Arrested Development

Our country has one special law to address the regulation of commerce with the use of technology, specifically the internet. Aside from that, everything is just stuck in the pipeline and waiting for the time it can see the sun. The United States has several laws and their effects are felt throughout the world. In our country, penalties don't really mean much unless somebody actually enforces them.

The topic of cybercrime has been hot for the last couple of months and it is all about the new things that are going on around the world. There is the phone hacking scandals, the website hacking/crashing of government websites, social media websites, etc, the child pornography over the internet syndicate, etc. All these things have been going on but we don't really see much improvement over internet use and regulation. There is talk of increase in penalties but no cases are being filed against the cybercriminals. If there are any, they are hardly publicized in our media.

The UK is facing a potential landmark case involving the cyberspace and yet we don't have our basic laws out yet. See http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2011/09/06/website-shutdown-no-court-order-needed

There are hundreds if not thousands of cybercrime victims in the Philippines but there is very little data on the amount of people who report these crimes and pursue an action in court. Is it because we have not attained that sense of security to which we feel we are entitled to unlike the people on the other side of the world? Is it cultural, social, economic or political? There are so many questions out there on why our rights as internet users are not protected to the same degree as others but is it absolutely necessary at this point in a Filipino's life. There are more pressing problems in the country according to the politicians which to some extent, is true. But can't they make room for passing something on this subject? Well, these are just random thoughts which may or may not have valid points. In the meantime, we Filipinos have to guard ourselves by taking precautionary measures so that we won't fall victim to an online credit card scam and the like. It is up to Filipino internet users to be proactive in their rights until there are more concrete laws protecting them.