Pinoy Post

By Melvin G. Calimag

IT rantings from the Philippines

Catching up with voyeurism and cybercrime

Posted in The Pinoy Post by Melvin G. Calimag on Saturday, May 23 2009 09:09 PM

The over-the-top coverage by the mainstream media this week on the sex video scandal of a celebrity doctor here has been particularly amusing. Though I subscribe to the idea that it shouldn't have been accorded front-page treatment, I now think that it is perhaps a blessing in disguise that it exploded this way as it has exposed the country's lack of applicable laws that penalize online voyeurism, pornography, trafficking, and other cyber-related crimes.

As in the case of infamous "I Love You" virus in the early part of the decade, authorities are now in a quandary on what law to use against the perpetrators of this mess. Last I heard, the actress who was seen in sex video has filed a complaint against her former paramor using a law on "anti-violence against women and their children".

It's a shame that years have passed but the old folks in Congress still haven't recognized the great strides that technology and the Internet have made in the country. The new breed of cybercrimes such as cybersex and online voyeurism is simply beyond the purview of the E-commerce Law, which essentially just penalizes hacking and fraudulent online transactions.

In 2007, I wrote in this blog about a bill on cybercrime pending in Congress. I remember a number of industry groups then had come together to draft their respective recommendations as a way to polish the proposed law. The proposals were supposed to have been submitted to legislators but, as we know now, nothing seemed to have come out of that.

In one of the forums I attended in 2008, Palmer Mallari, the special agent assigned at the anti-computer crimes division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), poured out his frustrations on the apparent foot-dragging of the government to pass the cybercrime bill.

Mallari particularly criticized the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) for its inaction in submitting to lawmakers the amendments culled during a month-long seminar on cybercrime held in late-2007.

I understand that a separate bill in cyber voyeurism has been filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The proposed law, which was filed before the current scandal exploded, specifically criminalizes the distribution of sex or indecent videos.

I believe, however, that cyber voyeurism can be classified and subsumed under the cybercrime category. I hope our legislators will just consolidate the cyber voyeurism bill with the long-delayed cybercrime bill so they can focus their efforts in passing a single law that address the crimes brought about by the advent of Internet and modern technology.

Disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed in this blog are the author's, and do not necessarily represent those of ZDNet Asia.

Talkback 1 comments

Catching up with voyeurism and cybercrime
Hi Melvin,

It is really alarming that though technology has gone leaps and bounds, that there is minimal control or legislation to protect us from what would generally be viewed as offensive by most.

Though the internet is a medium that allows more freedom than usual, this freedom like all else would have to have some level of accountability.

We guard our privacy in the offline world, so the same attention is exercised in the online world, that being said, we may seek the same protection or relief but it is not necessarily available to us in cyberspace.

E-Commerce still has long ways to go as Filipinos are generally averse to doing transactions online. Most are still afraid to share their credit information and do payments online.

Even with proper education and sometimes a positive experience may not generally encourage someone to let his guard down. Most specially knowing that if one falls victim to a cybercrime, there is really no immediate relief.
Posted by Jun Velasco on Monday, June 01 2009 09:17 PM

Latest in Blog Central

Subscribe to BlogCentral

Click this link to view this blog as XML.
Add this feed to your online news reader

About the blogger

Melvin G. Calimag

Melvin G. Calimag currently writes for the infotech section of a popular English broadsheet in the Philippines. Prior to this, Melvin served as an assistant editor at Metropolitan Computer Times (MCT), the first IT publication in the Philippines. He is currently the vice president for internals at the IT Journalists Association of the Philippines (CyberPress), and also serves as a charter member with the Philippine Science Journalists Association.