Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

Republic Act No. 10175, also known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, was signed into law on 12 September 2012.

CYBERCRIMES ENUMERATED

Sections 4-8, inclusive, of RA 10175 penalizes with imprisonment or fine, offenses committed online, which are now referred to as "cybercrimes."

These cybercrimes include:

1. Illegal access - the unauthorized access to a computer system or application.

2. Illegal interception - the unauthorized interception of any non-public transmission of computer data to, from, or within a computer system.

3. Data interference - the unauthorized alteration, damaging, deletion or deterioration of computer data, electronic document, or electronic data message, and including the introduction or transmission of viruses. Authorized action can also be covered by this provision if the action of the person went beyond agreed score resulting in damages.

4. System interference - the unauthorized hindering or interference with the functioning of a computer or computer network by inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data or program, electronic document, or electronic data messages, and including the introduction or transmission of viruses. Authorized action can also be covered by this provision if the action of the person went beyond agreed scope resulting in damages.

5. Misuse of devices - the unauthorized use, possession, production, sale, procurement, importation, distribution, or otherwise making available, of devices, computer program designed or adapted for the purpose of committing any of the offenses stated in RA 10175, including an unauthorized use of a computer system is capable of being accessed with intent that it be used for the purpose of committing any of the offenses under the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

6. Cyber-squatting - the acquisition of domain name over the internet in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same.

7. Computer-related forgery - the unauthorized input, alteration, or deletion of computer data resulting in inauthentic data with the intent that it be considered or acted upon for legal purposes as if it were authentic, regardless whether or not the data is directly readable and intelligible; or the act of knowingly using the computer data which is the product of computer-related forgery for the purpose of perpetuating a fraudulent or dishonest design.

8. Computer-related fraud - the unauthorized input, alteration, or deletion of computer data or program or interference in the functioning of a computer system, causing damage thereby with fraudulent intent.

9. Computer-related identity theft - the unauthorized acquisition, use, misuse, transfer, possession, alteration or deletion of identifying information belonging to another, whether natural or juridical.

10. Cybersex - the will engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system, for favor or consideration.

11. Child pornography - the unlawful or prohibited acts defined and punishable by Republic Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, committed through a computer system.

12. Unsolicited commercial communications (spamming) - the transmission of commercial communication with the use of computer system which seek to advertise, sell, or offer for sale products and services are prohibited unless: (a) There is prior affirmative consent from the recipient; or (b) The primary intent of the communication is for service and/or administrative announcements from the sender to its existing users, subscribers or customers; or (c) The following conditions are present: (aa) The commercial electronic communication contains a simple, valid, and reliable way for the recipient to reject receipt of further commercial electronic messages (opt-out) from the same source; (bb) The commercial electronic communication does not purposely disguise the source of the electronic message; and (cc) The commercial electronic communication does not purposely include misleading information in any part of the message in order to induce the recipients to read the message.

13. Libel - the unlawful or prohibited acts of libel defined in Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future. (RA 10175 appears to have strengthened libel in terms of penalty provisions; the electronic counterpart of libel has been recognized since the year 2000 when the E-Commerce Law was enacted)

14. Aiding or abetting in the commission of cybercrime - any person who willfully abets or aids in the commission of any of the offenses enumerated in the Cybercrime Prevention Act shall be held liable.

15. Attempt in the commission of cybercrime - any person who willfully attempts to commit any of the offenses enumerated in the Cybercrime Prevention Act shall be held liable.

Crimes defined and penalized by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and special laws, if committed by, through and with the use of information and communications technologies shall be covered by the relevant provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention Act and shall be punished by one degree higher than the provided for by the Revised Penal Code or the special law.

CORPORATE LIABILITY

The law imposes the penalty of fine when any of the punishable acts defined in the Cybercrime Prevention Act are knowingly committed on behalf of or for the benefit of a juridical person, by a natural person acting either individually or as part of an organ of the juridical person, who has a leading position within, based on: (a) a power of representation of the juridical person provided the act committed falls within the scope of such authority; (b) an authority to take decisions on behalf of the juridical person, provided, that the act committed falls within the scope of such authority; or (c) an authority to exercise control within the juridical person.

A fine is like wise imposed when the commission of any of the punishable acts have been made possible due to lack of supervision or control.

