‘Social control’ better than legislation

Internet in the Philippines

(First of two parts)

MANILA, Philippines – Internet use in the Philippines remains free, with most, if not all form of content, becoming available to all 24 million or so Internet users, about half of them below the age of 19.

But that kind of freedom of access has also brought the attention of legislators some, of whom have also been spurred by recent sex video scandals, proposed bills mainly against online pornography.

These include the “Cyberboso” bill of BUHAY partylist Representative Irwin Tieng, and the Anti-Child Pornography Bill by Tarlac 1st district Representative Monica Prieto-Teodoro.

A Senate version of the Anti-Child Porn Bill, Senate Bill 2317, was penned by Senators Jamby Madrigal and Francis Escudero and is only awaiting a conference committee reading before going into plenary. However, one particular provision of the bill has raised eyebrows as it hints on government control over the Internet.

Section 8 of the said Senate bill requires all Internet service providers (ISPs) to place filtering software to prevent access to online pornographic material, especially those that involve children.

The bill claims that it does not want the ISPs to do monitoring but it requires them to report to the Philippine National Police (NBI) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) all incidences of alleged child pornography among its customers.

Filtering laws degrading Internet service

This was the basis for arguments from a group of Internet café owners who said that filtering should not be done on the ISP level but on the Internet shop operator and even have the computer user take part in watching out against child pornography.

In fact, i-Café Pilipinas Co-Convenors Edgardo Zafra and Gener Luis Morada said Internet shops area already following strict guidelines set by some local government units against the use of their computers for deviant means, including pornography.

During a recent roundtable discussion organized by the De La Salle University Institute of Governance, i-Café Pilipinas representatives warned that filtering at the ISP level could cause service degradation.

Morada stressed that many Internet shops, especially legitimate ones that rent out PCs exclusively for Internet and not for gaming, have already taken part by dismantling the divisions between computers to discourage users from privately watching pornography.

Some café owners have even followed local ordinances by not putting up a shop at least 400 meters from a school, as being done in Valenzuela.

“As business entities, we’re being lumped together with barbershops and massage parlors and yet we still follow these guidelines because we want to remain legitimate,” Morada said.

Threat to online privacy

More than anything else, the said bill by Senator Madrigal also opens a can of worms, according to Winthrop Yu, a director for the Philippine Internet Commerce Society (PICS) who also spoke at the DLSU forum.

He stressed that if passed with the specific section on ISPs unrevised, the Anti-Child Pornography Bill could become a control mechanism for governments to look into private records of ISP clients, with the premise that the government is merely looking into alleged child pornography.

“That makes ISPs liable for alleged child pornography, which could stifle their business,” Yu said.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) gets to benefit mostly from such a law against child pornography. As it is, child pornography continues to be one of the biggest problems in the Philippines, especially with the Internet becoming a widely used medium for distribution of lewd materials.

DSWD Management and Information Systems Service Director Wayne Belizar said during the DLSU roundtable that the issue for child pornography is not a matter of contention since it is major social ill. Already, the DWSD is challenged by the huge task of capturing alleged child pornographers but it would be harder still if pornographers are online.–Alexander Villafania, INQUIRER.net

(To be continued)