Cyber crime:

From my review and understanding, the law:

1. Penalizes (section 8) sixteen types of cybercrime (Section 4). They are:

Types of Cybercrime Penalty

Prision mayor (imprisonment of six years and
1 day up to 12 years) or a fine of at least Two
hundred thousand pesos (P200,000) up to a
maximum amount commensurate to the
damage incurred or BOTH.If
1. Illegal access
committed against critical
Unauthorized access (without right) to a computer
infrastructure:Reclusion temporal
system or application.
(imprisonment for twelve years and one day up
to twenty years) or a fine of at least Five
hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) up to a
maximum amount commensurate to the
damage incurred or BOTH
2. Illegal interception
Unauthorized interception of any non-public
same as above
transmission of computer data to, from, or within a
computer system.
3. Data Interference
Unauthorized alteration, damaging, deletion or
deterioration of computer data, electronic document, or
electronic data message, and including the introduction
same as above
or transmission of viruses.Authorized action can also be
covered by this provision if the action of the person went
beyond agreed scope resulting to damages stated in this
provision.
4. System Interference
Unauthorized hindering or interference with the
functioning of a computer or computer network by
inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting,
same as above
deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data or
program, electronic document, or electronic data
messages, and including the introduction or transmission
of viruses.Authorized action can also be covered by this
provision if the action of the person went beyond agreed
scope resulting to damages stated in this provision.
5. Misuse of devices
The unauthorized use, possession, production, sale,
procurement, importation, distribution, or otherwise
making available, of devices, computer program designed
or adapted for the purpose of committing any of the
same as above except fine should be no more
offenses stated in Republic Act 10175.Unauthorized use
than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000).
of computer password, access code, or similar data by
which the whole or any part of a computer system is
capable of being accessed with intent that it be used for
the purpose of committing any of the offenses under
Republic Act 10175.
6. Cyber-squatting
Acquisition of domain name over the Internet in bad
faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive
others from the registering the same. This includes those
existing trademark at the time of registration; names of
persons other than the registrant; and acquired with
intellectual property interests in it.Those who get domain
same as above
names of prominent brands and individuals which in
turn is used to damage their reputation can be sued
under this provision.Note that freedom of expression and
infringement on trademarks or names of person are
usually treated separately. A party can exercise freedom
of expression without necessarily violating the
trademarks of a brand or names of persons.
7. Computer-related Forgery
Unauthorized input, alteration, or deletion of computer
data resulting to inauthentic data with the intent that it Prision mayor (imprisonment of six years and
be considered or acted upon for legal purposes as if it 1 day up to 12 years) or a fine of at least Two
were authentic, regardless whether or not the data is hundred thousand pesos (P200,000) up to a
directly readable and intelligible; orThe act of knowingly maximum amount commensurate to the
using computer data which is the product of computer- damage incurred or BOTH.
related forgery as defined here, for the purpose of
perpetuating a fraudulent or dishonest design.
8. Computer-related Fraud same as aboveProvided, That if no damage
Unauthorized input, alteration, or deletion of computer has yet been caused, the penalty imposed shall
data or program or interference in the functioning of a be one (1) degree lower.
computer system, causing damage thereby with
fraudulent intent.
9. Computer-related Identity Theft
Unauthorized acquisition, use, misuse, transfer,
possession, alteration or deletion of identifying same as above
information belonging to another, whether natural or
juridical.
10. Cybersex
Willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation,
directly or indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of
sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a Prision mayor (imprisonment of six years and
computer system, for favor or consideration.There is a 1 day up to 12 years) or a fine of at least Two
discussion on this matter if it involves couples or hundred thousand pesos (P200,000) but not
people in relationship who engage in cybersex. For as exceeding One million pesos (P1,000,000) or
long it is not done for favor or consideration, I dont BOTH.
think it will be covered. However, if one party (in a
couple or relationship) sues claiming to be forced to do
cybersex, then it can be covered.
11. Child Pornography
Penalty to be imposed shall be one (1) degree
Unlawful or prohibited acts defined and punishable
higher than that provided for in Republic Act
byRepublic Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography
9775, if committed through a computer system.
Act of 2009, committed through a computer system.
****** Unsolicited Commercial
Communications (SPAMMING)
THIS PROVISION WAS STRUCK DOWN BY THE
SUPREME COURT AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
12. Libel
Unlawful or prohibited acts of libel as defined in Article
355 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended committed
through a computer system or any other similar means
which may be devised in the future.Revised Penal
Penalty to be imposed shall be one (1) degree
Code Art. 355 states Libel means by writings or
higher than that provided for by the Revised
similar means. A libel committed by means of writing,
Penal Code, as amended, and special laws, as
printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph,
the case may be.
painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic
exhibition, or any similar means, shall be punished by
prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods
or a fine ranging from 200 to 6,000 pesos, or both, in
addition to the civil action which may be brought by the
offended party.The Cybercrime Prevention Act
strengthened libel in terms of penalty provisions.

