People power in cyberspace

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

The stirrings, and what could be described as murmurings of protest in cyberspace against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, have now escalated, and we are now seeing what could be another first in civil rights mass action.

After teaching the world People Power in 1986, when they drove away an entrenched dictator peacefully, it looks like Filipinos are now mounting an unprecedented spontaneous mass action in cyberspace. Where this will lead to, and how it will end, we do not know at this point. But woe to those who will underestimate the Pinoy determination to fight; he may smile through it all, he may even cry every so often, or seem passive, but as he has proven already, he will fight on to the end. We all know, no matter how long the fight was, the Pinoy always won.

As in EDSA, Pinoys are now spontaneously gathering in cyberspace, throwing ideas back and forth, picking up steam against the CPA of 2012. And what creative ways this protest has spawned! In Facebook yesterday, angry friends changed their profile photos with black squares, to give form to their protest on the day the law took effect. They also went to town coming out with ways to illustrate what they fear the law will do: block their messages and posts. There were blank posts, which carried this line in parenthesis: [Blocked by RA 10175]

As always, there was plenty of humor in the protest posts. There was a supposed poster of former senator Richard Gordon, his nickname blocked out for being obscene. There was also a poster with photos of Ninoy Aquino, saying “he sacrificed everything for the freedom of the Filipino”, and his son, President Noynoy Aquino, saying “he signed a law limiting the freedom of the Filipino.”

There’s also another with the iconic photo of Ninoy Aquino, with a copy which reads: “Mr. President, this man died to give Filipinos their voice.” Then below, is added: “Oh, wait! He’s your dad.”

There were plenty of posts saying the country’s jails do not have enough space to hold all cyber criminals who can be potentially convicted under the new law. Or those that bragged they won’t mind being called cyber criminals for the cause of freedom.

But I like that photo of cops crashing inside a room full of people, crying: Sino ang nag-like? Sino ang nag post? (Who clicked like? Who posted it?), apparently a take on how the law can convict innocent FB users, who happen to “like” controversial posts.

Malacañang, of course, continues to defend the law. It was vetted before it was presented to the President for signature, spokesman Abigail Valte declared. Another spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, keeps blabbering about freedom and responsibility. None of them has answered how the law will be implemented, given our third world resources.

I cannot understand why they couldn’t accept the fact that this was a sloppily-made law, and somebody in the Palace slipped and unnecessarily exposed the President to all these angry protestations. The Supreme Court, which has a new chief, and on which we now repose many of our hopes, has allowed the law to reach its effectivity date and did not issue the prayed-for Temporary Restraining Order.

This signals, of course, that there is a long way to go before this law is corrected. The Pinoy, steeped in the lessons of People Power, will stay the course.*

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