E-courts
By attysy on Sep 4, 2007 in Cyber Room
E-courts pushed for cybercrimes
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DoJ) will push for the creation of at least three e-courts soon, the chairman of a newly created task force on cybercrime and cybersecurity told INQUIRER.net.
The e-courts will oversee all cases that deal with high-tech cases of hacking or crimes committed by using technology, State Prosecutor Geronimo Sy said in an interview.
Sy said the DoJ had previously designated him as chairman of the DoJ Task Force on e-government, cybersecurity and cybercrime.
He said the initial task of the task force is to build on the technical knowledge of government prosecutors and judges whose courtrooms will be designated e-courts.
The government prosecutor said there are now pending cases filed before Philippine courts that deal with cyber-stalking, Internet libel, computer forgery, text scams, and privacy issues.
There have been two convictions in the Philippines under Republic Act 8792, or the E-commerce Act of 2000.
Meanwhile, Sy said the task force will work closely with the Council of Europe, a private organization, to ratify the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime guidelines.
“We hope to align our domestic legislation with international norms and standards. Because of the nature of cybercrime, where it usually happens in one country and the offenders are in another country, there is a gap. And you cannot successfully protect the Internet,” Sy said.
The DoJ will hold an international conference soon in cooperation with the Council of Europe Experts.
Catanduanes Representative Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on information and communications technology, has already indicated his support for the international conference, Sy said.
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