ITS HOW YOU ACCEPT IT.

1) A man was “arrested/invited/questioned” for violating a non-existent law. A search warrant was produced for said man, based on said non-existent law.

2) The said man’s private property was confiscated, on the grounds that he is a “suspect” engaged in “criminal” activities of “sexual” nature, albeit the “crime” was supposedly committed online.

3) How can a “crime” exist when no law defines it as such? I cannot say it is illegal to enter another man’s home unless the trespassing law exists. With regards to the issue at hand – IF the said man was engaged in hosting and distributing pornography through the internet, why should be arrested + investigated + his private property be confiscated when he has not broken any laws? (Please bear in mind that his belongings have not yet been returned, nor is there a guarantee that IF they are returned, they would still be in working order).

4) In fact, shouldn’t said man be able to sue the government of the Philippines for trespassing, kidnapping, robbery, libel, and slander? Legally speaking, since he has broken no crime, the very basis for the search warrant is null and void (this is of course, assuming that the basis for the search warrant was peddling pornography online), which makes the entire situation a series of illegal acts on the part of the Philippine Government!

5) Isn’t it amusing that by using an example/scapegoat, the bill being pushed by the senator in question suddenly became a priority?

In the end, I shall say this:
I am not defending Mr. Verzo, far from it. In fact, I can sympathize with the many parents out there who would like to see legislation enacted with regards to apparent ease of access with regards to online smut. I know how they feel, I have a daughter who I love and try to protect as best I can.

HOWEVER.

I am a firm believer in the line of thought which says: “If you cannot be responsible, don’t blame the product of your irresponsibility on others.”

There are hundreds of 3rd party software available which does exactly what parents need for their impressionable children – they filter out content unsuitable for minors. Most modern internet browsers even have them installed on default.

The issue I have with this whole mess is the fact that we have a small group of people (who do not have enough knowledge of how the I.T. industry works) that are trying to regulate it as how they see fit. Could you imagine the repercussions if this is simply ignored? It is tantamount to having Fire safety laws drafted by people who do not even know that gasoline fire can be put out by (wet) sand.

It will be a big and ugly mess of haphazard legislature. Imagine if the law that Sen. Legarda had drafted requires ISP’s to filter out smut content? Again, with no real defintion of “smut”, that leaves an incredibly disturbing grey area – so who defines what is “smut”? The government? The ISP? The judiciary? A committee?

Tsk.

Maybe the blogging community should start voicing out? Maybe along the lines of: “We are intelligent adults, and any regulation that requires the filtering and censorship of information should be first carefully studied, debated, and discussed.”

Amen? Amen.

even if there was a law regarding his site in the Philippines, it should only apply to locally hosted sites.

Thats why there are servers that’s located in some countries thats allows porn, gambling, and warez to be hosted.

i wonder which site is next?
iyottube.com
uploads.ph
pinoyspy.net
what else?

Egg-saktimo. Bottom line is somebody got pissed and started to bully somebody! That wasn’t very presidential, ai’nt it?

Well, let’s see what happens next if HER intent was truly pornography regulation!

Who is next? and When?

1) They always think the Philippines is 99.99% corrupt and so:
2) We have “useless” laws, that are:
3) Not implemented by the authorities.
4) We are on a democratic country, and
5) We have laws about Freedom-of-Speech and Human Rights.

Been telling as many people as I can that these kind of mindset is wrong and if they don’t lie low, they are only inviting the people with connections, power, and money, including the Law itself to their doorsteps, no, lives.

This incident is one example.
I wasn’t even surprised with another incident where a home torrenter was arrested a year ago. It wasn’t on the news because the torrenter got connections.

So I agree with what was posted especially:

Yes, we can always claim freedom of expression and the lack of provisions in the penal code for such internet activities, still we can’t avoid the fact that bullying is one trick people in high places have mastered over the years.

So, who’s next?

All I can say is this: This incident simply gave the “group of people” more evidence why Bloggers should be controlled in this country. The fight is becoming even harder.

Seriously, bloggers should start gathering together to discuss this matter. Blog-censoring like it is in our neighboring countries is just around-the-corner.

Btw, you forgot to include one important tip: Change your writing style and choice of words.

