RA No 10175

Credit to whoever made this. :)

I know how it is being restricted. Your anonymity a laughing stock. The feeling of people prying in to your work and others meddling with them even without your permission.  Your so-called confidentiality with the things that you do is actually transparent, viewable by those in higher authority...waiting to be pounded to tell you that you might have done something wrong or against the Government. This is what you'd call evasion of privacy. This is what I usually feels whenever surfing the internet in these places that I call my second home, for example. (No pun intended just stating a fact.)

So, obviously I am on the pro side of the ANTI-CYBER CRIME LAW (RA 10175) that will start its implementation in the Philippines, my home country, starting October 3rd.

At first, I am actually glad that the Congress has thought of this plan to protect internet identities and punish those who uses the internet to do their mischief. Cybercrime has been really a pain in  the neck since the evolution of the digital world. But as I read through the whole bill, it seems that those who have written it didn't use their common sense. I actually even thought that this is for  the benefit of all. But hell no. This would only benefit those who are in power. Besides, the up coming 2013 election is only months away. Well one thing to note is that this new bill contradicts the Bill of Right of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, among others.

"Section 1 of Article III of the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution provides that 'No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.."

Also, this may have strengthen the territory of libel cases but this again appears to be too redundant. The bill may have a good point in protecting children against child pornography, cybersex crimes and identity thieves but restricting people to express what they have in mind and gathering "free data" using P2P or torrent connections for example is obviously against any human rights. Kapag ito ay talagang naisabatas, bawal na ang pag-download ng mga pelikula, kanta, laro, litrato at kung ano-ano pa na libre mula sa internet. Malamang ipagbabawal na din ang panonood ng mga palabas sa youtube na hindi naayon o ang pag-stream ng mga panoorin sa mga libreng website gaya ng mga anime mula sa Japan, mga drama galing South Korea at mangyari pati ang panonood ng laban ni Pacquiao? Magiging limitado ang pagpaskil ng mga litrato dahil dapat ito ay magiging naayon sa paningin ng batas. Bawal na din ang mga kwento, mabibigat na opinyon at usaping walang katuturan na kahit likhang-isip lamang o dahil sa bugso ng damdamin ay pwedeng gamitin laban sa iba. Bawal na din ang pagkomento ng hindi naayon o pwedeng makasakit ng ibang tao. Malamang, ang pag-like sa isang status o komento sa mga social networking site gaya ng Facebook ay pwede nang ireklamo ng kung sino man kung hindi ito magustuhan. At ano na din ang mangyayari sa mga nagkalakat na blogs na patungkol sa mga pagbatikos sa mga nasa Gobyerno at iba pang linta sa lipunan? Dahil sa kanilang mabibigat na opinyon, malamang ito na mahaharang na. Nasaan na ang kalayaan na nakasulat sa ating saligang batas? Magiging makatarungan ba ang mga magaganap o simpleng kabalbalan lamang?

In addition, I actually remembered a statement coming from the United Nations affirming that "internet freedom is a basic human right." See UN PDF File

Reaffirming the human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

Is the Philippine Congress not aware of this?

If only the Congress would try to reread this bill, use their common sense and amend whatever seems to look redundant or that contradicts the Law of the land, then at least they wouldn't even be hearing any negative comments from the public nor seeing massive oppositions.

Like one of my favorite quotes: THINK. IT'S NOT ILLEGAL YET!