The controversial cybercrime law has been suspended by the Philippines’ top court after numerous protests were made because it affects freedom of speech.

Earlier this month as covered by our blog post here, we discussed the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 which came into power.

It was made with good intent to help prevent online child pornography, identity theft, and spamming as all these issues raised “legitimate concerns” about criminal and abusive behaviour online. The act is also designed to prevent cybersex, defined as sexually explicit chat over the internet – often involving “cam girls” performing sexual acts in front of webcams for internet clients. But after recent protests a 120-day suspension to revise the law is now in place.

A total of 15 petitions were filed to the Supreme Court questioning the legality of the law. As of now there is a temporary restraining order preventing the act from being enforced. The maximum punishment for breaking the Cybercrime Law was punishable by up to 12 years in jail.

Even though there is a temporary suspension, protests to continue as the legislation could be used to target government critics and crack down on freedom of speech. Under the new act, a person found guilty of libellous comments online, including comments made on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter or blogs, could be fined or jailed. Government officials would also have had new powers to search and seize data from people’s online accounts.

In a statement, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director Brad Adams welcomed the move by the court, but urged it to “now go further by striking down this seriously flawed law”.

In recent news a new controversial law developed in the hopes of combating against cybercrime in the Philippines has come into effect. With it’s pass it has raised countless protests and concerns from citizens and media alike fearing censorship.

Named as the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012” it was signed last month on September 12 by the Filipino president. It’s intent is to try and stop cybersex, online child pornography, identity theft and spamming according to governmental officials. But the part which people are protesting against is the 12 year prison sentence which comes along side it.

“Questions have been raised about the constitutionality of certain provisions of the act. We recognise and respect efforts not only to raise these issues in court, but to propose amendments to the law in accordance with constitutional processes”

The act has been reported of have had at least eight large court cases raised already from large groups challenging its constitutionality and have been filed against the Philippines high court. Fears continued to rise about it being used by the government to crack down on critics freedom of speech. Under the new act, a person found guilt of libellous comments online, including comments made on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter or blogs, could be fined or jailed. But despite efforts made by protesters the act took place.

The turmoil that has been created because of this Act have lead activists to hacking into government websites, large social media campaigns being support across the globe with journalists holding rallies and citizens blacking out their social media avatars on Facebook and Twitter.

With the added power from the Government to search and seize any data from people’s online accounts, it has been questioned by numerous groups including a US-based Human Rights watch saying it is a clear violation of free speech.

“The cybercrime law needs to be repealed or replaced,” said the group’s Asia director, Brad Adams.
“It violates Filipinos’ rights to free expression and it is wholly incompatible with the Philippine government’s obligations under international law.”
The full Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 can be found here

Telephone scams and fraud are commonplace at the moment with many cake companies pretending to be legitimate official companies such as microsoft or apple in an attempt to get money from you. Recently there has been a wave of scams that have been targeting PC users. They will claim to be from Microsoft and will phone you up telling you that your have errors or a virus on your computer which needs to be checked.

After this they would attempt to convince you to install software to allow them access to your computer, from here they would show you your log files and say that all of the errors are serious. The event viewer which they would use records all the computers logs, it’s natural that it has all the errors recorded, even from web pages not being displayed.

Once they have access to your computer they will then install malicious software onto your computer which can then track your keyboard inputs so that they can easily acquire your bank details or failing this they might invoice you for the fake work that they have done and request your bank details.

We at Mad Computer Solutions highly recommend that your inform those you know about the scams as we are well aware that numerous businesses and individuals have fallen for it already.

If you have let them onto your computer unknowingly it’s also a good idea to keep a track on your bank account finances over the next few months in the event that your bank security is compromised. Additionally we can offer a service to remove any potentially unwanted software which they may have installed onto your computer.

Remember: Microsoft Microsoft will never ask you to provide your user name, password, date of birth, country, credit card number, or any other personal information. Additionally Microsoft do not perform unsolicited phone calls to help fix your computer.

If on the unfortunate chance your or a friend or relative has been caught out by one of these scams and you think your PC may have likely been compromised, then please feel free to contact us using our Contact Form. We will perform a thorough check up on your computer to ensure that there is no residual software on your computer that may harm or steal your data.

Update – These calls do not only impersonate Microsoft, they have also been caught impersonating a company called Alien Touch.