Battling the Cybercrime Law, The Hacktivist's Way

I just went online at 12:30am and I just saw this interesting post on my facebook wall. Yes, some of the government websites are reportedly to be hacked as of 12:00am around 4 of them were hacked and increased as the night goes deeper.

Lead by a hacking group calling themselves Anonymous Philippines, they say this law kills freedom of expression online just like killing traditional media. They (Anonymous Philippines) have also expressed disgust with the government for adopting provisions from an "80-year-old antiquated libel laws." Journalists, media organizations and lawyers have said that the new cybercrime law violate freedom of expression and make an all-powerful justice secretary who, based on the law, can shut down any site on the basis of prima facie evidence of libel.

"The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is the most notorious act ever witnessed in the cyberhistory of the Philippines, and the language of the bill is cunningly designed to make you think it only applies to individuals who are deep in cybertechnology and doesn't apply to everyone. (But) some part of the bill basically says it can imprison anyone who commits libel either by written messages, comments, blogs, or posts in sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or any other comment-spaces of other social media in the Internet".

Anyway, I was able to get a screenshot of those said websites and they have really de-faced them showing dissatisfaction over the Cybercrime Law. As most ordinary twittizens were delighted to see this act, a few social media experts do disagree saying that hacking websites is not a solution. Whether you agree with what they did or not, the libel-provision of this law should be removed. 

To know more about the incident, you may check the following links here, here, here, here, here and here.


The hackers have good taste in their choice of music. XD

A Quick Guide to SOPA/PIPA blackout this January 18.

Internet is now a major source of free information. It is unfortunate that while the United Nations has declared internet access as a basic human right; censoring content due to SOPA and PIPA will reverse this triumph.

I saw this news from Yahoo about a blackout on the internet. Its quite alarming especially if these two bills “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and the “PROTECT IP Act” (PIPA) would be passed.  Wikipedia will be joined by thousands of other sites, all of which will be blacked out for between 12 and 24 hours. In anticipation of the confusion this will cause, we’ve put together a quick guide for those of you looking for answers, and for a way to get in on the action.

Taken from Digitaltrends

 

The Computer Professionals' Union (CPU) expresses strong opposition to the "Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)" and "PROTECT IP Act" being pushed in the United States Congress. We join our fellow computer professionals, free and open source advocates and developers, and human rights defenders all over the world in standing up against these proposed blacklist bills. 

Taken from Google

The SOPA & PIPA Acts are not only clear and present dangers to free speech. Moreover, it functions as a threat to the free sharing of information. We believe that ideas and information are not commodities no one can claim strict ownership of such. RESIST CORPORATE CONTROL OF IDEAS. FIGHT AGAINST CORPORATE CENSORSHIP OF THE INTERNET. IDEAS ARE FREE.

To know more about SOPA/PIPA, you may check the following here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.