The ICT perspective

So what is the ICT perspective?

It is ultimately the view that the law is never stagnant but moves and adapts to the changing times and developments. It is a view that looks into how the law should be and not merely what the law is. It is an attitude of anticipation and forecast rather than passive sumissiveness to the contemporary developments. It is the belief that in the law as in life a continuous learning perspective will bring about a sense of fulfilment and purpose.

It is the opinion of these bloggers that this 3 unit course on ICT is the most forward looking subject in the UP Law curriculum. It would not surprise us if this course would eventually be a bar subject.

We hope you enjoyed reading our blogs...

'Till next time :)

e-government sustainability

Given the advantages of e-government projects being implemented in the different governmental departments and instrumentalities...how do we keep the music playing?

Certain roadblocks to effective e-government maintenance are apparent. First, there is the question of software and hardware updatability costs. We remember way back in 1992 that our school then embarked on an ambitious computer classroom project. The administration purchase almost 50 new apple mac computers. It was such an achievement for the school and such a huge investment at that during that time. However, little did they know that the trend in teaching facilities would be the use of windows-based applications. This occured a few years later and the school had to drop all its relatively new apple computers. The point is that in investing in e-government hardware and software applications at that, how do we know what would still effectively work in the following years. We know of a local government that instituted a computerized communication program integrating the public, the city officials and the police. Such program was approved by the city council unanimously and a budget was approved and the software and equipment purchased but it never worked.

Perhaps, when we talk of e-government, we should look not only at what we think we need right now and what we think would work right now. We must ask ourselves instead if it would still work in the future given the volatility of swift pace of software and hardware and development.

Another issue is, as always, the security issue. Granting that e-governments serve better and more efficiently, how long will this efficiency last. A single damaging act perpetrated by would be hackers or malware makers could possibly send the whole system crashing down. A scary prospect is the computerization of all governmental transactions without securing a hard copy for transfers. A crash in the system could lead to devastating results with the net effect of giving the public an unreliable impression on the system.

These are but a few of the roadblocks in e-government growth and sustainability. Perhaps, our officials and their i.t. partners should look more closely on the reliability and sustainability factors in implementing e-government projects so that our money and time won't go to waste.

Expanding the sources of bar questions and answers

IX.

xxx

4. Who is the current president of the ICJ?
5. What is his/her nationality?

xxx

These are the two questions in last sunday's political law exam where we could just imagine all bar examinees dropping their jaws. The hell! We thought when we saw the questionaire!
Who the hell would know the answers to such questions? But first...most must be wondering where the answers could be found...

Books? Magazines? We doubt it if any bar reviewee in her right mind would bother to look for a new article in the library on who the new icj president and his/her nationality is.

But wait! For most, it seems that the source of this answer is clearly no other than the internet. Ahh! Indeed the internet!

It is troubling to think that the Bar Commission has found it appropriate to ask a question in the bar exams which answer could be found almost only in the internet. The trend then is that the sources of questions for the bar are no longer limited to law books, codals, administrative rules, and jurisprudence. It has been expanding to even the most obscure commentarie.

The internet as a source of an answer to such question as the current icj president seems to be absurd but it just goes to show how the boom of the internet as a research tool has influenced the legal profession with sites like westlaw, supremecourt.gov.ph, lawphil.net, and chanrobles, and ofcourse, the icj website.

If we go back to the previous bar questions... we think that this is the first bar question that could only most feasibly be answered by using and looking into the internet.

We ourselves wondered as to what were the answers and in such a case, where should we look? Ofcourse, the internet came first to our mind. Check out this site of the icj for the answers...

http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/igeneralinformation/igncompos.html

Check out this blog also of a bar examinee which was posted recently for the answers to the other questions...

http://wandergirl.vox.com/library/post/2-down-6-to-go.html

And for those who want to know more about the new icj president, check out these blogs...their quite instructive.

http://lawofnations.blogspot.com/2006/02/interview-with-new-icj-president.html

http://www.developmentblogs.org/international-law/icj-president/

Given what was said above, we think we better hurry up. It seems the bar exams has been only getting more difficult. New laws are sprouting, more jurisprudence lined up, more, more, more of every law. And if the Bar Commission can come up with a question like "who is the current president of the icj?" and "what is his/her nationality?", who knows what they would come up next in the future bar exams.

