halfwhiteboy

With at least eleven petitions already filed with the Supreme Court against RA 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, there's no denying that it is one very questionable law, if not totally bad. With much ado about cyber libel and all its consequences that effectively curtail freedom of speech or of expression, arguably at least, I have a lot of questions on how this controversial law will be implemented. Protesters against the Cybercrime Law [ Source ] Although DOJ Secretary Leila De Lima promised that the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) will " harmonize " the Cybercrime Law, the fact remains that there is still no IRR and none of us has any clue as to how RA 10175 will actually be implemented even if the law already officially took effect on Oct. 3, 2012, fifteen (15) days after it was first published in the Official Gazette . As such, I believe I cannot be faulted for raising some questions. Isn't this wiretapping? Section 12 of the C...

Oh yes, I'm talking about no less than Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, whose boss, President Noynoy Aquino, had just recently signed into law the controversial Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 ( read my moderately lengthy rant here ). Oh common, with libel lumped together with cybersex, child pornography and cyber fraud, how else would you call someone who can potentially be guilty of cyber libel (or online libel, whatever you call it) but a potential cyber criminal? Apparently, Lacierda  was a blogger. [ Source ] Who knew he kept a blog curiously called the San Juan Gossip Mills Outlet ! Thanks to Jojo A. Robles of the Manila Standard Today, I got wind of Lacierda's past life before he became the Palace's mouthpiece and by default, a staunch defender of the infamous law. He called himself then -- at least at the time -- "a veritable fanatic of the Internet" and was himself a guest lecturer at De La Salle Uni...

Forty years ago today, then-President Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081, effectively declaring the entire Philippines under Martial Law ( According to Wikipedia , it was actually signed on Sept. 17 but was postdated to Sept. 21 because of Marcos's superstitions and numerology beliefs. ). It was formally announced to the public on Sept. 23 on live television. [ Source ] Widely considered to be of the darkest periods in Philippine history, Martial Law was used to silence critics of the Marcos government. Many dissenters were arrested and incarcerated, one of whom was Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., father of current sitting President of the Republic, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. Interestingly, on Sept. 12, 2012, Noynoy signed into law Republic Act No. 10175, otherwise known as the "Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012," which is, according to Section 31 of the same law, to take effect "fifteen (15) days after the completion of its pub...