Police: RA 10175 gives drive vs cybercrime more teeth

LAWYERS and law enforcers welcomed the passage of Republic Act (RA) 10175, also known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City Chapter president Earl Bonachita told reporters yesterday that before the law was passed last week with its signing by President Benigno Aquino III, many cyber criminals got off the hook.

“With (this law), cyber criminals can now be pursued relentlessly,” he said.

Cebu Provincial Police Office Office (CPPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador said the law will strengthen the fight against cybercrime, although it was “overdue.”

He said cybercrimes, like online child pornography, are covered by RA 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 and RA 8484 or the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998.

He added that the new law will give the campaign more teeth.

RA 10175 provides penalties against online content-related offenses like cybersex and child pornography, unsolicited commercial communications or cyber squatting.

Cyber squatting involves acquiring a person’s domain name in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy the reputation and deprive others from registering the same name.

Also punishable are offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data system, illegal access, illegal interception, data interference, system interference and misuse of devices.

Prohibited

Computer-related offenses such as computer-related forgery, fraud and identity theft over the Internet are also covered by the new law.

Under the new law, unlawful or prohibited acts of libel as defined in Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, are those “committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future.”

The law directs the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the PNP to create a cybercrime unit or a center manned by special investigators.

NBI 7 Assistant Regional Director Lauro Reyes said their headquarters in Manila houses the Anti-fraud and Computer Crimes Division (AFCCD). But since the AFCCD does not have a regional unit, NBI 7 refers Internet-related cases to its central office, he added.

The CPPO, though, has a forensic laboratory in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City. The laboratory can track down cyber crimes like online pornography.

The police cracked down on home-based cyberpornography operations in Cebu that victimizes children. Two cases of child cyberporn were reported in Cordova last year.