We beg to differ.
Yellowtard social media personality Mia Magdalena F. Longid is the most recent of a series of Opposition “online activists” to find themselves in hot water over an ill-thought-out post on the Net. Preceding her over just the last several weeks is a small (more like the tip of the proverbial iceberg) virtual Hall of Yellowtard…
(Official Statement of Mr. Wilfredo D. Keng on the final outcome of the Cybercrime of Libel criminal case filed against Reynaldo Santos, Jr., and Maria Angelita Ressa, of Rappler, Inc.) When I filed this private complaint more than three years ago, I knew that this was going to be a long and painful process for…
It’s a jungle out there, so goes the words of caution that we, our elders, and friends often throw out. Once we step outside our comfort zones, we soon realize – usually the hard way – that the world outside them is unforgiving, brutal, and not for the faint of heart. Whatever rules and conventions…
Read More “Here’s why it’s hard to feel sorry for ‘unmasked’ anonymous bloggers…” »
The Net is on fire in the Philippines over the “viral” spread of a personal video allegedly of Filipino showbiz celebrity Andrea Brillantes. Brillantes, star of the hit TV drama series Annaliza, is only 12 years old. But this fact does not seem to stop online perverts from downloading and sharing the video. As of…
Read More “Andrea Brillantes: Latest victim of social media’s dark underbelly” »
It used to be Nigerian email phishers and scammers. Now it is Filipino sextortionists. It is big business, described to be “industrial” in scale in a Washington Post report involving using fake social media accounts to get in touch with victims overseas (usually in affluent countries) and trick them into exposing themselves on Webcams. The…
Read More “Nigerian email scammers make way for Filipino online sextortionists!” »
GetRealPhilippines repeatedly points out the sensitivity of da Pinoy as something that is immature and something we should grow out of–and fast, for many reasons: Ego distorts our way of thinking–it helps Pinoys make excuses for bad behavior instead of correcting them. Ego shifts blame–it helps insists that it’s Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s fault that the Philippines…
Read More “Why is da Pinoy so easily butthurt? Is it an excuse?” »
Outrage in the citizenry continues erupting over the recent ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the online libel clause in Republic Act 10175, A.K.A. the Cybercrime Law. Due to the online libel clause not being declared unconstitutional, social media is abuzz with discussion that the end of “freedom of speech” and “freedom of expression” draws…
Read More “Online libel, freedom of information, and what Filipinos have done with their freedom” »
It is not surprising that Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III wholeheartedly supports criminal libel in the Philippines. Luis Teodoro, BusinessWorld columnist and former dean of the College of Mass Communications of the University of the Philippines, wrote in a 2003 article about how the spectre of harassment-by-libel emerged in the Philippine scene so…