The joys of limewire and torrents

Do you want some hot music for free? Perhaps movies or software? Need Porn?

Then get limewire or bittorrent for free...and evertything's for free!!!

http://www.limewire.com/english/content/home.shtml

http://www.bittorrent.com/index.html

Once you have installed the programs, you could download as much as you can with the assistance of their fast search engine... you can download whole songs and albums...movies (but will take some time), and ofcourse, good quality porn like heather brooke's works.

Seriously, so much talk have been going around involving copyright protection of works uploaded in the internet and piracy. Other blogs have criticized such blatant infringement of the creative works of others...yet do we really want them stricter copyright laws and better implementation of those laws?

The purpose of copyright is to promote creativity in the arts and literature and the incentive of economic benefits to the author, publisher, performer of such works is merely secondary to such main purpose.

http://www.msu.edu/user/kimyong2/copy&int.htm

But lets face it, in this day and age, it is the latter purpose which drives copyright laws.

There have been discussions on how to better enforce copyright laws in the internet. Some of the proponents want new and stricter laws. Others want better implementation through international cooperation. No matter which medicine to take or even if we take all types of medicine, people will find ways to violate copyright laws. Immitation is indeed the best kind of flattery.

Nevertheless, as law students we should take the rigtheous path and side with copyright law enforcement.

However, should we wish to try the softwares i mentioned above, there's always the doctrine of fair use.

-----------

The book "The Wind Done Gone" as mentioned in the articles uploaded by the professors was actually decided by the US Courts to be a valid fair use for being a parody. In that case, the characthers of TWDG were essentially the same as the characthers in "Gone with the Wind" but the storyline and plot was deemed by the Supreme Court to be opposite or a critique of the theme in Gone with the Wind.

Snakes on a Blog! Blog on a Flop?

Pardon the title, but we just felt like climbing on the whole SoaP bandwagon – Snakes on a Blog, Snakes on the premiere carpet, snakes on Amazon and Goodness where else?!!! Snakes in my pants?!!! Hahaha! Just kidding! So the movie was a flop, figures have been coming in and for all the blog and internet hype, the movie failed to live up to its billing! Does this mean that the blog as a medium in getting one’s message across is not as effective as other media? We think not!

Before SoaP using the internet and the blog as its main publicity medium, others have gone ahead and benefited tremendously! There was U2, who released their album and single “Discotheque,” and the Blair Witch Project! Both met success and their publicity stunts translated into handsome profits! So what went wrong with Snakes? Given the success of its precursors, it becomes obvious that the problem lies not with the medium, but with the product itself! We haven’t seen the movie, but we guess it is so bad that no amount of publicity can save it! It is surprising that New Line actually thought that only publicity matters! It is basic in business that if the product is bad, no amount of selling will convince the buyers to purchase the substandard product. It may fool some, but it cannot bamboozle everyone!

Given this, we think that we should not dismiss the power of blogs or any other medium for that matter. Blogs are very powerful media! We just have to look to law school to see that it works! Some professors have used their personal blogs to spread their advocacy and many students have responded and in fact have been recruited to join the cause! It thus becomes apparent that it is the message that counts; the blog just makes it easier to spread the message.

Although Snakes was a flop means that we should immediately dismiss blogs as an effective medium. We have only to use Erap as an example, who never thought that text messages could topple a president!

Pride and Prejudice: Bias Against E-Services

When we graduated from college and were hunting for jobs, we mostly looked for high-paying managerial ones! After studying for four years in a premiere university, we did not want to settle for "demeaning jobs" by demeaning we mean those who treat us like low-skilled workers. Naturally, we never entertained thoughts about joining E-telecare, a call center company. E-telecare was the only call center company at that time and although its entry level wage was high enough, we thought that a career as a call center agent would not serve our interests! The hours were bad (usually graveyard shift), and the prospect of promotion was very slim! Not surprisingly, majority of my batchmates felt the same. Most of us would go on to work for large multinationals, seek further studies or become expats.

