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This petition opposes the anti-terrorism bills filed in Congress . One version has a provision on electronic surveillance, which we feel encroaches on the people’s right to privacy, freedom of expression, and communication. Under the pretext of combating ‘terrorism’, this bill threatens our personal freedom to communicate as we fear that the government will abuse this measure to conduct surveillance to minimize dissent and silence activists.
According to the bill the government may conduct electronic surveillance and/or tap, monitor or intercept internet e-mail, voice mail, even text messages of any person suspected of being a member of a terrorist organization. We feel that this measure seeks to curtail our right to privacy and our freedom to communicate This will throw us back to the Dark Ages when dissension equals death. This bill does not make any distinction between a real ‘terrorist’ and ordinary people who are simply against the government. Everyone is a fair game especially human rights activists, youth leaders, trade unionists and even journalists.
In 2001, Filipinos used the power of ICT to protest against the Estrada regime. ICT became the weapon of choice of many Filipinos frustrated with Mr. Estrada’s kind of governance. By sending statements and by downloading materials through the Internet, by sending millions of text messages, Filipinos all over the world were linked together and were able to topple another president in what was dubbed as the ‘multimedia revolution’. If this bill will be enacted into a law, we may never have the chance to use the power of Internet again to air our grievances.
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Bantay ICT is composed of communication rights advocates and internet activists in the Philippines. Bantay ICT supports the campaign of Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) www.crisinfo.org |
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