CYBERCRIME LAW GAGS FREE SPEECH – CRITICS SAY

CYBERCRIME LAW GAGS FREE SPEECH – CRITICS SAY

by Fr. Shay Cullen
(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times,in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)

 

A new Philippine law called draconian by some and a danger to free speech by others if implemented could drive a spike of fear and deterrence into the corrupt and evil hearts of the internet paedophiles and child abusers.  But it is also sending a shiver down the spines of freedom-loving Filipinos. Journalists, internet bloggers, facebook commentators, tweeters and critics of government and political dissidents see the hand of censorship and prior restraint in the law named Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Republic Act No.10175)

The new law allows police access to personal internet accounts, eavesdrop on phone conversations by Skype and cellphones, reads email at will, all without search warrants or court approval. The same provisions that could catch child traffickers and paedophile and child rapists can be used to stifle freedom of speech and expression that violate constitutional rights. The law makes libel a serious criminal offense with 12 years in prison for a private person and a huge fine. If a media practitioner is convicted, it is a 4-year sentence.

The law is discriminatory in that provision. It violates the principle of equality of all before the law. The penalty should be the same for all who violate it. The legislators behind it admit shortcomings and oversights and a failure to read the provisions closely before voting. The few lawmakers that pushed this law through got way with extreme measures that may be unconstitutional. It would surely deter whistle blowers from revealing over the internet the corrupt practices of some politicians.  That may be the point, if I named anybody in this column who was accused of wrongdoing or child abuse, I could be jailed for 12 years if convicted under the new law.

Strong public reaction has erupted against these provisions. The law needs serious revision. Senator Teofisto Guingona III has filed a petition before the Supreme Court to declare parts of it unconstitutional, there are “confusing and vague provisions that suppresses the citizens’ right to freedom of speech and expression”. He said, “without a clear definition of the crime of libel and the persons label, virtually, any person can now be charged with a crime-even if you just like, re-tweet or comment on an online update or blog post containing criticisms”. It gives police excessive access to people’s internet accounts based not on an arrest warrant but on “reasonable grounds”, it does not say who decides what reasonable grounds are.

There are positive aspects to the law that could deter and capture cyber criminals. The dark side of the internet is when child abusers use it to send pornographic pictures of children to others or use it to contact, groom and abduct children and sexually abuse them. Some of the secret web sites on the internet are so secure that even police forensic computer experts find it hard to detect them. They hold and trade thousands of horrific pictures and videos of children as young as three years old being sexually abused. All they need is a computer and a paid up connection to the internet provided by the communication companies.  

To join some of these sites and view and copy the illegal images, paedophiles have to submit pictures of children being abused by themselves or others. This incitement to abuse children and photograph the act is the most serious cyber crime. Thousands of children are abused as a result. No undercover investigator could join such a group on the internet.

However, a few weeks ago, British police broke a huge paedophile internet ring by getting permission from an internet provider to access the files and contacts. They discovered web sites where as many as 10,000 users were viewing, sharing and downloading images of children being abused.

Seven suspects have been arrested in the UK and 130 arrest and search warrants have been issued in 19 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the UK and the United States. (see full story on www.preda.org). This kind of investigation could be done in the Philippines too if the internet service providers cooperate with investigators.

The existing Philippine internet law mandates that internet service providers install software that will block access to child pornography web sites. But to date, the law is allegedly not being implemented. If I am incorrect, I welcome correction by PLDT, Globe, Digitel, Bayan and Smart. The good aspects of Cybercrime law should be retained for investigating child abusing suspects but it should be changed to remove libel as a criminal internet crime. The freedom of speech is too precious to have it crushed and gagged by this faulty law.  

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