NOTE

Although petitions have been files with the Supreme Court assailing certain provisions of the Cybercrime preventions Act as contravening the Philippine Constitution, it would be best to heed the provisions of the law until such time as the Court rules otherwise.


Reference:
Office of the Network Ombudsman

Non-Technological Innovations

Introducing something new to the organization can be called innovation whether it is technological or non-technological where the end result should generally be for its advantage, that is, beneficial for the growth of the company. Yet, an organization should strive to lead the technological as well as non-technological innovation, to set the standard through continuous research and development, because once a dominant design or service is established in the market by another company, it will be too late for a company to set a different industry standard based on its own product or service. Any organization, once it loses its “innovative being”, may be reduced to a mere follower and may have a hard time regain its market leadership where it has previously been.

We have witnessed this in the Nokia mobile phone where it misses the opportunity to maintain its leadership in the market. Nokia merely developed incremental innovations on their devices, perhaps enjoying its market leadership, until the arrival of the Apple iOS that introduced a much radical design, has changed the mobile phone game ever since. Thus, to be able to survive the intense competition with Apple and other players like Samsung in the handset business, Nokia announced their alliance with Microsoft last February 2011, a business restructure innovation, in order to produce a line of smartphones called Lumia running the Windows operating system. Nokia have to use this strategy to regain its leading position in the marketplace. Yet, the market pull for the Window-based handset is dismal and made a negative effect on the organization. Recently, Nokia has announced that they need to slash 10,000 jobs, or 19 percent of its workforce, and the shutdowns of research and development center in Ulm, Germany, and Burnaby, Canada, and a handset factory in Salo, Finland, in order to save at least €1.6 billion or Ph₱53 billion, by the end of 2013.

A change in the business process or management to reduce cost is an approach that could also be regarded as non-technological innovation as in the case of Nokia. Yet, management innovation does not only pertains to slashing of workforce and facilities or restructuring its business organizational process. It may also apply to new ways of managing people, creating incentives, measuring performance, creating positive cultures, hiring, and leadership. All of these are distinctly human, and less about technology. Companies are great not only because they are at the leading edge of technological innovation but also have the people skill, introducing non-technological innovation in the organization that would give importance in the workforce, making people happy.

Another innovation approach is to rely on complementary assets, such as name recognition, to increase market share. To mention some, “to Google” is almost synonymous with “to search something in the web”, Amazon on the other hand, for online retail, and Colgate for toothpaste. These companies thrived on their brand names in order to become leaders in their respective markets.

According to BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands in 2012, Google brand alone costs US$107,857 million, Amazon costs US$34,077 million, and Colgate costs US$14,948 million. The top 1 brand is Apple at US$182,951 million, followed by IBM at US$115,985 million and Google at third. These companies in the top 3 are all in the technology industry, yet McDonalds which is in the fast food business was able to make it at the top 4 at US$95,188 million.

For the past years, we have seen McDonalds introduced new ways in marketing such as updated regional slogans, as “I’m lovin‘ it” in the US while “Love ko ‘to” in the Philippines, and improved customer service not only in the expansion on their menu, which is a product development innovation, in response to changing consumer taste, but also the redesign of all its restaurants worldwide, another non-technological innovation approach, to carry the “Forever Young” brand. They reportedly invested US$1 billion to redesign nearly all of the 14,000 restaurants by 2015. McDonalds also has to rely on economies of scale, a distribution channel innovation, to reduce price which currently has 33,000+ locations worldwide.

These are some of the innovations that are non-technological, and as it seems, the benefits outweigh the negative result. Yet, some organizations may think otherwise as their application for non-technological innovations would vary depending on their company objectives.


References:

1 Management of Technology by Tarek Khalil, Chapter 5, Technology Life Cycles, Competition with Product and Process Innovation, p.89. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Copyright © 2000

2 The New York Times Business Day Technology, “Nokia to Cut 10,000 Jobs and Close 3 Facilities” by Kevin O’Brien, June 14, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/technology/nokia-to-cut-10000-jobs-and-close-3-facilities.html?pagewanted=all

3 Non-technological Innovation by Jon Radoff’s Internet Wonderland, http://radoff.com/blog/2011/02/24/nontechnological-innovation/

4 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2012, p. 34

5 McDonald’s, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's

One more thing...
Sometimes, a simple non-technological innovation may have bigger impact not only in the organization, but also in the environment. Take for example the color-coding of the garbage cans for trash segregations, simple yet has profound effect on the environment as well as disciplining ourselves. Yet, it would not end there, as I would personally want to lobby the Color-Coded Recycle Management System where the Recycle logo should be placed in all product labels or packaging in a color-coded format so that consumers would be able to easily identify on which color-coded garbage to dispose of their trash. The color-coded garbages would still have their usual labeled trash instructions for the sake of those who have color vision deficiency.

