Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero has filed a Senate bill (proposed Child Internet Safety and Protection Act) which aims to regulate Internet access of anybody below 18 on Philippine soil.
Press release:
With the unhampered access and widespread use of the internet today, Sen. Chiz Escudero wants to regulate internet access by Filipino children through a bill he filed at the Senate.
Escudero explained that his proposed Child Internet Safety and Protection Act of 2008 seeks to prohibit and restrict the access of harmful materials in the Internet by minors.
“If the Internet already serves as a medium that caters pornography, violence and other immorality to minors, it is submitted that proper regulation should be implemented,” he said.
Senate Bill No. 2098 wants all commercial establishments or public Internet points offering Internet services to provide filtered “clean feed” Internet service to users below 18 years old.
“The State shall encourage and make widely accessible the use of similar filtering products for households to enable parents and guardians to block web pages that are considered unsuitable to children,” he said.
Under the said bill, Internet cafes and establishments offering Internet service must only use Internet filtering software duly approved and prescribed by the Child Internet Safety Council (CISC) which will be created under the proposed Child Internet Safety and Protection Act of 2008.
Functions of the CISC which will be under the Department of Social Welfare and Development and with representatives from other concerned government offices include determining harmful websites and Internet contents to which children’s access shall be restricted and conduct regular inspections of establishments offering Internet service.
A fine of P50, 000 will be imposed for violators. This will be doubled to P100, 000 if they committed the offense for the second time.
Commission of the offense for the third time will face violators a fine of P200, 000 and revocation of their business permits and licenses.
Issues and Questions
Let’s highlight portions of the press release:
Internet cafes and establishments offering Internet service must only use Internet filtering software duly approved and prescribed by the Child Internet Safety Council (CISC)
Why would private enterprises be forced to use commercial software ONLY approved by a government-led body? This is worse than Bill Gates forcing his Windows down the throat of the average PC user. Who decides which software to use? Which big business is going to profit from a nationwide forced use of commercial software? Knowing how corrupt the system is, this could be another scandal in the making.
Senate Bill No. 2098 wants all commercial establishments or public Internet points offering Internet services to provide filtered “clean feed” Internet service to users below 18 years old.
Who decides what a “clean feed” is? Whose morality or judgement shall prevail? Will “clean feed” exclude those websites that are critical of public officials government policies, government corruption or even Escudero himself?
What will prevent the State/government censors from abusing this proposed law to clamp down on dissenting opinion on the Internet?
A fine of P50, 000 will be imposed for violators. This will be doubled to P100, 000 if they committed the offense for the second time. Commission of the offense for the third time will face violators a fine of P200, 000 and revocation of their business permits and licenses.
Some violators may just opt to give an underpaid government inspector P5,000 in grease money.
Options and Practical Solutions
Instead of resorting to Draconian measures that may fall in the hands of abusive Philippine government officials, restricting access by children to inappropriate content on the Internet should be encouraged at the family level.
It is the parents’ prime responsibility to monitor their children’s online activities. They may use commercial filtering software, or configure their computer’s security settings to block pornographic websites. They may also activate the filtering options in popular search engines such as Yahoo and Google, so that a simple search for “Filipina” does not return adult content.
At the ISP level, Internet Service Providers should be encouraged to provide their customers with information and methods to block websites inappropriate for minors.
Internet cafes should be encouraged, and NOT FORCED, to use filtering software. Enforcement in the Philippines is still a bad joke, and unless corruption is eradicated at even the lowest levels, enforcement will fail.
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