The electronic counterpart of libel has been recognized

since the year 2000 when the E-Commerce Law was
passed. The E-Commerce Law empowered all existing
laws to recognize its electronic counterpart whether
commercial or not in nature.

Imprisonment of one (1) degree lower than

13. Aiding or Abetting in the commission of
that of the prescribed penalty for the offense or
cybercrime Any person who willfully abets or aids in
a fine of at least One hundred thousand pesos
the commission of any of the offenses enumerated in this
(P100,000) but not exceeding Five hundred
Act shall be held liable.
thousand pesos (P500,000) or both.
14. Attempt in the commission of cybercrimeAny
person who willfully attempts to commit any of the same as above
offenses enumerated in this Act shall be held liable.
15. All crimes defined and penalized by the Revised Penal
Penalty to be imposed shall be one (1) degree
Code, as amended, and special laws, if committed by,
higher than that provided for by the Revised
through and with the use of information and
Penal Code, as amended, and special laws, as
communications technologies shall be covered by the
the case may be.
relevant provisions of this Act.
Although not exactly a cybercrime, I am including this
here as penalties are also imposed by the law.
For sanctioned actions, Juridical person shall
16. Corporate Liability. (Section 9)
be held liable for a fine equivalent to at least
When any of the punishable acts herein defined are
double the fines imposable in Section 7 up to a
knowingly committed on behalf of or for the benefit of a
maximum of Ten million pesos
juridical person, by a natural person acting either
(P10,000,000).For neglect such as misuse of
individually or as part of an organ of the juridical person,
computer resources that resulted to cybercrime
who has a leading position within, based on:(a) a power
committed in organization physical or virtual
of representation of the juridical person provided the act
premises or resources, juridical person shall be
committed falls within the scope of such authority;(b) an
held liable for a fine equivalent to at least
authority to take decisions on behalf of the juridical
double the fines imposable in Section 7 up to a
person. Provided, That the act committed falls within the
maximum of Five million pesos
scope of such authority; or(c) an authority to exercise
(P5,000,000).Criminal liability may still apply
control within the juridical person,It also includes
to the natural person.
commission of any of the punishable acts made possible
due to the lack of supervision or control.
MANILA, Philippines - In February 2014, the Philippine government finally recovered
around $30 million from multi-million dollar accounts that the late dictator Ferdinand
Marcos stashed away in Swiss banks.
What allowed the government to gain control of the money were forfeiture cases which
proved that amounts contained in the accounts exceeded the total legal income of
Marcos and his wife Imelda while they were in office. Evidence used to prove the
governments case included the financial disclosure statements filed by the Marcoses
while in office.

It took the government almost 3 decades to recover the money. Neither Marcos, nor his
wife Imelda, were ever convicted of any wrongdoing.

No laggard?

The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the law that required the Marcoses to file
those disclosure statements dates back to the 1960s. In 1989, years after the Marcoses
were booted out of office, the Philippine Congress enacted a new law which allowed the
public to access and photocopy the assets and liabilities statements.