Recycle Black for Plastic-based products

Recycle Green for Paper and Carton-based products

Recycle Red for Bottles, Aluminum Cans, and Glasses

Recycle Yellow for medical related items such as gauze, plasters, etc.

World IPv6 Launch Today

For more information on IPv6, visit http://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/ and http://www.worldipv6launch.org/

Mother’s Day at Kindermusik

My wife Florence, an awesome mom to our 8-month old daughter Maggie, spent their first morning session at Kindermusik in Regalia Park Towers, near EDSA Cubao. Teacher Jeannie, who began the program in 2003 in the Philippines and also a recognized Kindermusik Maestro Award educator globally, has offered a summer program called Village Adventures. It is more like an introductory summer program for a 60-minute session each for six Sundays.

There were actually several sets of program depending on your child’s age. Like the Kindermusik Village Adventures that my daughter has attended yesterday, is offered for children from newborn to 1 1/2 years of age. As mentioned, it is a short summer camp program since the regular session is in a 15-week stretch. Other Kindermusik offerings are: Our Time for 1 1/2 to 3 years old; Imagine That for 3 to 5 years old; Kindermusik for the Young Child for 5 to 7 years old; ABC Music & Me, a Preschool Music Program for 2 to 6 years old; Sign & Sing, a sign language curriculum for hearing children 6 months to 3 years old; and Family Time, a music class for families with multiple children for ages newborn and up.

Kindermusic session where children and parents alike
participate in the activities

It was bonding and fun-filled moments for the participants who were also first-timers in the program. My wife, who is likewise a licensed Kindermusik educator, was the one who attended to our daughter most of the time. I assisted my wife from time to time especially on the sessions where I was the one who needed to carry and gently rock our baby daughter because of her weight. Like me, there were also dads who had participated and helped with their wives as well in the different activities. It was truly a wholesome experience.

Teacher Jeannie leading the children and parents
during the drum session

Maggie playing with her rattle

Into the plastic tunnel

    

Tucked with wireless microphone, teacher Jeannie, together with her two co-teachers in yellow-striped uniforms led the singing, while the CD containing songs and music exclusive for the Kindermusik Village Adventures session was playing at the background. The high-quality musical instruments such as rattles, shakers, and drums were also distributed accordingly depending on the programmed activity. The kids on the other hand, guided by their parents corresponded with the rhythm played from the CD through dancing, singing, and playing with the said musical instruments. Big plastic balls and tunnel were also introduced for the kids to play with. A multi-colored parachute-like with a diameter of around 12 to 15 feet, which is as large as the playing area were also introduced. The parents held the chute for awhile making gestures such as up and down and carousel-like movements as children played underneath. My daughter actually missed this activity when she got tired, hungry, and eventually fell asleep. Towards the end of the session, teacher Jeannie, held a hardcover book entitled Oh, What Busy Days! where she read and told the story. The take home materials include the said hardcover book, CD similar to the one they played in the session, musical shapes bell, and activities poster, for the parents to continue the activity with their kids at home.

Mother and daughter

Kindermusik which derived from a German phrase, Children’s Music was founded in the United States in 1978. Its framework is based from music and movement that uses high-quality digital recordings, instruments, and award-winning literature books along with traditional nursery rhymes, finger plays and songs to build a strong foundation not only in music education, but other areas of development, i.e. cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and language skills1.

When my wife and I played the CD at home, our daughter Maggie actually paused for awhile, eventually recalled the familiar music and perhaps remembered the activity that corresponds with the said music. From that very brief moment, we actually witnessed the effect in our daughter. We are looking forward for another Kindermusik session on Sunday which we think is worth investing in, that is beneficial for our daughter as well as for us parents.

For more information on Kindermusik classes and respective schedules near your area, you may check on Kindermusik Philippines and Kindermusik with Teacher Jeannie & Company.

