Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act (in short, the Cybercrime Law) has brought ripples into the consciousness of many Filipinos. It is effective today, and it is no laughing matter. It entails some of the highest degrees of iron-fisted ruling which seems shocking and desperate especially in this time and age.
Now that nothing is really safe—more than ever—in the realms of the internet, here are some questions that, up to this point, remain drilling a migraine of enigma into my head. There are plenty more from where these came from but these would enough:
- Will journalism be a thing of the past because it will be subject to scrutiny (and possible penalty) for covering critical understanding of current affairs?
- Will opinion, freedom of speech or even the right to information be a thing of the past?
- Is Senator Sotto, one of the supporters of the law, even aware that it includes plagiarism as a crime, too?
- Will Senator Sotto be penalized for committing such crime if ever, by a twist of fate, the higher echelons of the government finally realize some of his deeds are “unlawful?”
- Has there been a scintilla of proper thinking put into this law?
- Has there been a scintilla of attempt at making sense in this muddle called the Philippine government?
- How could this law be made into possibility with all its vagueness?
- Is this simply a maneuver to distract us from the real deal which is, among many other things, the RH Bill?
- Could we never, once and for all, point at a criminal when see or know one at the risk being called libelous and thus holding us liable for a crime for telling the truth?
- Could users of social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Blogger) better shut down their accounts right now?
- Could the Cybercrime Law be the glossy, digitized, 21st century version of the Martial Law?
- Could this be the end of this blog after posting these questions?
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