Since then, the law has been used to prove a plunder case against another president
(Joseph Estrada), impeach then remove a chief justice (Renato Corona), file cases
against corrupt generals and lately, support the filing of charges against sitting senators.

That the Philippines enacted such a law almost 3 decades ago is significant because as
of 2006, a World Bank study showed that only 31 of 101 countries that require
government officials to declare their income and/or assets mandate that such
declarations or a summary should be made available to the public.

This implies that the Philippines is no laggard when it comes to laws allowing access to
public information.

Constitutionally-mandated right

The people's right to information on matters of public concern has been constitutionally
recognized in the country since 1973.

Section 6. The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be
recognized. Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to
official acts, transactions, or decisions, shall be afforded the citizen subject to such
limitations as may be provided by law.

- Bill of Rights, 1973 Constitution

After the 1986 Edsa uprising ousted the Marcos dictatorship, this right was further
expanded in the 1987 Constitution to include access to research data used as basis for
policy development.

And while there is no enabling law yet on access to information, the Philippine Supreme
Court has already ruled, in more than one occasion, that the constitutional mandate is
enforceable.

In fact, the Code of Ethics of government officialsthe same law that mandates public
access to financial disclosure statements of government officialsalso makes it the
obligation of public officials and employees to make documents accessible to the public.

The implementing rules of this law helped institute a system of promoting transparency
of transactions and access to government information. It also sets limits of access.

More recently, the Aquino administration has been making strides in promoting
transparency in government by proactively disclosing budget and project documents.

It is no small wonder then that while the Senate has approved the bill on 3rd reading,
members of the House of Representatives continue to drag their heels on the freedom
of information law.

Because if those laws are already in place, why then is an access to information law still
necessary?

To help answer that question, Rappler, with the support of the Friedrich Naumann
Foundation, analyzed freedom of information laws in other parts of the world. We noted
these common features in the laws we studied:

an overall policy making information available

limits of access
prescribed process by which information may be accessed, cost of access,
and processes for appealing request refusals
in recent cases measures to ensure that access policies are enforced
through oversight bodies and penalty clauses
crowdsourcing:
The outsourcing of job functions to groups of people who operate
independently and who are willing to provide their services in exchange for
experience, recognition or low rates of pay. Recognizing that technology
advances have enabled people to develop superior technical skills and
talent in the comfort of their homes, companies are now using social media
and internet forums to invite them to participate on specific projects.

Crowdsourcing is the practice of turning to a body of

people to obtain needed knowledge, goods or services
1. Marshall McLuhan's 'Global Village'

Benjamin Symes

In the introduction to McLuhan's Understanding Media he writes: Today, after more than
a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global
embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned (1964: p.3). Like
much of McLuhan's writing this statement is vast and poetic, with its strength of
conviction making it quite persuasive. But if we are to be believers in this rhetoric we must
have an understanding of what he means.

The underlying concept of McLuhan's view of electr(on)ic technology is that it has become
an extension of our senses, particularly those of sight and sound. The telephone and the
radio become a long distance ear as the television and computer extend the eye by
projecting further than our biological range of vision and hearing. But in what way does
McLuhan suggest how this has happened?

The basic precepts of his view are that the rapidity of communication through electric
media echoes the speed of the senses. Through media such as the telephone, television and
more recently the personal computer and the 'Internet', we are increasingly linked
together across the globe and this has enabled us to connect with people at the other side
of the world as quickly as it takes us to contact and converse with those who inhabit the
same physical space (i.e the people that live in the same village). We can now hear and see
events that take place thousands of miles away in a matter of seconds, often quicker than
we hear of events in our own villages or even families, and McLuhan argues that it is the
speed of these electronic media that allow us to act and react to global issues at the same
speed as normal face to face verbal communication.

The effect of this McLuhan suggests is a new ability to experience almost instantly the
effects of our actions on a global scale, just as we can supposedly do in our physical
situations. Consequently he concludes we are forced to become aware of responsibilty on a
global level rather than concerning ourselves solely with our own smaller communities. He
2. writes: As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village. Electric speed at
bringing all social and political functions together in a sudden implosion has heightened
human awareness of responsibilty to an intense degree (1964: p.5).

Before I consider whether any justification lies in McLuhan's view I need to distinguish
between two different meanings in the metaphor of the 'village'. In one sense the village
represents simply the notion of a small space in which people can communicate quickly and
know of every event that takes place. As he writes: Time has ceased, 'space' has
vanished. We now live in a global village... a simultaneous happening (1967: p.63). McLuhan
is suggesting that through our 'extended senses' we experience events, as far away as the
other side of the world, as if we were there in the same physical space. Watching the
television premiere of the Gulf War and seeing the pilot's eye view of missiles reaching
their targets, it would seem that McLuhan is right, but we do not experience the events
around us solely through our ears and eyes. There is a large space between watching a war
on the living room TV and watching a war on the living room floor. Our biological senses
involve us in our situation whereas there is a sense of detachment in our 'extended senses'
echoing the detachment of the afore-mentioned pilot. Through technology we bring the
action closer to us, so the pilot can get a better shot, but it also enables us to stay at a
safe physical distance, so our plane does not get shot down. Is there not a sense then that
we are communicating through technologies that allow us to remain physically isolated?

In a broader and more ideal sense the village represents community and the idea that we
can all have a role in shaping our global society. Mcluhan writes:

We live mythically and integrally... In the electric age ,when our central nervous system is
tecnologically extended to involve in the whole of mankind and to incorporate the whole of
mankind in us, we necessarily participate... in the consequences of our every action. (1964:
p.4)

The image is of 'one being' connected by an electric nervous system within which the
actions of one part will affect the whole. This idea seems apparent in both the workings of
the global economy and our increasing awareness of the fragile eco-system. With the
moon- landing came the first definate image of the globe and captured its fertility and
3.beauty against the dark void, suggesting perhaps that the whole was alive. James
Lovelock, the author of Gaia, said that it seemed to scream the presence of life and as
television brought us those pictures it strengthens the idea of communications technology
creating this sense of oneness and potential harmony. As McLuhan writes:

The aspiration of our time for wholeness, empathy and depth of awareness is a natural
adjunct of electric technology...There is a deep faith to be found in this attitude-a faith
that concerns the ultimate harmony of all being. (1964: p.5)

It is with this idealistic view that McLuhan has gained prominence again amidst the
emergence of the 'Internet', a medium that seems to promote the idea of an integrated
global community. One of the major claims for the 'Internet' lies in the belief that it has
the potential to break down centralized power, and help form a community that lives on a
more integrated basis, with more shared responsibilty. This is the sense of McLuhan's
'interdependence', as he writes: Electric technology... would seem to render individualism
obsolete and... corporate interdependence mandatory (1962: p.1).

Is McLuhan suggesting that this web of communications technology spun itself catching
individualism unawares? Is is not because of our individual differences that we
communicate and look for community? Perhaps it is we as individuals who are looking for
more inclusive ways of communicating and using these technologies to do so. Bell surely
must have had some dream for what he wished his telephone to be. It seems we are often
striving for some feeling of unity.

Looking back through other cultures and religions there has long been a sense of all
connectedness between people and nature in both a spiritual and material way, with
Buddhists believing in the oneness of everything, and Native Americans believing that if
you take from the earth you must give something back. In this context the earth seen
from space was not a new symbol but more a confirmation of some feeling that already
existed.
4. Perhaps, in western civilization, it was the circumnavigation of the world that first
planted the seeds of a global community, for a flat world has margins whereas the model
of a globe suggests that there are no edges and that we are all connected by its very
geometry. There is a sense then that we have always wanted the world to be a global
village and that McLuhan is working within this ideal of community himself. Mondo 2000
says of McLuhan: Reading McLuhan is like reading Shakespeare - you keep stumbling on
phrases that you thought were cliches, only this guy made them up (1992: p.166). It could
be argued that far from making it up, McLuhan is simply naming an already present
concept. By writing about a global village he is creating a greater awareness of that
concept and this in turn stengthens the ideal in people's minds. It seems that it is the
ideal that is the 'message' and McLuhan's statements that are the 'massage'. As he
wishes: 'The electronic age' has sealed 'the entire human family into a single global tribe
(1962: p.8).

