A 17-year-old girl may not get the help for now from authorities in her attempt to stop a 2-year-old sex video involving her that has gone viral on the Internet.
Assistant Justice Secretary Geronimo Sy on Tuesday said the girl, who was not identified, was the first complainant under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Sy mentioned the case during a forum on the controversial law held at the Landbank building in Manila.
And while he conceded the government for now could not do as much for her given that the law has yet to issue its implementing rules and regulations, efforts to help her case effectively was put on hold when the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the law’s implementation.
Sy said that the “least” the Department of Justice (DOJ) could do now was to provide “restorative justice” to the girl, such as giving her counseling and a change of residence.
Speaking to reporters, Sy said the girl sent an e-mail on her plea to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Oct.2. He said the department verified the e-mail and found it to be a “valid complaint.” He said the girl was 15 years old in the sex video.
“The least we can do for her is not to watch the video,” Sy also said.
Under the new law, the government can request the websites that hosted the sex video “to have due respect with the rights of the child.”
“She is a child after all,” he said.
Sy said that it was the Internet service providers and the telecommunication sector that could stop the showing of the video.
“The nature of cybercrime is, there is permanence in how data is being managed online, so it has limited what we can do,” he said.
Case vs ‘hacktivists’
But Sy also disclosed that there was a case filed against the offender in this case. He conceded that the complaint was a “test case” for the government under the new cyberlaw.
The National Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday also said the Supreme Court order would hamper efforts against attackers of at least 15 government websites.
Special investigator Joey Narciso of the NBI Computer Crimes Unit said that the suspended law had given the agency more powers to go against hackers.
“Because of the TRO, the privileges were lost and we have to go back to the traditional way of investigating cases,” Narciso said.
“We admit we are helpless without the Cybercrime Prevention Act,” he said. “The NBI has the talent but we are limited by provisions of the law and technology.”