President Aquino signs into law Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

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To combat cyber crimes in the country, President Benigno S. Aquino III signed last Wednesday Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte announced in a radio interview Saturday over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

Among the punishable acts under the new law include offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data system, illegal access, illegal interception, data interference, system interference, and misuse of devices.

These also include computer-related offenses such as computer-related forgery, fraud, and identity theft. These crimes are rampant in the Internet.

Also punishable under the new law are content-related offenses like cybersex, and child pornography, Valte said.

The law also punishes unsolicited commercial communications or cyber squatting, she said. Cyber squatting is the acquisition of a person’s domain name in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy the reputation and deprive others from registering the same. Republic Act 10175 also punishes libel, Valte said.

The government classified cyber crimes in the Philippines into two categories: Internet Crimes and Commercial Crimes committed with the use of the Internet. Last year, authorities issued a legal advisory on Internet Crimes to protect the public while using the web.

Existing Philippine laws punishing Internet crimes are Republic Act (RA) 9995 (Anti-Photo and Voyeurism Act of 2009); RA 9775 (Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009); and RA 9208 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

Source: Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO)