Google boss sees autocrats’ pushback against Internet

Life in authoritarian states is likely to get tougher before it gets better as their citizens gain more access to the Internet, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt said Friday.

Life in authoritarian states is likely to get tougher before it gets better as their citizens gain more access to the Internet, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt said Friday.

Several government websites, including that of the National Food Authority, were defaced early Monday by the “hacktivist” group Anonymous Philippines, drawing attention to the cybercrime law.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima vowed on Monday to protect constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms should the Supreme Court uphold the anti-cybercrime law.

The 120-day temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Supreme Court against the Cybercrime Prevention Act was a “temporary setback,” Malacañang said Wednesday.

The jubilant crowd mostly in black shouted, “Yes! Yehey!”

“The first victory of the people and of freedom of expression.” That was how Sen. Teofisto Guingona III described the Supreme Court’s issuance Tuesday of a temporary restraining order (TRO) suspending implementation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act for 120 days while the high tribunal decides whether the law violates civil liberties.

President Benigno Aquino III on Friday defended a new cybercrime law amid a storm of protests from defenders of freedom of expression and opponents of libel as a criminal offense.

Like the biblical Noah who rode out the Great Flood, this Noah also emerged unscathed.

Threats to hack web sites of government agencies by a group with an international affiliation have become a matter of national security, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) lead agent assigned to the probe.

Just one click and a libelous content goes global.

The National Bureau of Investigation is investigating members of Anonymous Philippines, a group that has claimed on its Facebook account that it hacked the website of the NBI and those of other agencies.

Faced with escalating street and online protests as well as hacking of websites, President Benigno Aquino on Wednesday assured the public that no civil liberties would be suppressed under the cybercrime law even as he sought a dialogue with all stakeholders.

More groups have asked the Supreme Court to nullify the new Cybercrime Prevention Act.