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FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session )

SENATE

s.no.__275

“Introduced by Senator Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes 1V_

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Itis the duty of the State to protect its citizens from falling prey to unscrupulous individuals who
employ technology through deceitful and unfair ways. This bill aims to protect consumers from
the use of spyware and malware that are deceptively or surreptitiously installed on their
computers.

No existing law provides for the regulation of computer spyware. This bill would prohibit a
person or entity other than the authorized user of a computer owned by a person with actual
knowledge, conscious avoidance of actual knowledge, or willfully, causing computer software to
be copied onto the computer and using the software to (1) take control of the computer, as
specified, (2) modify certain settings relating to the computer's access to or use of the Internet, as
specified, (3) collect, through intentionally deceptive means, personally identifiable information,
as defined, (4) prevent, without authorization, an authorized user's reasonable efforts to block the
installation of or disable software, as specified, (5) intentionally misrepresent that the software
will be uninstalled or disabled by an authorized user's action, or (6) through intentionally
deceptive means, remove, disable, or render inoperative security, anti-spyware, or antivirus
software installed on the computer.

Furthermore, this measure would also prohibit a person or entity who is not an authorized user
fiom inducing an authorized user to install a software component by intentionally
misrepresenting that it is necessary for security or privacy or in order to open, view, or play a
particular type of content. It would prohibit a person or entity who is not an authorized user
from deceptively causing the copying and execution on the computer of software components
with the intent of causing an authorized user to use the components in a way that violates any of
these prohibitions.

In view of the foregoing, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

evomo “SONNY” F. TRILLANES IV.

Senator



FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE)

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) FD me file

First Regular Session )
SENATE

s.no.__275

UFRE

cs

Introduced by Senator Antonio “Sonny” F, Trillanes IV

AN ACT
PROTECTING CONSUMERS BY PROHIBITING THE UNAUTHORIZED AND
DECEPTIVE INSTALLATION OF SPYWARE IN COMPUTERS, PROVIDING
PENALTIES THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Consumer Protection

Against Computer Spyware Act of 2010”.

SEC. 2. Purpose. — It is the intent of this Act to protect consumers from the use of

spyware and malware that are deceptively or surreptitiously installed on their computers.

SEC. 3, Definition of Terms. — For the purposes of this Act, the following terms have the

following meaning:

e

"Advertisement" means a communication, the primary purpose of which is the commercial
promotion of a commercial product or service, including content on an Internet Web site

operated for a commercial purpose;

s

“Authorized user," with respect to a computer, means a person who owns or is authorized by
the owner or on to use the computer. An "authorized user" does not include a person or
entity that has obtained authorization to use the computer solely through the use of an end

user license agreement;

°

“Computer software” means a sequence of instructions written in any programming language

that is executed on a computer,

2

“Computer virus" means a computer program or other set of instructions that is designed to

degrade the performance of or disable a computer or computer network and is designed to

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have the ability to replicate itself on other computers or computer networks without the
authorization of the owners of those computers or computer networks;

e. "Consumer” means an individual who resides in this state and who uses the computer in
question primarily for personal, family, or household purposes;

£. "Damage" means any significant impairment to the integrity or availability of data,
software, a system, or information;

g. "Execute," when used with respect to computer software means the performance of the
functions or the carrying out of the instructions of the computer software;

h. "Intentionally deceptive” means any of the following:

1. By means of an intentionally and materially false or fraudulent statement;

2. By means of a statement or description that intentionally omits or misrepresents
material information in order to deceive the consumer; and

3. By means of an intentional and material failure to provide any notice to an authorized
user regarding the download or installation of software in order to deceive the
consumer;

i. "Internet" means the global information system that is logically linked together by a globally
unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP), or its subsequent extensions, and
that is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP) suite, or its subsequent extensions, or other IP-compatible protocols, and
that provides, uses, or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high level services
layered on the communications and related infrastructure described in this subdivision;

j. "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, company, or other organization, or
any combination thereof,

k. "Personally identifiable information" means any of the following:

1. First name or first initial in combination with last name;

2. Credit or debit card numbers or other financial account numbers;

3. A password or personal identification number required to access an identified financial
account;

4, Social Security number; and


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5. Any of the following information in a form that personally identifies an authorized user:
(A) Account balances;
(B) Overdraft history;
(©) Payment history;
(D) A history of Web sites visited;
(E) Home address;
(F) Work address; and

(G) A record of a purchase or purchases.

