Bayan urges SC to decide on Cybercrime Act, backs Snowden

MANILA, Philippines — Militant group”The Philippine Supreme Court should resolve the pending petitions regarding the cybercrime law. This measure, aside from penalizing online libel, allows for the real-time collection of traffic data which can lead to violations of the right to privacy.

“There is great danger in the way government is trying to control the space known as the internet. The recent events in the US should serve as a warning to our own government. It is time the SC resolve the issue of the constitutionality of the cybercrime law,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said.

Reyes also called on the public to reflect on the Philippine’s own Cybercrime Prevention Act which critics have decried as a tool for warrantless surveillance on computer system users.

The measure was signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III last year. Various sectors immediately opposed the law.

The petitions before the High Court against the Cybercrime Act question the measure’s constitutionality.

Reyes said the group also supports the actions of whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee who has come forward as the source of the leaked information on Prism.

“What Snowden did was an act of courage. The world should be thankful for what he did. He shed light on what many have suspected as the broad powers of the US that violate a person’s right to privacy in the name of ‘national security’,” Reyes said.

Snowden is now in Hong Kong as the US has launched an investigation into the source of the leak.

Meanwhile, President Barrack Obama has defended the Prism program, saying it was necessary for US security.

The NSA has also claimed that the program had congressional and judicial oversight.

However, several members of the US House of Representatives have denied knowing about the surveillance program.

“The US should keep its dirty hands off Snowden. He must not be arrested and detained in the same way as Army whistleblower Bradley Manning. Snowden’s rights must be respected. His safety should be the concern of all advocates of freedom of expression,” Reyes added.

The Prism program which has been in existence since 2007 reportedly allows the NSA access to data from big service providers such Google, Facebook and Yahoo!.

Another tool recently revealed called Boundless Informant meanwhile shows the volume of data collected by the US in countries that are apparently the focus of surveillance. The information about Prism was leaked to media outlets last week.

“The right to privacy is a thing of the past as far as the US military is concerned. The revelations regarding this previously secret program sends a chilling effect on all internet users and is a cause of great alarm worldwide. Countries should begin examining the true extent of US internet surveillance,” Reyes said.