Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City :

18TH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. at

Introduced by Representative Michael L. Romero

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In the republic of the Philippines, there is a very intense
identity aggregation of products like Google and Facebook that is pushing
users towards anonymous services. Both of them are making headlines, each
promising an escape from the ruthless scrutiny of mainstream social networks.

While these services are great for providing a momentary distraction, they are
still doing nothing to address the core problem of online identity.

In the country today, there are very few situations where it is useful or even
desirable to be anonymous outside of explicitly anti-social or criminal
behavior. The standard examples of corporate leaks, personal confessions,
honest reviews, etc., do not benefit from true anonymity. Instead, people want to
expose some subset of their identity and nothing more. Likewise, if someone
confesses something about their personal life, they want to do it with a

supportive community and not to strangers who do not care about or have a
lasting relationship with them.

It is not about being anonymous or even pretending to be someone else. It is
about controlling which subsets of true facets of a person are relevant in different
social contexts. This is fundamentally not deceptive but actually enables one to
be authentic. .

Outside of the Internet, it is extremely difficult to find out information about a
person so that we can easily and naturally compartmentalize our experiences.
This person is not a different person in these settings, it is always the same
person, but different parts of their identity are relevant.


All These social media giants of the world want to aggregate all of these personas
into a single identity. They want to do this, not because they think this is good
for users or because this is how they think society works, but rather because it
helps them monetize user interactions. However, this type of aggregation is a
very bad deal for users.

With this comes in the form of hyper-targeted advertisements. This is a scary
proposition. Even though users primarily are reacting to this “stalking” factor,
there is actually a delicate but much more dangerous force at work.

This House Bill seeks to persecute and penalize social media identity theft
comparable to that of a regular theft offense under our existing penal codes. To
foster the imposition of all existing policies and guidelines and provide stiffer
penalties and sanctions for all offenders.

Thus, the early pgss$e€ of this bill is earnestly requested.

MIC) L. ROMERO Ph.D.


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City .

18TH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No, #118

Introduced by Representative Michael L. Romero

AN ACT

PENALIZING ALL FORMS OF MEDIA IDENTITY THEFT, ANY
PERSON CREATING, PRETENDING AND STEALING THE
IDENTITY OF ANOTHER PERSON, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. DECLARATION OF POLICY - it is hereby declared a policy
of the state to protect and uphold the social media identity of any person:

a. Any person creating, pretending and stealing the identity of any
other person in social media and in the internet shall be
subjected to identity theft,

b. These social media identity theft, shall be treated to penalties
that are comparable to that of regular theft offenses under the
existing penal codes.

c. The Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) cyber crime division and the Internet
Service Provider (ISP) host like Facebook, Twitter and Google
shall assist in finding and persecuting these offenders.


SECTION 2. TRANSITORY PROVISION - Existing industries, businesses
and offices affected by the implementation of this Act shall be given six (6)
months transitory period from the effectivity of the IRR or such other
period as may be determined, to comply with the requirements of this Act.

SECTION 3. IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS - The

. departments and agencies charged, to be lead by the PNP and NBI with
carrying out the provisions of this Act, shall within sixty (60) days after
the effectivity of this Act, formulate the necessary rules and regulations for
its effective implementation. .

SECTION 4. REPEALING CLAUSE - All laws, decrees, executive orders,
rules and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of
this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 5. SEPARABILITY CLAUSE - If, for any reason, any section or
provision of this Act is held unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections
or provisions hereof shall not be affected thereby.

SECTION 6. EFFECTIVITY CLAUSE - This Act shall take effect after
" fifteen (15) days from its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least

two (2) national newspapers of general circulation whichever comes earlier.

Approved,