Lo and behold, after a few years, the call center business is the craze! Call center companies have sprouted left and right! If people shunned call centers in the past, they are now embracing it as the savior of the Philippines, the new "OFWs," the new modern day heroes! Billions of dollars are expected to be pumped in the country because of this industry! Where call center agents were ashamed to say where they work before, they proudly crow that they work for E-telecare, convergence, and People support now! Call center agents have acquired a certain snootiness: "O yung call center mo ba may ganito?" And now the second wave of e-services are upon us, medical transrciption.

Ok, it is well and good that these e-services are pumping in money into the Philippines, but seriously, do you want your children to have a career in a call center or medical transcription firm as their primary employment goal in life? I think not. Whatever they say about it, the fact is people still believe that there are better alternatives. Call center agents can be classified together with boxers, billiard players and basketball players. They may be admired, but nobody wants their children to turn up as one. At most, a call center career can be classified as a stepping stone for better things. At the end of the day, the way to wealth, prosperity and a good life is not through a career in this industry.

We believe that unless one owns a call center, it is not profitable and sustainable to have such a career. The Philippines has been criticized for depending on its OFW's remittances, that in the long run, it is not a viable economic policy. We believe this is the same for call centers. The Philippines should not rely on call centers alone, and should turn instead to its core competencies. Call centers are fads, and when they become outmoded, the Philippines will again be left searching for sources of income.

Riding the information age

In history, it has been shown that those who recognized and rode on the wheels of change eventually became the rich and powerful. We started out with those who invested in land. This was the time when nations identified that ownership of land was the key to more resources which leads to more wealth. That is why we had the age of conquest where strong countries conquered and colonized weaker tribes. Then came the industrial age which saw the rise of big manufacturing companies and the development of labor laws. The richest people during this time were the company owners. Before the end of the last century, we saw the dawn of the age of information and technology and now this new age is still in its infancy. With more possibilities cropping up everyday, more and more opportunites for wealth generation are identified. Further, with the help of the internet, we saw the boom in the profitable industries of software production, call centers, and business processes outsourcing.

We know that those who recognized the opportunity during the start of the eras we mentioned earlier became the recognized rich people of our times. If only we could recognize the opportunities in this information age...

Recently, we embarked on a project to start a call center business. Though we had such a difficult time putting up shop, we learned a lot from the industry and the potential for its growth. For example, it costs about 10 M pesos to start up a 50 seat call center and with that the payback period is 1-2 years for international clients and 3-5 years for local clients. Also, it is more advisable to integrate a medical transcription business into a call center business since you would be basically using the same hardware. Further, call center owners are in agreement that the future of e-services in the Philippines is toward BPO or business processes outsourcing. Why do we say this? Most big companies now outsource their basic departments. Take NIKE for example, it is considered practically a virtual company. Its manufacturing is outsourced in China and other asian countries. Its design department is also subcontracted to another firm. Its sales is through distributorship throughout the world. Considering a big brand like nike, it may have less than 500 employees actually working for the core company to date.

The trend now is outsourcing and the Philippines is rich with human resource that we Filipinos should capitalize on this. It may just be our ticket out this third world sh** hole. If only we could raise the quality of education and produce more quality graduates, we would be eating up a big portion of the wealth pie of western and english speaking countries. Our top competitor is admittedly India but we are placing second with other south east asian countries fastly catching up.

Sadly, our project call center couldn't push through as of the moment due to lack of available free time since our group was composed mostly of graduating law students. Oh well... legal transcription perhaps...