Gratuitous offensiveness is counterproductive. But firm defiance is called for here. Yuga is partly right that we shouldn’t be insulting or taunting… I think there’s a place for being insulting or challenging to politicians like Loren. But only if some good can come out of it, if this can kickstart a productive dialogue about “obscenity” in society. If you’re just insulting her to feed your ego, no thanks.

I agree with you!!!

In my case, somebody is trying to taunt me by posting a comment and leaving the senator’s signature and i know that the senator won’t even spend time in my blog. Someone is out there to taunt!

http://reynaelena.com/2007/09/10/loren-legarda-is-that-you/

” Don’t insult or taunt Loren, or anyone with political power, authority, clout or influence for that matter.”

I guess this won’t be heard by bloggers with balls and backbones, IMO.

I am pissed at those wannabe ANGELS!

As Cat has already explained here, a mugshot is highly irregular if you’re just there “by invitation”. Maybe we should get more lawyers’ opinions on this before we rashly conclude that fingerprinting and mugshots are SOP for those who are invited for questioning.

Even before the internet, the tabloids conquer the porn world.

It’s flaunted on the streets where all walkersby feast on it in the form of pirated DVDs and VCDs.

The internet is out of control. The streets should be the ones controlled…but the government cannot do what needs to be done. VRB is weak. The local government is weak. One time I saw the VRB group raided a streetful of pirated discs…but what happened? Did they solve the problem? No! The next day, it’s just like the previous day, only, VRB is somewhere else…THERE SHOULD BE VRB IN EVERY LOCALITY TO MAKE THIS WORK.

As for the internet, no one can stop it! The poison is there but every responsible person will not take that poison! The family, the parents, should be the responsible ones KEEPING THE POISON AWAY FROM CHILDREN!

IF NO ONE WILL ENTERTAIN porn sites, will it stay? THE FACT IS A HEFTY LOT DO WANT THOSE PORN SITES!

ANOTHER FACT IS the accused and the accuser are getting free airwaves…but it is the aspiring president of the Philippines is riding on the popularity of the other.

Both of them are wrong. But what are we going to do about it?

If she concentrated on making the Meralco PPA lower, perhaps she would be President.

That’s what I think.

here’s the link: http://www.basapa.com/a-duck-by-any-other-name/

I think MUG SHOT equals ARREST. Can you check your legal binders?

I like the duck explanation better!

Go to megamall, 4th floor, maraming smut doon. Painted pictures of totally nude women, maski bata pwedeng tumingin. Fifty years ago, a Filipino writer was put in jail because she wrote about a lewd act in her short story. It wasn’t even that graphic. Until now, there was no court decision to reverse that.

My point is, the arrest was dictated by a Senator who got pissed. As for values and immoral conduct and obscenity. I’ll have you know, it takes a priest and a high-ranking public official to dictate what is obscene. Ikaw, ako, si Abe, lahat tayo di pwedeng mag paaresto nang taong bastos, maski obvious na bastos pa sya.

At Pp3 inulit ulit mo lang ang argument at hindi mo naintindihan ang argument ko. Tagalugin ko na lang: Loren is a responsible Senator and has to act responsibly and not confuse complicated issues like Internet porn. Hell, she’s supposed to champion cyber laws in congress. When she had Verzo arrested, she wasn’t acting responsibly, and she confused issues. It’s even been made more confusing by the NBI who “arrested” “invited” Verzo when Verzo wasn’t supposed to be “arrested” or “invited.” May bagong law din dapat dito sa mga invitation-invitation na to. Dapat may lawyer talaga even if you just accepted the invitation at walang arrest. (I don’t understand why Verzo’s mother let the NBI take her son.) Wala ngang arrest eh, ba’t ka sasama?

Laws regarding Internet publications have yet to be pushed to Congress (for example, eh kung may welcome page naman ang adult site). Law regarding obscenity have yet to be clarified (we are a Catholic nation and hence everything that is immoral and obscene to Catholics is illegal. Tama ba to sa inyo?). Article 201 is a stupid law. Ginagamit lang yan nang mga pulitiko at mga nanghihingi nang “tong.”

Lastyly “But at the end of the day, a woman is violated.”

Maybe you should watch more porn as you are confused. If you’ve ever seen prostitutes begging a foreigners to pay them for sex, you wouldn’t say that a woman is violated in prostitution or in porn. I don’t know if you’re a woman Op3 but don’t ever presume to speak for all women.