public consumption. In Chapter II Punishable Acts, Section 4 of HB 3117 or An Act Defining CyberCrime, Providing for Prevention, Suppression and Imposition of Penalties Therefor and for Other Purposes, it is unclear in the stipulations under illegal access, illegal interception and misuse of devices how cross-posting or reposting of articles and content, downloading of torrents and other downloadable items such as free software and the use, distribution and reproduction of material from the Internet are viewed. In the presentation per se, these common acts may be misinterpreted as punishable and therefore criminal offenses. In the same chapter of said HB, unsolicited commercial communications may likewise misconstrue the practice of placing online ads, self-promotion of products or websites and/or the use of the Internet to advertise events, personalities, causes and such even through emails, personal or private websites and/or free social networking sites such as Facebook, Multiply, etc. Also, it is disturbingly common in most of the pending bills that some definitions provided do not clearly state but merely imply the inclusion of mobile phones, iPods, mp3 players and other electronic devices. These should be clearly affirmed in the pending bills as their inclusion would undeniably further broaden the scope and effect of the proposals not only to Internet users but also to ordinary citizens in general. Lastly, most of the pending bills, especially pertaining to cyber-crimes, propose for the formation of a government entity that would investigate, oversee, control and supervise cyber-related activities. The proposed formation will have the power to conduct surveillance activities and access private accounts of suspected cyber criminals, a clear and present danger against the right to privacy. In almost all proposals, the composition of such an organization is disturbingly government/military/police-centric, with a majority of number of appointees under the control of the Office of the President. Internet users, netizens, mobile phone users and other consumer groups are sorely missing and unrepresented. Conclusion and recommendations

While these pending bills have the best of intentions, for them to truly benefit the millions of Internet users, mobile phone users and common citizens, it is imperative to consult a significant number of so-called netizens and stakeholders of this sector including but not limited to online media outfits, bloggers, website owners, social networkers, email account holders and even budding online entrepreneurs. Furthermore, while there is truly a need to come up with a code of ethics for Internet usage, these have to be based on universally-acceptable standards. For anti-cyber crime purposes, it is highly recommended to consistently adhere to the Bill of Rights in formulating any piece of legislation in order to prevent the use of such to repress, suppress or infringe any rights inherent in any citizen. /eof