IT Law Journal

Administrator November 15th, 2006

The IT Law Journal

Volume 2, Number 1: It is not uncommon that certain individuals relate Information Technology to be within the exclusive domain of computers. It is neither uncommon that certain individuals would shirk from the alleged complexities of computers and their systems while at the same time awed and excited by the new PDA features present in their mobile phones. The sign that there is reduced distinction between computers and mobile phones, in fact, manifested itself years ago by the notification in the system tray icons in mobile computers communicating with old infrared-equipped mobile phones, i.e. a message balloon indicating “Computer found” and followed with the mobile phone model. With computer technology being extensively adopted into mobile phones, and mobile phone technology being incorporated into computers, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), it would appear that future distinctions between devices might be limited to a contrast of size, and network linkage. Further, the legal issues attendant to said devices are similarly and increasingly becoming common. This is clear in the banner story entitled “Incriminating Text” by Mary Ann Ll. Reyes, the Journal’s new Editor-in-Chief. She also wrote the articles “VOIP: To regulate or not to regulate,” “Gambling through SMS,” and “Globe Telecom vs. NTC,” in this issue. Her profile is available at the Society’s article “IT Law Journal welcomes new Editor-in-Chief.”

This issue also highlights the relevance of technology vis-a-vis the Philippine government’s thrusts, especially those of the judiciary. Justice Vitug’s speech entitled “The Legal Profession in the Digital Age” is reproduced herein. The efforts of the Supreme Court (SC)’s Management Information System Office (MISO), led by Atty. Ivan Uy, are described in Ma. Cristina A. Ramos’ article “SC E-Library: Delivering Vital Legal Information Online” as well as in the reproduction of the Court’s Annual Report articles “Computerization of Courts” and “Modernization of the Courts.” An overview of “Computer Forensics,” relating evidence and the processes employed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), is provided by Jhonelle S. Estrada’s article. The website of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is featured in the LegalWeb section of the Journal, which is now regularly handled by Ms. Ramos.

An overview on the legal consequences of e-mails is found in the article of Atty. Jaime N. Soriano, the e-Law Center’s director and the Society’s moderator, entitled “Legal Minutiae on E-Mails”; while the attitude towards Peer-to-Peer technology is described in “P2P: Pirate to Pirate towards actual Peer-to-Peer,” and the Intellectual Property case against P2P software manufacturers was outlined by Ms. Estrada in “Metro-Goldyn-Mayer Studios Inc. vs. Grokster Ltd. and Sherman Networks Ltd.”

This issue’s featured article is entitled “A descriptive study on Cybersex, Audio-Visual Sex Scandals, and Child Pronography: Prosecution under existing Philippine Laws, and Other proposals as a framework for future legislation,” a paper submitted by Ailyn L. Cortez, Carlyn Marie Bernadette O. Guerrero, and Reynaldo M. Pijo in their Advance Legal Writing class. The topic was chosen and the article was written in light of the dismissal of the asianbabe.com case in Pampanga (a cybersex den case) due to alleged lack of laws to prosecute; the continuing proliferation of sex videos of certain celebrities, if not, unsuspecting females; and the increase in the number of adult websites featuring roughly 18 Filipino teens.

With the release of this first issue of Volume 2 of the Journal, and for your continuing support; I, in behalf of the officers and members of the Society, and in the same jovial spirit manifested in the Lager Night sponsored by the Society last February, wish you “Salud.”

- Michael Vernon Guerrero, President, IT Law Society

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Volume 1, Number 2: The e-Law Center would like to publicly express its deepest appreciation to the Arellano University School of Law and the Arellano Law Foundation, particularly to Dean Mariano Magsalin Jr. and Mr. Florentino Cayco III, for their unwavering commitment to make the law school at the forefront of cyber law education, research, advocacy in the country.