Reference:
1 Kindermusic, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindermusik

One more thing...
To all the mothers and especially to my wife, Happy Mother's Day!

"The Miracle of Life nurtured by a woman who gave us love and sacrifice... MOTHER" 
- Joel Barquez

The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera, A Game Changer?

I got hold of the fact sheet through email from our supplier last Monday, 07 May, regarding the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera which was launched at The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) last April. I just wished that we could already try and test the unit ourselves, but the supplier told me that it would be available by July. That is the only time where we could make the actual tests for us to better decide if we will place it in our budget for next year’s purchase.

The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera

What struck me with the said unit are the price at PhP149,899 (body only) and the shooting resolution of 2.5K RAW at 2432 x 1366 pixels. Realistically, it is within the price range of the general HDSLR shooter particularly in the broadcasting industry where price oftentimes is the deciding factor.

Also, part of the package is the da Vinci Resolve software for color grading. Blackmagic Design’s grand plan is now unfolding as I remember when they had bought da Vinci Systems, creator of high-end color grading technology last 2009. That time, it was unimaginable for a creator of an SDI I/O card to acquire a color grading company. Well, it happened, and by eliminating the high service contract fees, the price of the da Vinci Resolve disrupted the early owners of the technology mainly in the post production industry. From the PhP1.5 million price tag, it went down to a fraction of PhP50,000 for the software only both for Mac OS and Windows platforms. I even overheard, that the Philippines become the da Vinci Resolve capital of the world after the said price drop, yet I have not seen any hard data to support such claim. True or not, it become ubiquitous to the new players in the production as well as post production industry in the Philippines. It leveled the playing field, as the cliché goes. With the da Vinci Resolve grading software that comes with a USB dongle which is part of the BMD Cinema Camera bundle, this is a real bargain that would definitely entice early adopters of the technology.

The 2.5K RAW at 2432 x 1366 pixels is the other wow factor. Yes, alright, there is the 4K resolution as what Canon has announced that it is developing the EOS C500 and EOS-1D C with price estimates at PhP1.3 Million and PhP650,000 respectively, capable of shooting up to 4096 x 2160 pixels. But for television broadcast, the 2.5K is more than enough, particularly in the color grading, where you will be provided a much larger range of alteration in the color spectrum. Sometimes, it is very frustrating to see the output of the 1080 HDs because of little room for color tweaks. The best that we could do is to grade it photoshop style, with a play in the brightness and contrast, a little amber here and there, add vignette for the overall old-fashioned look then topped with a cherry lens flare. It is from the “surface only” work without actually going deeper into every details of the shot.

Digital Video Resolutions

Comparing the BMD Cinema Camera at 2432 x 1366 pixels with the other digital video resolutions, obviously it has the edge over 2K which is only at 2048 x 1152 pixels, and other formats, i.e. the 1080 progressive at 1920 x 1080 pixels, the 720 progressive at 1280 x 720 pixels, the DVD NTSC at 720  x 480 pixels, and the VCD NTSC at 352 x 240 pixels.

According to Scott Anthony, author of The Innovator’s Guide to Growth, disruptive innovation is a particular type of innovation that occurs when an innovator brings to a market an innovation that is simple, convenient, accessible, and affordable. A game-changer. Sustaining innovations, in contrast, does not create new markets or value networks but only evolves the existing ones with better value, which is synonymous to incremental innovations.

I may say that, Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera would again disrupt the industry like what they did for the price of the color grading. Apply that to the same low cost pricing strategy for the Cinema Camera yet offering better resolution in contrast to the 1080 DSLRs, it would definitely be every producers dream of coming up high quality production in a shoestring budget.

Startup Weekend Manila 2012: An Insight

The result of the Startup Weekend Manila 2012 winners was already released from their blog: 

First prize: Kiddle

Second prize: RideFind

Third prize: TraqMe

Fourth prize: Sphere

Build-a-better-world prize: 1Share1Life

Best E-Commerce prize: SpinMeBuddy

Best Windows phone application: TraqMe

People’s Choice: MentorsDojo

I was not able to participate personally. My Startup Weekend was spent instead at St. Luke's Hospital due to nasal infection. Here I am, still in my room and due for an operation tomorrow morning. Even though I was not at the actual venue, I managed to watch the event from my laptop via livestream. I could feel the room filled with energy and passion, as well as fear among the presenters. By the way, this is not only happening in Manila but places like in Australia and Hawaii, having their Startup Weekend as well.