Taxing Internet Transactions

As more people become comfortable with using the internet, legions will definitely take notice of the advantages of doing business transactions over the internet. Internet users will find cheaper prices, larger product variety and less red tape. As long as they avoid identity theft in cyberspace, the cost of doing business in this medium is cheaper, faster, and more efficient.
But as the users will find it more convenient to use the internet, the opposite effect will be felt by governments all over the world. Where traditional physical transactions are easily traced, cyberspace transactions are harder to pin down. It may be due to the lack of technology and laws to regulate such transactions. This situation is potentially fatal to governments because it may deprive them of revenue that is properly due them. Currently, we don’t think that the Philippines is capable of monitoring and taxing internet transactions.
On the subject of taxing internet transactions, the problem regarding it can be easily seen. The general rule is that the government will tax transactions over which it has jurisdiction, or control. Usually, it is dependent on where the transaction is made and where the tax is incurred. This is known as tax situs. As a very simple example, Korean Air Lines, a foreign company not doing business here in the Philippines, has a local agent selling tickets in NAIA. I buy a ticket for a flight going to the United States. Can the Philippines tax KAL? Yes, because although KAL in not doing business here, the income they derived from tickets came from the Philippines. It does not matter if KAL is not physically here and is paying income taxes in Korea, as long as the transaction occurred here in the Philippines, then the latter can tax the airline.
But internet transactions are harder to tax, because as mentioned, nobody in the BIR has yet to monitor such transactions. Our friends have been buying goods over the net for some time now and yet they do not see any government charges. We think that it is not because the BIR does not want to impose the tax; it is rather that the BIR does not know how to tax such transactions. For example, we buy something from www.amazon.com. The credit card number is entered here in the Philippines, and the order is placed in the United States. Given this example, where is the transaction made? When is the contract of sale perfected? Here in the Philippines when we entered the credit card number and pin or in the United States when Amazon accepted the order and shipped the goods? With this legal problem and the lack of technology to monitor these transactions, such a situation will result in lost revenues for the government.
As to the legal problem of tax situs, we propose that the solution lies in the fundamental purpose of taxation. Taxes are the lifeblood of the government. It taxes the people in exchange for the services it makes available to the people. As the government offers protection to the people, the people have the obligation to “pay” the government for the benefits they receive. In light of this, we propose that the tax situs should be the place where an internet user, while making a transaction over the internet, is actually deriving benefits from any government’s protection, whether directly or indirectly. In the second example given, the tax situs should be both the Philippines and the United States. This is because in the transaction made, both contractors to the sale benefited from American and Philippine governments’ protection. A tax should be levied on the transaction and both countries shall equally, or some other proportions as determined by both countries, share in the tax.
In short, there is no free lunch in the world, if you use it, then you should pay for it. Applying this to tax situs, if one shelters under the blanket of protection of a particular country, then he should pay for that protection. In internet transactions, we believe that although the transaction in terms of monitoring and taxing are more complicated, it does not negate the fact that internet users benefit from the programs various governments have implemented for the country. They have benefited from government protection whether directly or indirectly and as such, they should pay up.

Secure your computer

Hey guys, with the lecture of sir Abet last Thursday on internet security and hacking, we would like to contribute a little something to the class by sharing these lists of free internet security products we found. Sir Abet mentioned that we should at least have:

1) Anti-virus
2) Anti-spyware
3) Firewall

Kindly check out these sites for free antivirus and firewall applications:

http://www.freebyte.com/antivirus/ (for antivirus and firewall)

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=57655 (firewall list)

http://www.spywareinfo.com (for spyware information)


But if you want a comprehensive product that has it all, you could get mcaffee or Norton antivirus. There are some sites that offer free downloads for their products but with limited license. If you have the money, then you could buy the originals of these products. We think the mcaffee antivirus costs about Php 6,000. It is quite costly but the rewards are good. That is what we use. The advantage is that it has antivirus, personal firewall, anti spyware and spamguard. You could configure for automatic updates over the net. We also think it is transferable from one pc or laptop to another. So you could install it in different computers. The main advantage of buying the original is that you could use it continuously without fear of your license expiring. We wouldn’t advise buying pirated copies. We had experiences of pirated copies expiring after 3 months of use.

With the legal profession dealing mostly with documents such as pleadings and affidavits, we think getting originals of antivirus softwares would be worth it. Just imagine losing all your files and pleadings because your antivirus license expired! We remember this professor who had to absent herself from a couple of class meetings and had a hell of a time trying to recover her lost files in her laptop which got corrupted. We wouldn’t want that to happen to us would we?

So get the originals and help stop piracy.

"NBI gets anti-cybercrime equipment from Cheng_Echiverri"

Have you guys heard? The US government just donated to the NBI some $125,000 (roughly P 6.25M) worth of high-tech equipment that would improve the agency's forensic and anti-cybercrime capability. This we read in the July 14 (Saturday) issue of Philippine Star. Second page of the main paper to be precise in the article entitle "NBI gets anti-cybercrime equipment from US".

