Facebook Likes Could Lead to Jail Time Under New Philippine Law

Ooooh, my people are not going to like this.

According to Mashable.com, web users in the Philippines are currently up in arms over a new law that can send them to jail for engaging in ‘malicious’ activity online.

The Cybercrime Preventino Act of 2012 will criminalize everything from identity theft, hacking, spamming, file-sharing and online trafficking. There’s a slight problem though that may choke free speech because a few provisions were changed that should’ve been standard law.

The last-minute addition prohibits online libel that is committed through a computer system which causes a lot of problems because it allows for a wide range of online activity to be libel. In turn, it gives the government unprcedented control of the internet.

Not cool.

The punishment for libel will also not be limited to the source but will include everyone that shares and jumps into the content. Literally, tweets, status updates, photos, videos are all under this law and could be posed as libel. Users who don’t comply face prison time of up to 12 years and penalties up to $1M pesos.

The Supreme Court of the Philippines failed to issue a temporary restraining order for the law, which will be effective immediately.

This is moving backwards. I do not agree!