Randy Filipino Internet users, beware: it’s now illegal to engage in “cybersex.” And that doesn’t just mean sending your sweetheart some suggestive pictures. It apparently outlaws cam models and uploading porn, too.
As part of a sweeping, controversial new law called the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, cybersex—defined as the “lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system, for favor or consideration”—is now a crime.
Anyone found guilty of such behavior faces a fine of up to to a million pesos (U.S. $24,018), and an unspecified amount of prison time. “It does outlaw porn online,” Raissa Robles, the South China Morning Post’s Manila correspondent, told the Daily Dot via Twitter. “Some netizens here r concerned even sending each other explicit pics could violate law.”
Only one senator, Teofisto Guingona III, voted against the bill in January, and wrote on Facebook that the cybersex provision “legislates morality.”
| Image courtesy of hknet.org.nz |
Here's what the law says:
CHAPTER II SEC. 4. Cybercrime Offenses. — The following acts constitute the offense of cybercrime punishable under this Act:
(c) Content-related Offenses:
(1) Cybersex. — The willful 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.
I consulted a lawyer and he said that the term " for favor or consideration" in this context means payment or compensation.
I am not selling anything on my blog so I am hoping I am not doing anything illegal. But then again, the law isn't exactly clear on this.
Hypocrisy is popular in this country.