SEC. 4. Prohibitions Against Unauthorized Users. —

a. A person or entity that is not an authorized user, shall not, with actual knowledge, with
conscious avoidance of actual knowledge, or willfully, cause computer software to be copied
‘onto the computer of a consumer in this state and use the software to do any of the following:

1. Modify, through intentionally deceptive means, any of the following settings related to
the computer's access to, or use of the Internet:

‘A. The page that appears when an authorized user launches an Internet browser or

similar software program used to access and navigate the Internet;

B. The default provider or Web proxy the authorized user uses to access or search the

“Internet; and

C. The authorized user's list of bookmarks used to access Web pages;

2. Collect, through intentionally deceptive means, personally identifiable information that
meets any of the following criteria:

A. It is collected through the use of a keystroke-logging function that records all
keystrokes made by an authorized user who uses the computer and transfers that
information from the computer to another person;

B. It includes all or substantially all of the Web sites visited by an authorized user,
other than Web sites of the provider of the software, if the computer software was
installed in a manner designed to conceal from all authorized users of the

computer the fact that the software is being installed; and


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C. It is a data element that is extracted from the consumer's computer hard drive for a
purpose wholly unrelated to any of the purposes of the software or service described

to an authorized user;

3. Prevent, without the authorization of an authorized user, through intentionally

deceptive means, an authorized user's reasonable efforts to block the installation of,
or to disable, software, by causing software that the authorized user has properly

removed or disabled to automatically reinstall or reactivate on the computer without

the authorization of an authorized user;

4, Intentionally misrepresent that software will be uninstalled or disabled by an.

authorized user's action, with knowledge that the software will not be so uninstalled

or disabled; and

5. Through intentionally deceptive means, remove, disable, or render inoperative

security, anti-spyware, or antivirus software installed on the computer.

b. A person or entity that is not an authorized user shall not, with actual knowledge, with
conscious avoidance of actual knowledge, or willfully, cause computer software to be
copied onto the computer of a consumer in this state and use the software to do any of the
following:

1. Take control of the consumer's computer by doing any of the following:

‘A. Transmitting or relaying commercial electronic mail or a computer virus from the
consumer's computer, where the transmission or relaying is initiated by a person
other than the authorized user and without the authorization of an authorized user;

B. Accessing or using the consumer's modem or Internet service for the purpose of
causing damage to the consumer's computer or of causing an authorized user to
incur financial charges for a service that is not authorized by an authorized user;

C. Using the consumer's computer as part of an activity performed by a group of
Somputers for the purpose of causing damage to another computer, including, but
‘not limited to, launching a denial of service attack; and

D. Opening multiple, sequential, stand-alone advertisements in the consumer's
Internet browser without the authorization of an authorized user and with

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knowledge that a reasonable computer user cannot close the advertisements
without turning off the computer or closing the consumer's Internet browser;

2. Modify any of the following settings related to the computer's access to, or use of, the

Internet:

A. An authorized user's security or other settings that protect information about the
authorized user for the purpose of stealing personal information of an authorized
user; and

B. The security settings of the computer for the purpose of causing damage to one
‘or more computers;

3. Prevent, without the authorization of an authorized user, an authorized user's
reasonable efforts to block the installation of, or to disable, software, by doing any of
the following:

A. Presenting the authorized user with an option to decline installation of software
with knowledge that, when the option is selected by the authorized user, the
installation nevertheless proceeds; and

+ B. Falsely representing that software has been disabled.

c. A person or entity, who is not an authorized user, shall not do any of the following with
regard to the computer of a consumer:

1. Induce an authorized user to install a software component onto the computer by
intentionally misrepresenting that installing software is necessary for security or
privacy reasons or in order to open, view, or play a particular type of content; and

2. Deceptively causing the copying and execution on the computer of a computer software
component with the intent of causing an authorized user to use the component in a way
that violates any other provision of this section.

4. Nothing in this section shall apply to any monitoring of, or interaction with, a subscriber's
Intemet or other network connection or service, or a protected computer, by a
telecommunications carrier, cable operator, computer hardware or software provider, or
provider of information service or interactive computer service for network or computer
security purposes, diagnostics, technical support, repair, authorized updates of software or

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system firmware, authorized remote system management, or detection or prevention of the
unauthorized use of or fraudulent or other illegal activities in connection with a network,
service, or computer software, including scanning for and removing software proscribed

under this Act.

SEC. 5. Penal Clause. — A person who commits any of the prohibited acts enumerated
above shall be punishable with a penalty of imprisonment for a period of not exceeding six (6)
months or a fine of not less than Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php 50,000.00) but not more than One

Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 100,000.00), or both, at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 6. Implementing Rules and Regulations, - The DOTC shall, within sixty (60) days

after the approval of this Act, prepare and issue the necessary guidelines to implement the same.

SEC. 7. Separability Clause. If any provision or part hereof is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain

valid and subsisting.
SEC. 8. Repealing Clause. Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive order,
Iotter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to, or inconsistent with, the

provisions of this Act, is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly.

SEC. 9. Effectivity Clause. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete

publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation,

Approved,