The Philippine internet community is abuzz about RA 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The provisions criminalizing online libel make some people angry…
First of all, you’ll find Republic Act No. 10175 here:
http://www.gov.ph/2012/09/12/republic-act-no-10175/
Yes, a lot of people are talking about online libel. I wonder how many people are talking about the issue of spamming.
Please carefully read Chapter II: Punishable Acts
SEC. 4. Cybercrime Offenses. — The following acts constitute the offense of cybercrime punishable under this Act:
(c) Content-related Offenses:
(3) Unsolicited Commercial Communications. — The transmission of commercial electronic communication with the use of computer system which seek to advertise, sell, or offer for sale products and services are prohibited unless:
(i) There is prior affirmative consent from the recipient; or
(ii) The primary intent of the communication is for service and/or administrative announcements from the sender to its existing users, subscribers or customers; or
(iii) The following conditions are present:
(aa) The commercial electronic communication contains a simple, valid, and reliable way for the recipient to reject. receipt of further commercial electronic messages (opt-out) from the same source;
(bb) The commercial electronic communication does not purposely disguise the source of the electronic message; and
(cc) The commercial electronic communication does not purposely include misleading information in any part of the message in order to induce the recipients to read the message.
(emphasis mine)
Then read the following about random photo-tagging in Facebook:
- Random Facebook picture tagging is Spam — “The reason that people do this because when you are tagged in a photo it is posted to your news-feed, wall, my friends news feed and can even appear as one of the pics that appears in your personal photo strip. So basically, people are using your personal facebook page (and the existing relationship) as a means to get free advertising for their business.”
- Facebook Marketing Tactics: Photo Tag Spamming on the Rise — “Photo tag spamming, as it could be called, is a tactic by which marketers who have built large networks of Facebook friends proceed to “tag” their friends in photos in which they do not exist. Why? Here’s how it works…”
Do you like being photo-tagged in Facebook, even if you’re not even found in the photo?