With their continuing support, the e-Law Center was able to cause the publication of this IT Law Journal, now on its second issue. In my capacity as Executive Director of the Center, I was also fortunate to participate in the 2004 Internet Law Program of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society of the Harvard Law School last May 2004. The website www.lawphil.net is fast becoming the leading repository of on-line legal resources and jurisprudence in the country.

On a personal note, I also wish to commend the dedication and invaluable contributions of Arellano law students who compose the IT Law Society headed by Michael Vernon M. Guerrero. I recognize that their task of helping the Center in the realization of its vision and various activities entails a lot of personal sacrifice considering the fact that almost all of them are working students, not to mention the rigors of their law studies.

Very few people in our country realize how global developments in information technology have sharply increased during the last decade. The observation that information technology would affect the way people live is a certainty, and not a mere fallacious statement. As the demand for information technology increases, the need to address related legal concerns and issues also grow in the same proportion. Hence, there is no iota of doubt that the vision set by the law school in 1997 to produce technology oriented lawyers and professors appropriately responds to global trends. Expect the e-Law Center to be at the forefront in the realization of this vision.

In this issue, the banner story is the electronic court (e-Court) project initiated by Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in cooperation with Supreme Court Administrator Presbitero Velasco Jr. and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay. The issue also carries an article on cyberterrorism, or as the author puts it: “Web as a Means of Destruction” (WMD). The recent decision of the US Supreme Court in the case of “Ashcroft vs. ACLU” on the constitutionality of the Child On Line Protection Act (COPA) is also discussed in this journal. The case presented a constitutional clash between the government’s right to regulate Internet content and the right of the people to free speech. For the legal web section, this issue features the website of the Philippine Supreme Court, accessible at www.supremecourt.gov.ph.

- Atty. Jaime N. Soriano, CPA, MNSA, Director, e-Law Center, Arellano University School of Law

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Volume 1, Number 1: Three years ago, on the occasion of the centenary celebration of the Philippine Supreme Court, Arellano University School of Law was invited to co-sponsor the law and technology lecture. In the response I delivered for the school, I announced to the distinguished members of the Highest Court and their guests that as far back as 1997, the school had already anticipated the need to develop globally-oriented lawyers and professors. This can be gleaned from the school’s vision statement drafted on th same year where we saw ourselves as a globally competitive institution that harnesses world-class, state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies, responsive and attuned to the demands of the times.

In 1999, true to our vision, we opened an Information Technology Center (ITC) to handle all of the school’s computer requirements. On the same year, we set up at least 30 computer stations with Internet access for the exclusive use of law students. Lawphil was developed and introduced on the web in the year 2000 and has become the country’s most visited legal research website. The Arellano Law and Policy Review (ALPR), a journal featuring mainly articles on international law and policy developments, was published starting 2001 to which the law libraries of Yale and Harvard are now subscribers. An Institute of Special Studies (ISS) was opened to engage in research and encourage discussion in the field of international law, particularly international trade law. It holds monthly brown bag lectures mostly on the burning local and international legal issues of the day.

In 2001, the ISS worked with the International Trade Centre, a technical cooperation agency of the UNCTAD and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in authoring a handbook entitled “Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution,” now considered by many Philippine law schools as the most authoritative on the subject. Changes in the curriculum were made in the year 2000. Among them were the introduction of courses like Alternative Dispute Resolution, Environmental Law, International Trade Law, Project Finance, CorporateFinance, Telecommunications Law, Technology and the Law, and Human Rights to address the globalization of both Commercial Law and Public Interest Law.

With the establishment in 2003 of AUSL’s Center for e-Law, it is clear that the school is ready to meet the challenges posed by the advent of the digital age. The formation of an IT Law Society with members composed of technologically proficient law students is a most welcome development that will set the school apart from even the so-called elite law institutions.

I congratulate the movers behind the Center for E-Law and the IT Law Society for the work they have been doing, and in particular for coming out with an ambitious project like the IT Law Journal. May your tribe increase and may you indeed be at the forefront of law and technology concerns in the country and beyond.

- Dean Mariano Magsalin Jr., Arellano University School of Law

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