After watching, which ended up before midnight and seen the final results from their blog, here are my insights should you wish to participate in the next Startup Weekend.

   

Sensibility - You only have a weekend to create your app. Make sure that the team has the skill and the capacity to do the prototype and present it to the judges on the final day. This is more than lip service. Prototype would mean that it could be done without yet the investors' money at hand. An app that has no prototype because it needs gazillion pesos to make it work would only drive your investors away. Be realistic.

Simplicity - As the saying goes, less is more. The Draw Something app is a perfect example, but among the presenters from the Startup Weekend, my personal favorite is TraqMe. The concept is to track the location of your loved ones especially if you have kids, simply to be able to know where they are. 

   

Sociability - It should bring people together, not only through friendship but for a cause. The 1Share1Life app is a social media where people could help other people pertaining to medical needs. What a beautiful concept. An app that would involved a lot of people means marketability as well as bottom line for investors.

Congratulations to the winners as well as for those who had participated.

To the organizers, thank you and hope to see you for the next Startup Weekend this time.

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea." - Buddha

Pre-Startup Weekend Bootcamp

Organized by the Google Technology User Group (Manila GTUG) and Google Developers Group (GDG) held at the Meridian International Business, Arts & Technology College (MINT) in McKinley Hill, Taguig City last April 14, the Pre-Startup Weekend Bootcamp aims to prepare developers and technopreneurs with the needed skills before judgment day on April 27 to 29 Startup Weekend Manila.

The Bootcamp was participated by around 40+, mixed students and professional were mostly are app developers. I was surprised that there were few designers, only two actually, including myself who joined the bootcamp. I just wished that more would come on the actual Startup Weekend itself. There were various speakers, interesting topics like tips on giving a one-minute pitch, where the speaker presented helpful advices and provided a link in vimeo that serves as reference. For those who would wish to participate in the future, visit http://vimeo.com/164475203.

A talk on the one-minute pitch
by Jonathan Lansangan

Another speaker, Art Ilano on Anatomy of Sale, shared samples of various business models and success elements of the apps. In his presentation, he shared the case of the "Draw Something" mobile application, where in less than two months after its release, Zynga bought it for US$180 million. This is a very interesting case study actually, will do more extensive research on this and share it in this blog soon.

Speaker Art Ilano shared the "Draw Something" case
among the participants.

Alfred Gonzales on the other hand, showed his Pinoytuner app done in Google Chrome. The Pinoytuner app is a very simple concept yet has already captured broad Filipino audiences overseas, around 30,000 to date from its November 2011 launch. For those interested on how to build an app via Chrome, visit https://developers.google.com/chrome/web-store/docs/get_started_simple. 

Various tools that would help designers and developers build an app prototype in a short period of time were also presented, from paid applications i.e. UIStencils, Omnigraffle, Parse, Codiqa, Mockapp and Balsamiq as well as to open source ones like the Pencil Project, Bootstrap from Twitter, and Middleman.

Lunch time at the Apple Experience Center,
one of the rooms at MINT College.

Doing a head start 

Right after lunch, participants of the Startup Weekend Manila were called in front to give their one-minute pitch try. There were few brave souls who did try including myself and the organizers gave their feedbacks and advices to help improve our pitches. It was really a different experience then. 

According to Charo Nuguid, one of the organizers, the objective of the Startup Weekend is to show an already working prototype among the venture capitalists and angel investors.

Amazed with the Google Chrome, HTML5, Startup Labs,
Google Developers, and Android cupcakes.

Google Chrome cupcakes

My favorite one, the Android cupcake

So, here is what we would expect during the course of the weekend, an American Idol like one-minute pitch on Friday night, build the prototype on Saturday until Sunday and present it to the judges which perhaps, includes the business plan already on the last day. It is going to be fun, or hell, I do not know, it is a competition of ideas, subject to interrogation by would-be investors. It is going to be a Sunday Bloody Sunday for sure.

To all my fellow participants, wish you all the luck.

For more information about the event, visit Startup Weekend Manila. For those who would wish to join, you may still register with a 20% discount according to the organizers.

One more thing...
Here is a very useful primer on design for startups by Wells Riley, check out Startups, this is how design works.