Philippine Cybercrime Bill To Check Child Pornography


A proposed cybercrime bill should include provisions penalizing child pornography, it was suggested at a recent workshop.

The provisions would be consistent with international guidelines discussed during the Budapest Convention on the Council of Europe in 2001, government and private sector representatives at the workshop were told.

The Budapest Convention offers guidelines for the development of national legislation and a framework for international cooperation against cybercrime.

The two-day workshop was organized by the Department of Justice, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, and the Council of Europe, in partnership with Microsoft in order to dissect the proposed Philippine cybercrime bill before it is endorsed to Congress.

The workshop divided attendees into groups to work on three general provisions of the bill, namely emergency response, enforcement and implementation; jurisdiction and international cooperation; and punishable acts, said Albert dela Cruz, director of the Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (PH-CERT) and currently platform strategy manager at Microsoft Philippines, in an interview.

Each group presented their suggestions to lawmakers and members of the CICT, headed by its chairman, Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III.

For about eight years, various sectors have lobbied for a cybercrime law in the Philippines.

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