The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Senate approved Monday the final reading of a proposed bill which seeks to penalize acts of cybercrime such as hacking, spamming and internet child pornography.

Senate Bill 2796, drafted in May 2011, covers the following offenses:

A. Offenses against the confidentiality, intergrity and availability of computer data and systems (illegal access, illegal interception, data interference, system interference, cyber-squatting, misuse of devices).

B. Computer-related offenses (computer-related forgery, computer-related fraud).

C. Content-related offenses (cybersex, child pornography, unsolicited commercial communications, libel).

Offenders under the first two groups will face a minimum fine of PhP200,000 and may be jailed from 6 to 12 years.

Those who engage in cybersex “for favor and consideration” may be fined up to PhP1 million and according jail time. Child pornographers will be penalized according to the Anti-Child Pornography Law.

Spammers, or those who engage in “unsolicited commercial communications”, face fines of up to PhP250,000 and a jail term of up to six months.

“This is unconstitutional”

Senate Bill 2796 was voted 13-1, with Senator Teofisto Guingona III voting against the bill's approval.

Guingona said of his vote: "[The bill] legislates morality, it tells you what is moral and what is immoral. As a libertarian I feel that is not within the realm of the legislature. No one has the right to say what is moral and what is immoral."

The bill (full text) defines cybersex as "the willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly, or any lascivious exhbition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system, for favor or consideration."

Guingona added, "I vote against this because it has a prior restraint on freedom of expression, freedom of speech. This is unconstitutional."