Supreme Court issues TRO on Anti-Cybercrime Act

MANILA, Philippines- The Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously voted for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the enforcement of the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act. All 14 justices were present.

A series of protest actions have been staged in front of the Supreme Court premises on Padre Faura Street in Manila, including one today while the justices were in an en banc session.

The protesting groups, which are primarily against a provision in the law that criminalizes libel in cyberspace and grants the Justice department powers to block–without court order–access to data and potentially take down sites on a mere prima facie finding of violations of RA 10175, cheered when they heard the news, but remained adamant that the law be repealed.

Republic Act 10175, dubbed by critics as “e-Martial,” was signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III on September 12, the month of the 40th anniversary of the September 21, 1972 imposition by former President Ferdinand Marcos of Martial Law.

As many as 15 petitions to stop the enforcement of the law have been filed with the Supreme Court. Besides the petitions and the journalist-led rallies, a group of “hacktivists” calling themselves Anonymous Philippines also defaced a number of government sites, in protest of the new law. The government appealed to hackers to spare such sites, which include vital information needed by the public. The hackers, however, disowned the defacement of certain sites like Project NOAH that provides vital weather data.

Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Teodoro Casino Jr., who on Monday filed the 15th petition, said there was no question in the law’s goal of addressing cybrecrime, which has now become rampant.

Casino, however, said the law’s libel provisions that give the government surveillance power over the activities of a person using the Internet infringe on the netizen’s privacy and freedom of expression.

The TRO was issued as the high tribunal deliberated en banc on 15 petitions from various groups and personalities from the media, lawyers’ and free-speech advocates’ sectors, all seeking a halt to implementation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

Earlier petitions were filed by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) assisted by FLAG lawyers, the Philippine Bar Association, the Ateneo Human Rights Center and a bloggers’ group, among others.

Earlier on Monday, two other petitions were filed, one by Casiño’s fellow Bayan Muna solon Neri Javier Colmenares and lawyer Edsel Tupaz, and another by the National Press Club.

The most contested provisions across all petitions are in Sections 4,5,6,7, 12 and 19, or the so-called “take-down” provision that most constitutionalists deem the most dangerous to civil rights. It grants the Justice department the power to block access to data, and potentially shut down web sites, on a mere prima facie finding of a violation of RA 10175. This, even without a court order.

Constitutional rights infringed

The PBA petition said among the constitutional rights infringed by the law are those against double jeopardy and bill of attainder, besides the provision that automatically makes the penalties on e-libel and other violations one degree higher, compared to libel in the traditional media.

Casiño, who has just filed his candidacy for senator, told reporters that their petition to nullify the law is similar to the previous pleas against the law’s “e-libel” provisions, Section 19 or the “take down clause,” and the authority given to the Department of Justice to apprehend suspectede cyber criminals even without warrants of arrest.

According to the lawmaker, even people who text and call using cellular phones with Information Communications Technology or ICT device could be accused of e-libel.

Dubbed by critics as “e-Martial Law,” the act was signed by President Benigno Aquino III last September 12 days before the commemoration of the 40th year of the September 21, 1972 imposition of Martial Law by President Ferdinand Marcos.

In its 61-page petition, PiFA and Casiño appealed to the high court to require the government to cease and desist from implementing the law while the petition is pending.

The act violates the freedom of speech, expression and of the press, unreasonable searches and seizures, right to privacy, due process, equal protection of the law, among others, according to the petitioners.

They added that the law “is constitutionally infirm on its face for being vague and overbroad,” a criticism shared by most other petitioners.

source: interaksyon.com

Lawmakers buckle under social media pressure vs ‘flawed’ Cybercrime Law

MANILA, Philippines — To appease enraged Internet users protesting over contentious provisions of the newly enacted Cybercrime Prevention Act, lawmakers who voted in favor of the passage of the bill are now seeking to make amends — both emotionally and legally — as pressure from social media users continue to mount Wednesday.




