First Assignment

1.Why did you choose I.T. as your course? I chose I।T। as my course to be able to explore my knowledge in computer। I am also interested in communicating people through internet. I also wanted to know everything with regards to computer. 2।Why did you choose Academia de Davao College as your school?I chose Academia de Davao College as my school because I believed it is not the popularity of the school is important, the most important is you knew that this school can provide a quality education which we, students really looking for. 3.Salient Features of RA8792, The E-Commerce Law In E-Commerce on November 20, 2005 at 11:18 am In 1999, the Philippines Y2K Law was the first law crafted and deliberated online by the private sector. Republic Act 8792, signed into law last June 14, 2000, is a landmark law in the history of the Philippines. Not only has this bill made the country a legitimate player in the global marketplace. The Philippine Internet community has played a major role in pushing for its passage. The law took effect last June 19, 2000. With the Philippines relaxed stock market listing rules plus a proposed vibrant investment priorities program in place, Filipinos here and abroad and its foreign partners have something to look forward for. Here’s the salient feature of RA8792: • It gives legal recognition of electronic data messages, electronic documents, and electronic signatures. • Allows the formation of contracts in electronic form. • Makes banking transactions done through ATM switching networks absolute once consummated. • Parties are given the right to choose the type and level of security methods that suit their needs. • Provides the mandate for the electronic implementation of transport documents to facilitate carriage of goods. This includes documents such as, but not limited to, multi-modal, airport, road, rail, inland waterway, courier, post receipts, transport documents issued by freight forwarders, marine/ocean bill of lading, non-negotiable seaway bill, and charter party bill of lading. • Mandates the government to have the capability to do e-commerce within 2 years or before June 19, 2002. • Mandates RPWeb to be implemented. RPWeb is a strategy that intends to connect all government offices to the Internet and provide universal access to the general public. The Department of Transportation and Communications, National Telecommunications Commission, and National Computer Center will come up with policies and rules that shall lead to substantial reduction of costs of telecommunication and Internet facilities to ensure the implementation of RPWeb. • Made cable, broadcast, and wireless physical infrastructure within the activity of telecommunications. • Empowers the Department of Trade and Industry to supervise the development of e-commerce in the country. It can also come up with policies and regulations, when needed, to facilitate the growth of e-commerce. • Provided guidelines as to when a service provider can be liable. • Authorities and parties with the legal right can only gain access to electronic documents, electronic data messages, and electronic signatures. For confidentiality purposes, it shall not share or convey to any other person. • Hacking or cracking, refers to unauthorized access including the introduction of computer viruses, is punishable by a fine from 100 thousand to maximum commensurating to the damage. With imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years. • Piracy through the use of telecommunication networks, such as the Internet, that infringes intellectual property rights is punishable. The penalties are the same as hacking. • All existing laws such as the Consumer Act of the Philippines also applies to e-commerce transactions. Anyone who uses the Internet, computer, cellular phone, and other IT-enabled devices has the duty to know RA8792. As the old saying goes, “Ignorance of the law doesn’t excuse anyone? There were several hacking/cracking incidents that took place in the past five years. I am worried that these people behind the hacking attempts are completely ignoring RA8792 or The E-Commerce Law. In one of my public speaking engagements, I was asked how come there are still so many hacking attempts even now that we have a law. Is it unenforceable? I fear that as e-commerce takes off in the government and private sector, the moment we run to law enforcers in times of trouble, they will not be able to help us. The law enforcement agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police are continuously beefing up their skills. It is sad to note however that they have not received any form of funding for their training and cyber crime equipment. Whatever they have right now are donated by foreign governments in the form of training and equipment. Despite limited resources, the conviction of the first Filipino hacker under Republic Act 8792 puts high marks on our enforcement of the E-Commerce Law. The business community and Internet users must contribute and work with government to take action on this. It is not the Cybercrime bill that is important today, giving appropriate funding for cyber crime enforcement is, that will allow the creation of cybercrime helpdesks all over the country. In addition, it requires vigilance from the Internet community as well. If you know of someone that has made these hacking actions, report them. It is the duty of every Filipino to report these crimes. They can contact the Cyber Crime Anti Fraud Division of the National Bureau of Investigation at Taft Ave., Manila, phone number (632) 5254093 and look for Director Reynaldo Wycoco or Atty. Elfren Meneses, Jr. Those who became victims as well should report it and not just ignore it, change the site, and move on. If this is the attitude that site owners will show, unlawful actions such as this, regardless of best or worst intention, will never cease. The web hosting, Internet Service Provider, phone companies should extend their best cooperation as well to facilitate efficient investigation in this regard. More importantly, what the hackers should realize that just because they were not caught now, does not mean they are already off the hook. What they are only doing is accumulate offenses. One day, the hand of the law will reach them. Once that happens, all of these offenses can be combined into a one big case that can put them to jail longer than they think. Even if the owners of the sites that they were able to hack decide not to pursue a case against them, it does not mean they no longer have a liability. The hacking/cracking/piracy provision of the E-Commerce Law makes such acts as criminal offenses in nature, therefore what can only be waived, should the companies decide not to sue them, is the civil liability (monetary damages) and the criminal liability will still be pursued by the state. I hope that publications can play a role in sparking vigilance among Internet users of this country and the world against acts of hacking/cracking/piracy. The act of hacking should never be glamorized and even make these people who commits these acts as heroes. It may send a wrong signal that our younger Internet generation might misunderstand. These people are seeing that they’re getting the media mileage and attention that they long for and see it like a merit/badge of their hacking accomplishment. Being published, talked about, is I’m very sure, a big deal for some of these guys. I hope to see the computer publications as a medium in making the Internet users vigilant and not scared/wary of these hackers. Perhaps feature articles on how the NBI, ISPs, phone companies, National Security Council, handle these incidents. Hacking, cracking, piracy is a crime under RA8792. The iron hand of the law must be fully enforced or else this can propagate further and cause irreparable damage to the Philippine Internet industry as a whole. The increase number of hacking incidents these past few weeks is already alarming. Worst, these people seems to be enjoying it and not even bothered with the consequences. 4.Information ethics Is the field that investigates the ethical issues arising from the development and application of information technologies. It provides a critical framework for considering moral issues concerning informational privacy, moral agency (e.g. whether artificial agents may be moral), new environmental issues (especially how agents should one behave in the infosphere), problems arising from the life-cycle (creation, collection, recording, distribution, processing, etc.) of information (especially ownership and copyright, digital divide). Information Ethics is related to the fields of computer ethics [1] and the philosophy of information. Dilemmas regarding the life of information are becoming increasingly important in a society that is defined as "the information society". Information transmission and literacy are essential concerns in establishing an ethical foundation that promotes fair, equitable, and responsible practices. Information ethics broadly examines issues related to ownership, access, privacy, security, and community. Information technology affects fundamental rights involving copyright protection, intellectual freedom, accountability, and security. Professional codes offer a basis for making ethical decisions and applying ethical solutions to situations involving information provision and use which reflect an organization’s commitment to responsible information service. Evolving information formats and needs require continual reconsideration of ethical principles and how these codes are applied. Considerations regarding information ethics influence “personal decisions, professional practice, and public policy”[2]. Therefore, ethical analysis must provide a framework to take into consideration “many, diverse domains” (ibid.) regarding how information is distributed. The main, peer-reviewed, academic journal in information ethics is Ethics and Information Technology, published by Springer.