But if we disentangle ourselves from the way that McLuhan would like to see the world, it
seems likely that the world was circumnavigated with a more imperial purpose in mind.
Technology is still used today to help us understand our environment and in doing so makes
us more able to predict it and control it. Just as the discoverers of the new world brought
back their own accounts, the media through which we hear of events and the way in which
we hear and see them is mediated by those who run the corporations that pay for these
technologies. We see that which is considered 'important' for us to see, and these
decisions are often far from in our hands. McLuhan writes: Today,electronics and
automation make mandatory that everybody adjust to the vast global environment as if it
were his little home town (1968: p.11). But 'little home towns' still have sheriffs who
'don't want no strangers in town' and there is a sense that the technology that is used to
connect people together is also used to exclude people who are seen as not being able to
give anything to the community or who perhaps do not share the 'right' values (i.e. those
of the greater community). If the 'global village' is run with a certain set of values then it
would not be so much an integrated community as an assimilated one, and this carries with
it a reflection of the 'Big Brother' society.

Again the claims of many of those that use the 'Internet' are that as information
becomes freely accessible we break down centralized power and mediation. However,
information is not simply a package to be collected and shown on screen, for we all
interpret the information relative to our individual experience. In order for
communications technology to build an all inclusive global village surely everyone has to
want to live in that village. People will only communicate what they wish to communicate and
5. governments are hardly likely to do a 'Top Secret World Wide Web Home Page'. We are
only able to access certain sites on the net which are placed there for us to see and there
are only as many sites as there are people with computers. This leaves much of the
developing world outside the village walls.

McLuhan seems to assume that the entire population of the globe is plugged in to
communications technology to the same extent. That we can hear of any single event at any
time we choose. Indeed it is increasingly difficult not to hear of world events, for even if,
as individuals we choose not to turn on the television or answer the phone, we are informed
by others who do, but we cannot yet connect with anyone we wish anywhere in the world.

Perhaps we are laying the foundations of the global village and eventually everybody may
be connected through an inclusive web, but even if we were all connected and aware of our
interdependence would not mean we could all instantly get to know each other and solve our
problems. We have trouble enough living together harmoniosly in cities and as humans
there is a sense that we can only know a limited number of people well - in The Human
Animal Desmond Morris suggests the number as around 150 - and so although our personal
tribe of friend may be spread across the globe, how can we possibly feel a strong sense of
community with all the millions of us on this earth? Besides can we have as intimate a
relationship with people through a telephone line? I personally do not believe we can.

McLuhan writes: The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of
a global village (1962: p.31) His 'image' is a reflection of the way he interprets the world
and wants it to be, and in a 'post-modern' sense, it could be argued that his view is thus
justifiable as we all see the world through our own eyes based on our own values and
beliefs. There is some truth in what he says in the sense of a greater awareness of global
responsibility and his belief in closer analysis into the effects of these media, but he falls
in his sweeping generalisations about the nature of mankind. Perhaps my essay should be
entitled 'Understanding McLuhan: the Generalisations of Man.'

It is easy to see why McLuhan was popular in the counter culture of the sixties and is
again today amidst the computer revolution, for his ideas encompass a an ideal that has
perhaps always been with us. Is there not a possibility that if we place too much
importance in achieving an idealistic unified global village, we perhaps risk losing a sense of
our physical humanity and our identity and thus forget why we are communicating at all. I
6. do not believe that we are anywhere near a global village in the sense of an integrated
community and I'm not certain that as humans we could ever reach it. To achieve it we
would have much communicating to do, and by that time we may had made the first
tentative contact with extra-terrestrial life and so begin the long journey towards a
'universal hamlet'.

26th May 1995