PIFA CyberCriminals pose for mugshots during the Black Tuesday 2.0 demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court on October 9, 2012. (Feel free to use this photo, but please credit Irish Flores.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PIFA lauds SC for TRO vs Cyber Martial Law

The Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance (PIFA) lauds the Supreme Court for heeding the people’s call to temporarily restrain the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 10175. It signals that the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno will remain independent and attuned to the sentiments of the Filipino people. We ask the Supreme Court to uphold our basic human rights, including Internet freedom, by ruling with finality that RA 10175 is unconstitutional.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PIFA Files 15th Petition vs. Cyber Martial Law

The Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance (PIFA) – a broad alliance of organizations and netizens – has filed before the Supreme Court on Monday (October 8, 2012), just a few minutes before the end of office hours, the fifteenth petition against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, Republic Act 10175.

Petitioners asked the high court to issue a “Status Quo Ante Order and/or writ of preliminary injunction” to make government “observe the status quo prevailing before the enactment and effectivity of the Cybercrime Prevention Act.”

PIFA claims that its members have “legal standing to sue” because of the “chilling effect” that impacted on their online activities beginning October 3 – when RA 10175 took effect – subjecting netizens to “unwarranted electronic surveillance” by the Philippine government 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Section 12 of RA 10175 provides for “real-time collection of traffic data” which, the petition explains, “refers to [the collection of] ‘any computer data other than the content of the communication, including, but not limited to, the communication’s origin, destination, route, time, date, size, duration, or type of underlying service.’ …[which] includes information on the identity of the person sending or receiving computer data.”
Continue reading →

The Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance (PIFA) started in a facebook page as a broad coalition of individuals and organizations seeking to amend / remove the provisions which threaten Internet Freedom in Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. In the long-term, it aims to be the bastion of this freedom.

Please read our unity statement and decide if you want to be a member of the Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance by signing here or the form below the cut. (Email address will not be shown but will be used to communicate with you)
Continue reading →

If you run a website, please consider joining us in a website blackout protest/awareness raising for the cybercrime law. To join, you simply need to attach the following script to your website. The script will start blacking out your website from October 2 onwards. Your website visitors will be shown a blackout splash page with a link to this website and a link that will dismiss the blackout.

Using the default script, visitors will get a cookie to remove the blackout after they’ve clicked through. The blackout will return after a day to remind your visitors about the Cybercrime bill. If you want a different behavior, feel free to modify the scripts or request for it on the comments.

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pifa.ph/blackout/call-to-action-min.js"></script>

If your site is already using jQuery, you can remove the line that includes jQuery. If you are able to, it would help our hosting if you can host the script in your own server. You may download various versions of the script, depending on your needs:

• http://pifa.ph/blackout/call-to-action-min.js (2 KB) Compressed javascript, remembers when a visitor has seen the blackout. (recommended)
• http://pifa.ph/blackout/call-to-action.js
  (2.81 KB) – Original source code version, uncompressed. Remembers when a site visitor has seen the blackout.
• http://pifa.ph/blackout/call-to-action-always-show.js (2.91 KB) A version of the script that will always show the blackout whenever the user visits a page on your website (not recommended).
• http://pifa.ph/blackout/call-to-action-always-show-min.js (2.08 KB) Compressed javascript that always shows the blackout (not recommended).

Users of social media sites can also take part in the online protest by changing their profile pictures or posting cybercrime protest images.

Update:

For Blogger.com blogs, this script will only work on a simple layout. Edit your layout and add a new HTML/Javascript gadget to your blog. The following code will add the script and a button linking to the PIFA website:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pifa.ph/blackout/call-to-action-min.js"></script>
<a href="http://pifa.ph"><img src="http://pifa.ph/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/pifa-web-button.png" /></a>

For Tumblr, this may only work with certain layouts. Edit your layout, open your description textbox and paste the default code into your description.

One of the ways you can raise awareness about the harm the cybercrime law poses to freedom of speech on the internet is to change your profile image in protest. We also have images for your Facebook profile cover image and a header image for you twitter account. Spread the word, fight for freedom of speech on the internet. If you run a website, you may also want to take part in the website blackout protest.

Good morning! This is the official site of the newly formed Philippine Internet Freedom  Alliance (PIFA). We were previously Filipino Internet Freedom Alliance (FIFA), until some football fans suggested that we change the name to avoid confusion.

This website will soon be full of news, updates, and commentary on the Cybercrime Prevention Act, or as we call it, the Cyber Martial Law. We’ll post invites to events, press statements, media releases, and other official communication. This will also serve as a portal to links and resources all over the web.

While we’re still working on these and more, please join our Facebook group and discuss relevant topics on Twitter with the hashtag #pifaPH

Lastly, stay tuned for our invite to a demonstration that will happen Tomorrow, October 2, at 10 am near the Supreme Court. Details will follow shortly.

Thanks!