First
of all, I am a law student. I am not here to post legal advice nor become a
source legal wisdom. I need this blog for my subject Technology and the Law.
Thank you.
As
we all know, there have been known attacks on the Philippine websites these
past few weeks. Several of Philippine websites “noticed a significant spike in traffic with malicious URL
requests from forged user-agents being channeled to the Official Gazette
website, PCDSPO and to the Presidential Museum and Library website” according
to Presidential Spokesperson
Edwin Lacierda. Also, a news article said, “information gathered through our data analysis indicated that
the attack originated from IP addresses assigned to Chinese networks”. The dispute between
China and the Philippines has been escalating and the events of the "hack
attacks" have not been very helpful.
The
real questions of the issue are: Are these foreign hackers liable? If not, how
do we make them liable?
As
of now, there are no laws applying to foreign hackers, thus they are not liable
for these kinds of incidents. The problem also is that according to the case of
Rustan Ang VS Court of Appeals, “the
Rules on Electronic Evidence apply only to civil actions, quasi-judicial
proceedings, and administrative proceedings”. This means evidence obtained
through the criminal acts of these foreign hackers cannot be used against them
in our courts.
Hacking
is defined in Section 33 of the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 as the “unauthorized access into or interference in a computer
system/server or information and communication system; or any access in order
to corrupt, alter, steal, or destroy using a computer or other similar
information and communication devices, without the knowledge and consent of the
owner of the computer or information and communications system, including the
introduction of computer viruses and the like, resulting in the corruption,
destruction, alteration, theft or loss of electronic data messages or
electronic documents”. We have a clear-cut definition of what hacking or
cracking is, the problem is the application of this definition to not only
citizens and domiciles of the Philippines but also to other people outside the
shores of the Philippines.
There were similar incidents that
happened to Canada last January of 2011 that “also gave foreign hackers access
to highly classified federal information and also forced the Finance Department
and Treasury Board”. The hacking national websites has become a dangerous
threat to national security. The country must revise the Rules on electronic
evidence and include criminal proceedings. In addition to this, Congress must
pass an anti-cyber crime law and an implementing body that would serve as a
shield and sword against these foreign hackers. Hopefully, the Philippines,
together with other countries will create agreements and conventions in
answering the problems of hacking and other cyber crimes. God bless us all.
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