Cyber-crime Prevention Act of 2012: Republic Act No. 10175

What are the Salient Features of this Act?

(a) Offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems

• Illegal Access - The access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right. 
• Illegal Interception - The interception made by technical means without right of any non-public transmission of computer data to, from, or within a computer system including electromagnetic emissions from a computer system carrying such computer data. 
• Data Interference - The intentional or reckless alteration, damaging, deletion or deterioration of computer data, electronic document, or electronic data message, without right, including the introduction or transmission of viruses. 
• System Interference - The intentional alteration or reckless hindering or interference with the functioning of a computer or computer network by inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data or computer program, electronic document, or electronic data message, without right or authority, including the introduction or transmission of viruses. 
• Misuse of Devices - The use, production, sale, procurement, importation, distribution, or otherwise making available, without right, of: 
• A device, including a computer program, designed or adapted primarily for the purpose of committing any of the offenses under this Act; or 
• A computer password, access code, or similar data by which the whole or any part of a computer system is capable of being accessed with intent that it be used for the purpose of committing any of the offenses under this Act. 
• Cyber-squatting - The acquisition of a domain name over the internet in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same, if such a domain name is: 
• Similar, identical, or confusingly similar to an existing trademark registered with the appropriate government agency at the time of the domain name registration: 
• Identical or in any way similar with the name of a person other than the registrant, in case of a personal name; and 
• Acquired without right or with intellectual property interests in it. 

(b) Computer-related offenses

• Computer-related Forgery- The input, alteration, or deletion of any computer data without right resulting in inauthentic data with the intent that it be considered or acted upon for legal purposes as if it were authentic, regardless whether or not the data is directly readable and intelligible; or the act of knowingly using computer data which is the product of computer-related forgery as defined herein, for the purpose of perpetuating a fraudulent or dishonest design. 
• Computer-related Fraud - The unauthorized input, alteration, or deletion of computer data or program or interference in the functioning of a computer system, causing damage thereby with fraudulent intent: Provided, That if no damage has yet been caused, the penalty imposable shall be one (1) degree lower. 
• Computer-related Identity Theft - The intentional acquisition, use, misuse, transfer, possession, alteration or deletion of identifying information belonging to another, whether natural or juridical, without right: Provided, That if no damage has yet been caused, the penalty imposable shall be one (1) degree lower. 

(c) Content-related offenses

• Cybersex - The willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system, for favor or consideration. 
• Child Pornography - The unlawful or prohibited acts defined and punishable by Republic Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, committed through a computer system. The penalty to be imposed shall be (1) one degree higher than that provided for in Republic Act No. 9775. 
• Unsolicited Commercial Communications - The transmission of commercial electronic communication with the use of computer system which seek to advertise, sell, or offer for sale products and services are prohibited unless: 
• There is prior affirmative consent from the recipient; or 
• The primary intent of the communication is for service and/or administrative announcements from the sender to its existing users, subscribers or customers; or 
• The following conditions are present: 
• The commercial electronic communication contains a simple, valid, and reliable way for the recipient to reject receipt of further commercial electronic messages (opt-out) from the same source; 
• The commercial electronic communication does not purposely disguise the source of the electronic message; and 
• The commercial electronic communication does not purposely include misleading information in any part of the message in order to induce the recipients to read the message. 
• 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.

Why did it receive a temporary restraining order?

• The law was dubbed by critics as Cyber Martial Law because it contains sections that violate the basic constitutional rights of the freedom of speech and expression.

Can you relate some provisions of the law on your past experience as an IT student?

• As far as I can remember, I don't have any experience related in violating this law but I experience many things before while working inside the premises of the school or I am having my on the job (OJT) training inside the university. It was the time that somebody that was my higher year student in the same department ask me if they can have the database raw file of all the students information that we are working for and the reason of that request is to use the data in their Thesis or IT Project. So what I did was to tell them that I don't have the authority to give them what they requested and that they must ask our supervisor to such vital information of the University. So if I gave out the database raw file to them I might be or probably violated this law a long time ago.

What can you suggest to the government about this law?

• Well I'm not sure if my words will reach the government but what I can say is that this law is very important and vital to the people working everyday in the cyber community. Even though our country is still not that advance compared to other big countries, we should prepare our nation to any thing related to cyber violations in the future and that showing a blind eye about this law might bring danger to our people. Study carefully and thoroughly about the good points of this law, who are the people that will be penalize in violating this and making people understand that this law will give a big role to the future of our country and of our technology.

An Info-graphics representing this law.

Source: 

http://www.ilonggotechblog.com/2012/10/what-is-republic-act-no-ra-10175-or.html

https://hrepreflibrarian.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/cybercrime-prevention-act-of-the-philippines-a-law-that-backfired-a-timeline-part-iii-last-part-hackings-petitions-other-protests-and-the-supreme-court-tro/
https://www.sulit.ph/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Cybercrime.jpg

Republic Act No. 8792

What are the Selient Features of this Act?

1. It gives legal recognition of electronic data messages, electronic documents, and electronic signatures. (section 6 to 13)
2. Allows the formation of contracts in electronic form. (section 16)
3. Makes banking transactions done through ATM switching networks absolute once consummated. (section 16)
4. Parties are given the right to choose the type and level of security methods that suit their needs. (section 24)
5. Provides the mandate for the electronic implementation of transport documents to facilitate carriage of goods. This includes documents such as, but not limited to, multi-modal, airport, road, rail, inland waterway, courier, post receipts, transport documents issued by freight forwarders, marine/ocean bill of lading, non-negotiable seaway bill, charter party bill of lading. (section 25 and 26)
6. Mandates the government to have the capability to do e-commerce within 2 years or before June 19, 2002. (section 27)
7. Mandates RPWeb to be implemented. RPWeb is a strategy that intends to connect all government offices to the Internet and provide universal access to the general public. The Department of Transportation and Communications, National Telecommunications Commission, and National Computer Center will come up with policies and rules that shall lead to substantial reduction of costs of telecommunication and Internet facilities to ensure the implementation of RPWeb. (section 28)
8. Made cable, broadcast, and wireless physical infrastructure within the activity of telecommunications. (section 28)
9. Empowers the Department of Trade and Industry to supervise the development of e-commerce in the country. It can also come up with policies and regulations, when needed, to facilitate the growth of e-commerce. (section 29)
10. Provided guidelines as to when a service provider can be liable. (section 30)
11. Authorities and parties with the legal right can only gain access to electronic documents, electronic data messages, and electronic signatures. For confidentiality purposes, it shall not share or convey to any other person. (section 31 and 32) 
12. Hacking or cracking, refers to unauthorized access including the introduction of computer viruses, is punishable by a fine from 100 thousand to maximum commensurating to the damage. With imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years. (section 33)
13. Piracy through the use of telecommunication networks, such as the Internet, that infringes intellectual property rights is punishable. The penalties are the same as hacking. (section 33)
14. All existing laws such as the Consumer Act of the Philippines also applies to e-commerce transactions. (section 33) 

Can you relate some provisions of the Law on your past experiences as an IT student?

Ans. Yes, since I entered college or since the time when I started using phones and computers, I can't deny that I have been violating this law and that it occur so many times. I downloaded pirated copies of games, songs, movies, and any other things available in a pirated file provider websites. Then after some time I've heard about the law about cyber crime and such, then I started practicing myself to control or stop violating this it.

Here's the info-graphic I have created.
(PS. The descriptions are not originally mine, it's from the source at the bottom.)

Source: http://digitalfilipino.com/salient-features-of-republic-act-8792-the-e-commerce-law/