Anti cybercrime law in the PH

After a long years of the controversial love bug virus that damaged billions of computer worldwide and the first cybercriminal case occur in philippines, finally the government implemented a law [ Republic Act No. 10175 ] that will limit people who are in the world of cyberspace. Nowadays, people are engage in illegal activities online such as hacking facebook accounts, defacement of websites, identity theif that are being used commonly in some social networking site like facebook and twitter for some purposes in doing scam, destroy the reputation of others, copyright infrigement from copying articles to other blog, cyberbullying, credit card hacking and libel. That’s a lot of prohibitions from the cybercrime law that people said it’s a deprivation of an online freedom and it’s a martial law version to the world of cyberspace.
But we can’t deny that 20 percent crimes happen towards online activities that involves money like scams, modus operandi that offer deceiving stuffs and credit card hacking. But one thing that most of the filipinos worried with this act is the online libel cases. Like for example if people commented harsh word or he/she’s only want to outburst there grudge emotion in facebook, that would be automatically an online libel case where you can be penalized to imprisonment up to 2 to years.
The website defacement are rampant in today’s world and one of the reason why this act was been impletented, because of the group anonymous scattered anywhere and doing mischief stuffs to the world of cyberworld like hacking and defacing the government website, system intrusion without any authorization.
Below is the purpose of this act that came from philippine government official gazette;
(a) Access refers to the instruction, communication with, storing data in, retrieving data from, or otherwise making use of any resources of a computer system or communication network.
(b) Alteration refers to the modification or change, in form or substance, of an existing computer data or program.
(c) Communication refers to the transmission of information through ICT media, including voice, video and other forms of data.
(d) Computer refers to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other data processing or communications device, or grouping of such devices, capable of performing logical, arithmetic, routing, or storage functions and which includes any storage facility or equipment or communications facility or equipment directly related to or operating in conjunction with such device. It covers any type of computer device including devices with data processing capabilities like mobile phones, smart phones, computer networks and other devices connected to the internet.
(e) Computer data refers to any representation of facts, information, or concepts in a form suitable for processing in a computer system including a program suitable to cause a computer system to perform a function and includes electronic documents and/or electronic data messages whether stored in local computer systems or online.
(f) Computer program refers to a set of instructions executed by the computer to achieve intended results.
(g) Computer system refers to any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a program, performs automated processing of data. It covers any type of device with data processing capabilities including, but not limited to, computers and mobile phones. The device consisting of hardware and software may include input, output and storage components which may stand alone or be connected in a network or other similar devices. It also includes computer data storage devices or media.
(h) Without right refers to either: (i) conduct undertaken without or in excess of authority; or (ii) conduct not covered by established legal defenses, excuses, court orders, justifications, or relevant principles under the law.
(i) Cyber refers to a computer or a computer network, the electronic medium in which online communication takes place.
(j) Critical infrastructure refers to the computer systems, and/or networks, whether physical or virtual, and/or the computer programs, computer data and/or traffic data so vital to this country that the incapacity or destruction of or interference with such system and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national or economic security, national public health and safety, or any combination of those matters.
(k) Cybersecurity refers to the collection of tools, policies, risk management approaches, actions, training, best practices, assurance and technologies that can be used to protect the cyber environment and organization and user’s assets.
(l) Database refers to a representation of information, knowledge, facts, concepts, or instructions which are being prepared, processed or stored or have been prepared, processed or stored in a formalized manner and which are intended for use in a computer system.
(m) Interception refers to listening to, recording, monitoring or surveillance of the content of communications, including procuring of the content of data, either directly, through access and use of a computer system or indirectly, through the use of electronic eavesdropping or tapping devices, at the same time that the communication is occurring.
(n) Service provider refers to:
(1) Any public or private entity that provides to users of its service the ability to communicate by means of a computer system; and
(2) Any other entity that processes or stores computer data on behalf of such communication service or users of such service.
(o) Subscriber’s information refers to any information contained in the form of computer data or any other form that is held by a service provider, relating to subscribers of its services other than traffic or content data and by which identity can be established:
(1) The type of communication service used, the technical provisions taken thereto and the period of service;
(2) The subscriber’s identity, postal or geographic address, telephone and other access numbers, any assigned network address, billing and payment information, available on the basis of the service agreement or arrangement; and
(3) Any other available information on the site of the installation of communication equipment, available on the basis of the service agreement or arrangement.
(p) Traffic data or non-content data refers to any computer data other than the content of the communication including, but not limited to, the communication’s origin, destination, route, time, date, size, duration, or type of underlying service.
People feel that they are loosing their freedom of speech especially online, but the only thing that people can do now is to follow the new cybercrime law to protect people and data towards cybercrime.