How do you enforce cybercrime law in PHL?

By SHAIRA PANELA, GMA News

Published October 5, 2012 10:00am

In a country with more than 30 million Internet users, how do you effectively enforce a law such as the Cybercrime Act?

At a forum organized by University of the Philippines (UP) Law Center Institute of Government and Law Reform at the UP Law Center in Quezon City on Thursday, lawyers, representatives from law enforcement and information technology sectors provided a holistic view on the controversial law.

The Cybercrime Prevention Act or Republic Act 10175, signed on Sept. 12 and implemented on Oct. 3, is the first law in the Philippines to penalize crimes committed through computers. National Bureau of Investigation’s Palmer Mallari said, “Napakarami pong krimen ngayon ang di naka-define under RA 8792.”

Republic Act 8792 or the E-commerce Act of the Philippines was the first law to penalize cybercrimes such as hacking, piracy, and other violation of consumer rights. Mallari said this law only covers three computer-related crimes. He mentioned that during the love bug virus attack in 2000, since no law covers internet-related crimes, their case against the creator of the virus was dismissed.

“Because there was no law to define computer crimes that time, the number one predicament is to find a law that would penalize that crime,” he added.

“We are now practically living in a world operated by computers and the Internet,” said Mallari in acknowledging the importance of the cybercrime law.

New media vs law enforcement

However, UP Engineering Prof. Raymond Nuñez said that while the law is a good initiative to combat cybercrimes, it still has to address a lot of loopholes on the Internet.

First, as a security engineer of the network for the University of the Philippines, he asked, “Would teaching hacking be liable to aiding and abetting?”

He also discussed a number of ways somebody could go around the law, namely, by bypassing the network through virtual private networks (VPNs), proxies, and anonymizers, and through open wireless connections.

Citing a Washington court ruling, Nuñez added: “IP addresses are not personally indentifiable information.”

Nuñez also said the law requires the government to upgrade it technologies to effectively implement the law.

"(We) are actually in favor of it," he said, but added that "law enforcement is incapable of tracking and arresting perpetrators of recent sensational and sophisticated attacks as of the moment."

However, earlier in the forum, Mallari said that at least for the NBI, the Anti-Fraud and Computer Crime Unit has trained individuals to combat cybercrimes.

Legal issues

Constitutional Law professor Atty. Harry Roque and Internet law expert Atty. JJ Disini also discussed the legal issues the new law faces, particularly the online libel and take down provisions.

"The chilling effect is that even before conviction, napakababa ng threshold ng probable cause (and take down clause)," said Roque.

Paraphrasing American Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Roque said, "(The Internet) is now literally the free market of ideas."

Disini said that Sec. 19 which contains the take down clause was actually a "desirable provision" in the context of cyberbullying and scams.

However, he said, "(T)he way it was worded in the law, unfortunately, it did not contain the necessary safeguards." Sec. 19 [Restricting or Blocking Access to Computer Data] states that "when computer data is prima facie found to be in violation of the provision of this Act, the DOJ shall issue an order to restrict or block access to such computer data."

"(We need to) realize why the technology exists, realize its potential to contribute to the society, context and legislate within this generalization," Roque added.

Other reactions

Melvin Calimag of IT Journalists Association of the Philippines (CyberPress) said that, "I think this law is good, except for some provisions—siguro yung online libel at take down provisions."

"Other than that, we need to cover the free for all nature of the internet," he added.

Mallari also commented that, "The best advantage of a cybercriminal is that he could maintain a certain level of anonymity."

Disini added, "Ang kailangan talagang tulong ng law enforcement ay assistance from ISPs (internet service providers)."

Calimag also said that the day Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III signed the law was also the same day the global CEO of IBM went to the Philippines and met with the president.

Disini also reminded that the business process outsourcing sector were the ones who wanted the law passed. Magna Carta for Internet users

In a separate public consultation organized by Kabataan Partylist, Rep. Raymond Palatino said he wanted to file a bill that seeks to provide ample rights for netizens, dubbed as the "Internet Freedom Act."

Bloggers from Blogwatch such as Jane Uymatiao and Noemi Dado-Larrazabal said that if the Cybercrime Law will be repealed, the best way is to provide an alternative.

Marjohara Tucay, executive vice president of Kabataan Partylist presented the draft of the bill, citing international cases where access to internet is considered as a human right.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said while the draft bill still needs to address the issue of affordability and provisions for access to Internet in the country, "I think the initiative of coming out with Magna Carta but I think it’s timely."

Uymatiao said that bloggers and netizens also came out with a similar initiative online titled "PH Netizens Bill of Rights Working Group."

Meanwhile Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility deputy director Luis V. Teodoro commented, "Yung declaration of policy ay may promise ng ample regulatory control. The central dilemma, to what extent should we leave to practitioners to themselves?"

Kabataan party-list president Atty. Terry Ridon said they are still open to suggestions and comments about the bill while continuing to fight against the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

On Oct. 6, Kabataan Partylist also initiated a meeting of all the petitioners against the cybercrime law to consolidate their cause. — RSJ/TJD, GMA News

Tags: cybercrime, cybercrimepreventionact,