Telcos commit to helping gov’t fight child pornography

The organization of telecommunication companies and internet service providers (ISP) in the country said they will continue to block child pornographic websites based on information provided by law enforcement agencies.

In a position paper submitted to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operations (PCTO) said they have so far blocked more than 2,521 sites provided by the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.

The group made the commitment even as they raised conflicts in the law which they said prevent them from installing technology that will block or filter materials that exploit children.

While Section 9 of the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 or Republic Act No. 9775 requires ISPs to do so, the PCTO said the same law also says that it should not be construed as requiring ISPs to monitor users or their communications.

The group added that the Data Privacy Act of 2012 imposes strict privacy responsibilities on entities that collect or process personal information, "practically supplanting the duties imposed on ISPs under RA 9775."

The PCTO said it has reminded the DOJ to re-examine Section 9 of RA 9775 to correct these conflicts. It also said it has recommended for the government to adopt a filtering solution being proposed by Microsoft Philippines.

"PCTO condemns child pornography a reprehensible crime that should rightfully be curtailed by the State. Blocking of unlawful content is a state duty which ISPs support," the organization said.

"However, to delegate the duty to censor content to private companies is fraught with constitutional and statutory pitfalls," it added.

Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete told GMA News Online that the DOJ has set meetings with ISPs to further discuss their compliance with the law.

At the moment, he said they are meeting with IT accompanies to determine the "most appropriate" blocking and filtering technology.

"Once that is determined, we will work on having ISP providers onboard to adopt the same," Perete said Thursday.

The DOJ said last May that it had seen a 264.63% increase in reports of online sexual exploitation of children connected to the Philippines from March to May this year.

The department's cybercrime office received 279,166 reports from an international nonprofit's network during this period, much higher than the 76,561 reports it got in the same time last year.

The figures represent reports of online sexual exploitation of children in which either the victim or the offender is located in the Philippines, the DOJ said. -MDM, GMA News