SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE PHILIPPINES:CYBER CRIMES

Statistics, Uses, and Policies

PCMS Arvin Kinanahan Cornejo, R.Crim.; M.P.A.

Chief Clerk, Provincial Learning Doctrines and Development Branch
Laguna Police Provincial Office
SOCIAL MEDIA
Statistics
SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS

Philippines “The Social Networking Capital of the World”

Total Population (2014 Est.) : 105, 720, 664

49% Urban 51% Rural

36% 35%
Internet Penetration Social Media
Penetration
SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS

Negative Uses of Social Media

1. Cyberbullying
2. Spread of Unreliable and False Information
3. Invasion of privacy
4. Online crimes
5. Vulnerability to security attacks
SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS

32%
Facebook
Penetration

62%
Mobile users
4Hours 1Min using social
media apps
Ave. time social
media users spend
on social media
each day
SOCIAL MEDIA
Uses
SOCIAL MEDIA USES

How Filipinos Use Social Media

74%
To stay in touch with friends
and family
70%
To meet new people
65%
To have fun

63%
To share new experiences

62%
To keep
company
SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS

Social Media as a Tool for Governance

1. Provides easy publication and information dissemination to

the citizens
2. Allows citizens easy access to government services and go
vernment officials
3. Saves time and money
4. Opens up new ways of working and collaboration
5. Can be used as a form of election campaign material
and aid in criminal investigations
POLICIES
Regulations
POLICIES / REGULATIONS

RA 10175 or Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

The cybercrime law regulates acts committed online, including

provisions on the prevention of cybersex, online child pornography,
identity theft and spamming. It also covers provisions for online libel
and gives officials powers to search and obtain data from online users
accounts.

Cyberbullying
Republic Act No. 10627 or the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013
POLICIES / REGULATIONS

Censorship and Free Speech

Censorship is partly addressed in RA 9775 or the Anti-Child
Pornography Act and the Cybercrime Law. Provisions on the freed
om of speech is covered in the Constitution Section 4 stating that:

“No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of e

xpression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble and petition the govt for redress of grievances.”
INTRODUCTION TO CYBER CRIME

The first recorded cyber crime took place in the year 1820! That is
not surprising considering the fact that the abacus, which is thought
to be the earliest form of a computer, has been around since 3500
B.C. in India, Japan and China. The era of modern computers,
however, began with the analytical engine of Charles Babbage.
Cyber crime is an evil having its origin in the growing dependence on computers in
modern life. In a day and age when everything from microwave ovens and
refrigerators to nuclear power plants is being run on computers, cyber crime has
assumed rather sinister implications. Major cyber crimes in the recent past include
the Citibank rip off. US $ 10 million were fraudulently transferred out of the
bank and into a bank account in Switzerland. A Russian hacker group led by
Vladimir Kevin, a renowned hacker, perpetrated the attack. The group
compromised the bank's security systems. Vladimir was allegedly using his
office computer at AO Saturn, a computer firm in St. Petersburg, Russia, to
break into Citibank computers. He was finally arrested on Heathrow airport on
his way to Switzerland
CYBER CRIME

Defining cyber crimes, as "acts that are punishable by the Information

Technology Act" would be unsuitable as the Indian Penal Code also covers
many cyber crimes, such as email spoofing and cyber defamation,
sending threatening emails etc. A simple yet sturdy definition of cyber
crime would be "unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a
target or both".
Let us examine the acts wherein the computer is a tool for an unlawful act.
This kind of activity usually involves a modification of a conventional crime
by using computers. Some examples are:

Email Spoofing
 A spoofed email is one that appears to originate from one source but actually has been sent
from another source. E.g. Pooja has an e-mail address pooja@asianlaws.org. Her enemy,
Sameer spoofs her e-mail and sends obscene messages to all her acquaintances. Since the e-
mails appear to have originated from Pooja, her friends could take offense and relationships
could be spoiled for life.

 can also cause monetary damage

FORGERY

Counterfeit currency notes, postage and revenue stamps,

mark sheets etc can be forged using sophisticated
computers, printers and scanners. Outside many colleges,
one finds touts soliciting the sale of fake mark sheets or
even certificates. These are made using computers, and
high quality scanners and printers. In fact, this has
becoming a booming business involving thousands of
Rupees being given to student gangs in exchange for these
bogus but authentic looking certificates.
CYBER DEFAMATION

This occurs when defamation takes place with the

help of computers and / or the Internet. E.g.
someone publishes defamatory matter about
someone on a website or sends e-mails containing
defamatory information to all of that person's
friends.
CYBER STALKING

The Oxford dictionary defines stalking as "pursuing

stealthily". Cyber stalking involves following a
person's movements across the Internet by posting
messages (sometimes threatening) on the bulletin
boards frequented by the victim, entering the chat-
rooms frequented by the victim, constantly
bombarding the victim with emails etc.
FREQUENTLY USED CYBER CRIMES

1. Unauthorized access to computer systems or

networks:

This activity is commonly referred to as hacking.

The Indian law has however given a different
connotation to the term hacking, so we will not use
the term "unauthorized access" interchangeably
with the term "hacking".
THEFT OF INFORMATION CONTAINED IN
ELECTRONIC FORM

This includes information stored in computer hard

disks, removable storage media
etc.
EMAIL BOMBING

Email bombing refers to sending a large number of

emails to the victim resulting in the victim's email
account (in case of an individual or mail servers (in
case of a company or an email service provider)
crashing.
“In one case, a foreigner who had been residing in Simla, India for almost
thirty years wanted to avail of a scheme introduced by the Simla Housing
Board to buy land at lower rates. When he made an application it was
rejected on the grounds that the 169 schemes was available only for
citizens of India. He decided to take his revenge. Consequently he sent
thousands of mails to the Simla Housing Board and repeatedly kept
sending e-mails till their servers crashed.”
CURRENT TRENDS ON CYBER CRIMES

Statistics show that from January to December 2016, the DOJ-OOC, National Bureau
of Investigation – Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD0, and Philippine National Police –
Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), received a total of three thousand nine hundred
and fifty-one (3,951) complaints for cybercrime and cyber-related offenses. This is
53.92% higher than the number of complaints received last year, which totaled to two
thousand five hundred and sixty-seven (2,567).
CORE CYBER CRIMES

Out of the total number of complaints filed for cybercrime and cyber-
related offenses in 2016, only three hundred twenty-two (322) pertains to
offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer
data and system under Section 4 (a) of the Cybercrime Law.
COMPUTER RELATED OFFENSES

Eight hundred thirty (830) complaints received by the relative law

enforcement agencies (LEAs) in 2016 pertain to computer-related
offenses under Section 4 (b) of the Cybercrime Law. This category
includes “E-mail Spoofing” and “Phishing”, which are considered as
computer-related forgery and computer-related fraud, respectively.
CONTENT RELATED OFFENSES

Under Section 4 (c) of the Cybercrime Law, cybersex, child pornography, and libel are categorized
as content-related offenses. In 2016, a total of six hundred forty (640) complaints were received by the
respective LEAs, with libel as the most complained about offense.
Treated separately, but under the same category, are the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children (NCMEC) Reports concerning Online Child Abuse and Sexual Exploitation
(OCASE), which were received by the DOJ-OOC in 2016.
CRIMES COMMITTED BY, THROUGH AND WITH THE USE
OF ICTs
Thank You and Good Day!