The latest to join the growing list of Senators seeking to amend the Cybercrime Law is the measure’s author itself, Sen. Edgardo Angara, who appealed to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to hold off on the implementation of Section 19 of the law.

Section 19 gives the DOJ sweeping powers to “restrict or block access” to computer systems or websites found to be prima facie in violation of the provisions of the law.

“I will file an amendatory bill on Monday to include the principle of search and seizure order under the Constitution,” Angara said.

Similar moves were observed from others who voted in favor of the law during Senate deliberations, including Sen. Pia Cayetano who, while pointing out that no opposition to the questionable provisions were raised before, promised to make things right in the name of Internet freedom.

“It’s impossible to predict every issue that will arise w/ every bill. But I’ll address it as soon as I can,” Cayetano tweeted.

Earlier, Sen. Chiz Escudero, who is gunning for re-election during the mid-term elections next year, backtracked and said that while he voted in favor of the bill, he now acknowledges that the insertion of the libel provision was a “mistake.”

Escudero admitted that having libel included in the acts punishable by the law was a “personal oversight” on his part, and in the same breath flouted his stance as a principal proponent of a bill that aims to decriminalize libel.

Escudero’s comments were later called out by Sen. Vicente Sotto III — who, during a spate of online comments regarding the alleged plagiarism in his anti-Reproductive Health bill speech, cited the Cybercrime law as a means to silence his critics — told the younger legislator to rush the decriminalization of libel instead of pushing to strike out the specific provision on it.

“Mas mahirap pa yung gusto nya eh, ipasa na lang yung decriminalization, meron na nun sa committee nya eh [in Escudero’s Committee on Human Rights and Justice], (What he want is harder to do; why not just the pass the decriminalization (of libel), which is already in his committee)”  Sotto pointed out.

Digital lobby
Apart from various petitions filed before the Supreme Court calling for the repeal of certain sections of the law, Filipino Internet users have been quite active in making their stand regarding the law known to all — particularly the Senators who voted for the passage of the bill.

On Tuesday, or a day before the law takes full effect, Facebook users blacked out their profile pictures and posted status updates redacted by black horizontal bars, as if demonstrating how the new law could muzzle free speech online.

Various websites, such as the InterAksyon.com homepage, have also blacked out their content to join protests against the controversial law.

And at least one online initiative is keeping count of the legislators’ moves and pronouncements: InternetFreedom.ph, put up by the Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance and The New Media, a digital marketing blog owned by TV5′s digital publishing business unit head Carlo Ople.

“It’s a people-powered digital lobby to amend the Cybercrime [Law],” Ople told InterAksyon. In the website, the group keeps a virtual scoreboard of which senators have voted for the passage of the bill, and which have already made public statements about amending it.

As of posting time, the following Senators have manifested intent to amend the law: Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, the lone oppositor to the bill; Escudero; Cayetano; Angara; Koko Pimentel; and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Ople said the photos of the senators that appear on the site are linked to their social networking acounts “so people can tweet them” and to put “pressure on Senators to amend the Cybercrime Law.”

“In the last 24 hours, it racked over 80,000 unique visits and it’s constantly climbing,” Ople said. “More views [means] more pressure for senators.”

Ironic

Ironically, the Liberal Party, to which President Benigno Aquino III belongs, had indicated that during the Senatorial elections next year. they will be stepping up the use of social media — one of the many online mediums that the Cybercrime Law seeks to regulate.

“There will be fewer rallies this election. It will be more on new media, social media, mass media. Piling-pili ang mga rallies,” said Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara, son of Sen. Angara, who is part of the Senate administration ticket for next year’s elections.

President Aquino, after “thorough examination” by the office of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, signed the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 on September 12, or mere days before the 40th anniversary of the proclamation of Martial Law in 1972.

Netizens, pundits, and lawyers have gone on to describe the new measure as “E-Martial Law,” as it seeks to curtail Filipinos’ civil liberties as enshrined in the constitution.

Malacañang, however, claimed that despite the presence of contentious provisions, Filipinos’ civil liberties are safe and would be protected under the new law.

source: interaksyon.com