So…Is it out yet…? (the text of the decision) Three out of the three, “on its face”, unconstitutional provisions of the cybercrime law taken up in this blog were struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional: in this post: https://marichulambino.com/2012/10/09/bullet-points-for-the-supreme-court-justices-en-banc-today-cybercrime-prevention-act/ excerpted here: “BULLET POINTS FOR THE EN BANC (Oct. 9, 2012): “Surveillance and stalking by government: “Section 12. Real-time Collection of Traffic Data. – Law enforcement authorities, with due cause, shall be authorized to collect or record by technical or electronic means traffic data in real time associated with specified communications transmitted by means of a computer system. xxx “I don’t know about the justices but this, and Sec. 19, to me are the most objectionable and the most “on-its-face-unconstitutional” provisions of the Cybercrime Law. “ True, it is “non-content” but look at how much content there is in traffic data (“the communication’s origin, destination, route, time, date, size, duration, or type of underlying service” – Sec. 12, Cybercrime Law.). xxx “It shows what time you started to use the internet. In effect, it shows what time you opened your computer (or what time you were awake, in effect), and what time you shut it down. For each day. Starting with most recent to oldest: xxx In effect, it shows where you were and what you were doing at certain points of the day, from July 11, 2012 to Oct. 9, 2012. These data are made available to “law enforcement authorities” without any court order, without notice to you or anyone. They will get it from the server (internet service provider like Globe, Smart, PLDT, Sky, etc, who are obliged to turn them in under the Cybecrime Law). “Look at your traffic data now in your personal computers. Then ask yourselves whether or not you are willing to surrender all these to a “detective” or a clerk for print-outs for their principal or their bosses without a court order. Your traffic data shows your state of mind, grief, worries, joys, playtime, penchant, obsessions at certain times of the day or night. “Do you not think this provision is unconstitutional? “There are other alarming provisions: “Section 19. You already know this. The prior restraint provision: It gives the DOJ Secretary a power she does not have under the Constitution: to shut down any Facebook account or Twitter account or any site that she finds objectionable. Definitely TRO-able. “Overbroad libel law provisions: The clause: “…or any other similar means which may be devised in the future”: criminalizes acts not yet existing, criminalizes acts committed a hundred years from now. This is found in the provision “(4) Libel. – The unlawful or prohibited acts of libel as defined in Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future.”. Definitely TRO-able. “Double jeopardy: “Section 7. Liability under Other Laws. – A prosecution under this Act shall be without prejudice to any liability for violation of any provision of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, or special laws.”. Unconstitutional. TRO-able. xxx” (Oct. 9, 2012) *** *** *** The blog post was only about the provisions that are patently unconstitutional, or “on its face”, unconstitutional (should that be pluralized – on their faces, we don’t pluralize it because we preserve phrases that have been there for a hundred years or so) : 3 out of 3; or maybe 3 out of 3 and ½, Sections 12, 3, 7, and a part of Section 4, the clause that penalized acts “committed through … any other similar means which may be devised in the future” as being patently unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court went three steps further when it said thru the SC spokesperson that the following were unconstitutional: “Sec. 4(c)(4) (online libel- only where it penalises those who simply receive the post or react to it) but NOT UNCONSTITUTIONAL as far as the original author is concerned. 5. Sec. 5 (aiding or abetting in the commission of a cybercrime/attempt to commit a cybercrime) only in relation to secs. 4(c)(2) (child pornography), 4(c)(3) (unsolicited commercial communications) and 4(c)(4) (libel); xxx” So… is the decision out yet…? For online libel, here is the earlier post (Sept. 27, 2012) at: https://marichulambino.com/2012/09/27/cybercrime-prevention-act-of-2012-notes-on-decriminalizing-libel-if-thru-the-sc-route/ “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, notes on decriminalizing libel if thru the SC route “(for those who are choosing the Supreme Court route to decriminalize libel, that is, if you must choose this route for the decriminalization campaign) “Even the Supreme Court through then Chief Justice Puno thinks the penalty provision of the libel law is too harsh, hence the Supreme Court circular advising judges not to impose jail time as punishment but to mete out fines instead. So far, this is being followed by judges. This circular however is not law, it is advisory in character. “In other words, as everyone knows, the Supreme Court cannot legislate. Policy questions (whether or not libel should be decriminalized) should be addressed by the legislature. If the Supreme Court thinks the subject matter is a policy issue, it would shirk from ruling. “Some suggestions: Those who want to decriminalize libel through the Supreme Court route might want to take note of the following: The Supreme Court has to be convinced that the opinion/ report of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) itself (October 2011) – of the Philippine libel law prison provision being too severe and in contravention of Section 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — has the status of law , and not merely persuasive in character. If this could be shown, then those who chose the Supreme Court route might succeed in transforming libel decriminalization from a policy issue to a legal issue. Section 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a restatement of the free-speech-clause. The ICPR has the status of law, i.e., it is a binding international convention. Does the UNCHR opinion itself have the status of law? You’ll need the Supreme Court to: either agree with the UNHRC opinion, and to adopt it, (that our Philippine libel law is in contravention of Section 19 of the ICPR), or to consider the UNHRC report itself as law. “Tedious? Yes. “Also, since the online libel provision of the Cybercrime Prevention Act (Chapter II, Section 4, (c) (4) Libel,) is somehow a restatement of Art. 355 of the Revised Penal Code except for the last clause, the Supreme Court will say: “Well, you are in effect questioning the constitutionality of Art. 355 itself, upon which the online libel provision is based, the latter being merely a restatement… aren’t you?” And when you answer yes, the Supreme Court will say, then why did you not plead that? You want us to in effect strike down Art. 355 of the Revised Penal Code itself as unconstitutional, based on the ICCPR – replead this, attach a certified copy, then come back here. “Technical? Yes. Acrobatic-technical. “There are several provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention Act that are, “on their faces” (“on its face”), unconstitutional. (to be continued po ito)” (Sept. 27, 2012)
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Those are early posts, earlier write-ups, will just republish them, there’s a post here of photos from five years ago of an extraordinary 12-year-old Filipino leaping into the air then spinning thrice in mid-air landing on one foot perfectly on ice, then flying again and turning three times again, he kept hurtling upward and landing perfectly over and over, I was on the third floor of SM MOA then, i looked at the photos again several days ago and realized I had photographed a force of nature – will republish that, too. The SC public info office tweeted yesterday that the decision “will be uploaded as soon as it is made available to the PIO after promulgation.” “Promulgation of judgments means the delivery of the decision to the clerk of court for filing and publication.” How long does it take for the copy of the decision to travel from the conference room to the room of the clerk of court in the Supreme Court building? Maybe the desk of the clerk of court has been relocated to ….the north pole. It would have been three days in transit, by tomorrow. wasn’t Teddy Te holding a copy of it when he summarized it, or did the justices just tell him: just read these muna….. bullet points.
posted at 12:46pm. breaking news from ABS-CBN news: the TRO against the Cybercrime Prevention Act has been extended indefinitely by the Supreme Court.
” The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled to extend the 120-day temporary restraining order on the implementation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012
“In a text message to ABS-CBN News, Supreme Court acting public information officer Gleo Guerra said the court has ordered an extension of the TRO ‘until the court orders otherwise.’ xxx” (ABS-CBN News)
If you were not at the Supreme Court yesterday and want to get more details beyond the storified version of the Solicitor General’s oral arguments on the Cybercrime Law, here they are: these are right-clicked from rappler reporter Purple Romero’s twitter account (twitter.com/purpleromeropo), they’re live tweets; i copied them from bottom to top for a chronological flow of the proceedings, consolidated where proper instead of paragraphing every 146 letters of tweet.
We could call them: “court transcripts by live tweets”, a new phenomenon in judicial proceedings.
Just some comments so I won’t have to interrupt the flow. The Solgen said that surveillance of traffic data will only show the I.P. address and not the identity of the person. Jeez.
An I.P. address is not just a number. Most of us who use the internet for work or communication use only one or two personal computers: your mobile/ laptop personal computer and a desktop personal computer in the office. Whatever computer you use, whether your PC or a public computer, law enforcement authorities who have your IP address and are on real-time surveillance are capable of knowing where you are. An I.P. address of your personal computer leads to your office address or your home address either through the records of the internet service provider or through physical surveillance; and therefore to your identity. And then PO1 (police officer 1) can continue gleefully following your every activity in the internet – without a court order!
When confronted with the absence of standards for what constitutes “due cause” as ground for real-time collection of traffic date (real-time surveillance of internet data) thru questions from CJ Sereno, Justice Carpio, Justice Tessie de Castro, and Justice Marvic Leonen, (what is due cause?), the SolGen, after hemming and hawing, in the end, said (and I don’t blame him, his is an unenviable job): “law enforcement can start with internal rule”.
Internal rule? Kalurky. (kaloka, rough translation: drives me crazy or are you mad). It is being suggested that law enforcement authorities would agree among themselves that they would be angels for all time and will not snoop on anyone’s internet activity except try to track down the code-breaking & code-writing of hackers. This is like saying: Let’s just trust them nalang, okay.
From twitter.com/purpleromeropo: “Oral arguments on the Cybercrime law now starting at SC. Solgen Francis Jardeleza: Revolutionary change has given malefactors to invent a new crime: cybercrime. Jardeleza: Most important chapters of Cybercrime law are 2,3,4. Chapters 2&3 define acts punishable under the law. Chapter 4 specifies new investigative tools to effectuate the law, to locate and identify the anonymous cyber criminal… Jardeleza outlining how Cybercrime law can help authorities trace and arrest “Mr. Hacker.” Jardeleza: The specter of Big Brother was raised. We categorically say RA 10175 does not authorize Big Brother surveillance. Jardeleza: Sec. 12 will only bring law enforcement to IP address, not address like Kalaw 1, 2, 3,4, 5. Jardeleza: We humbly submit that Sec.19 (takedown clause) be struck down, but Sec. 19 does not make void whole Ra 10175. Jardeleza: Is it unconstitutional for the State to criminalize libel? According to this Court, no. Jardeleza: If an utterance is libelous in the physical world, doesn’t it follow that it is libelous in the cyberworld? Jardeleza: Defamation is defamation, whether we communicate through megaphones, letters, radio, tv or email. Jardeleza: For journalists – defamation is defamation whether stories find themselves printed in broadsheet or internet edition. Jardeleza: A “like” is an approval of opinion. Jardeleza: Can a journalist who works for same paper with print and online edition be prosecuted twice? We humbly submit no….
Justice Abad: Can online libel be punished even without RA 10175? Jardeleza: Yes.
Abad: We have legislative admission that online libel does not clearly extend to Internet postings
Jardeleza: Things can go viral – what about reputation?
Justice De Castro: Libel will be considered under broad crimes in Sec. 6
Leonen: Congress does not seem to understand that libel in 1935 is not the libel we have today
Jardeleza: There is no freedom of expression involved in the case of Mr. Hacker.
Leonen: Wouldn’t the best way to protect us from libel is through civil action? Jardeleza: These are matters we submit to those elected
Justice Carpio: If penal law suppresses freedom of speech, it can be facially attacked? Jardeleza: Libel is unprotected speech.
Carpio: You can get traffic data from PLDT without court warrant, correct? Jardeleza: Yes, provided there is due cause
Carpio on collection of traffic data w/o warrant: Let us go to the judge! If u want we can designate a judge 24/7.You can go to his house
Jardeleza: Not all intrusions are unconstitutional, [they are unconstitutional] only if they are unreasonable
Carpio: It’s the use of internet that makes it a cybercrime? Jardeleza: Theoretically, yes
De Castro: Who will initiate determination of due cause? The law does not say how due cause is to be determined. Jardeleza: You’re right.
Jardeleza: The medium can change, but the competing values are the same. Does it harm reputation?
Justice Bersamin: Attempt in the commission of cybercrime – in the revised penal code there is overt act, we don’t seem to require it here
Jardeleza: There is no definition (of attempt in the commission of cybercrime) in RA 10175
Justice Del Castillo: There is no definition of due cause, it’s subject to abuse.
(1/2) Leonen: Are we not giving too much blanket authority to authorities to inspect data packet?
(2/2) Jardeleza: It’s constitutional but we agree there could be more robust procedures
Jardeleza: Cybersex targets cyber prostitution not obscenity.
CJ Sereno: This innocuous-looking section (Sec.3) is the one that caused the most objection (Sec.3 is the definition of terms)
CJ Sereno: You said Sec. 12 is the heart of regulation. If we strike it down, this law is good for nothing.
CJ Sereno: We might ourselves find standards for due cause, absent.
Jardeleza: Law enforcement can start w/internal rule
Carpio: Why are we allowing law enforcers to do a shortcut? They could always go to the judge.
Abad: I do not find in cybersex provision anything on prostitution or trafficking. The law does not say that. That’s the problem.
Abad: What assurance can you give us that policeman will use real-time collection for a good purpose? None.
Parties are given 20 days to file respective memorandum. Petitioners will file second amended petition on Jan.30.
CJ Sereno on TRO extension: We will address that in due time.