It states in the article that included in the package are the following:

1. ICS ImageMaster Solo III Pro Plus -- "a hard drive duplicator" (http://www.9to5computer.com/IMAGEMASSTER.htm)

2. San Disk Cruzed Mini 2GB -- "a portable USB flash drive that enables the investigator to collect and transport data from one computer to another" http://www.sandisk.com/

3. Gargoyle Investigator Enterprise -- "a computer software that can scan a hard drive and locate any software typically used by hackers and cyber terrorist" http://www.wetstonetech.com/f/Enterprise_Datasheet_-_Gargoyle.pdf

4. Hurricane Search 4.0 Professional -- "a forensic search program that allows investigators to browse a suspect's computer without loading any software onto the suspect's hard drive" http://www.hurricanesoft.com/hsearch.jsp

Now with the technical description of such equipment, they seem so high tech... but try checking out the sites and you'll see how common they are in other countries. It seems that if the US deems it proper for them to donate to us such equipment and software (and please mind that they donated a freakin usb flash drive!!!) and the reaction of the NBI is to make a big deal about it by even making a press release on the second page of the Philippine Star, then it just shows how incapable our government is in enforcing cyberlaws.

This article certainly affirms our fears in our previous blog about security in VOIP use.

Actually, we're currently contemplating on donating some flash disks to the NBI, or in the words of the writer in the Star article, "a device that enables the investigator to colloect and transport data from one computer to another."

Hopefully, the NBI would also make a press release.

Snooping VOIP

VOIP is such a breakthrough technology in telecommunications but how secure would such a system be once the US Federal Communications Commission, which is armed with a court ruling upholding wiretapping VOIP, fully enforces the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) over VOIP companies?

Unlike here in the Philippines with our Anti-wiretapping Law and its broad coverage which seems to cover VOIP communications, the US with its fear of terroristic attacks and its drive to better law enforcement strategies allows wiretapping by its government of conversations and communications deemed threatening to its national security. However, such efforts by the US on wiretapping suspicious communications made an unwitting turn when it was recently discovered that the US government has also been wiretapping local calls. Ha! So much for national security crap. For all we know, they must be tapping on SOP calls over 1-800 numbers!

With the articles on how VOIP works, it appears that if we would make a call from here in the Philippines, such would be secure only within Philippine territory but once the packets of data are transmitted abroad, it would be open to US Government snooping. Creepy isn't it? But the US government snooping is only the tip of the problem.

The bigger problem analysts say as mentioned in these links
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,126080,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/51108.html
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9001091

is that "VoIP wiretapping would require US law enforcement to have access to both customer data from the VoIP providers and real-time tracking of calls routed across the Internet. Requiring Internet service providers to respond in real time to requests for them to record VoIP calls would open up the Internet to new vulnerabilities." Also, such would open up bigger prolems as regards right to privacy.

So with the current proliferation of hacking and virus sending, and the limited cyberlaw enforcement capabilities of our country, how can we keep up with the issue of the growing problem of VOIP security?

Add to that the US FCC regulations on wiretapping VOIP communications which would force Internet companies to restructure its whole system to accomodate such regulations and which most analysts believe would open up the system to more vulnerabilities.

But well oh well, we're just talking legalise. We still think its cheaper and with prices of commodities rising, VOIP services are most welcome, not to mention the current marketing efforts of companies like AOL to provide VIDEO VOIP. That would surely be so cool!

But seriously, if ever the US FCC fully implements their plan, let's hope they put security on the top of its agenda.

It's okay if the US government taps on our conversations but if the FCC rules would open up the internet to new security problems, we wouldn't want local snoopers, would we?

Note: With the 2007 elections upcoming, it would be really interesting for us to uncover a VOIP version of a "hello garci" type of conversation.

Says Who!?! Interpreting the Electronic Commerce Act

When the Philippine Congress enacted Republic Act 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act, it inserted § 37, to guide the people on its interpretation:

SEC. 37. Statutory Interpretation. – Unless otherwise expressly provided for, the interpretation of this Act shall give due regard to its international origin and the need to promote uniformity in its application and the observance of good faith in international trade relations. The generally accepted principles of international law and convention on electronic commerce shall likewise be considered.

This is essentially the same as the provision on interpretation in the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce, to wit:

Article 3 Interpretation
1. the interpretation of this law, regard is to be had to its international origin and to the need to promote uniformity in its application and the observance of good faith.
2. questions concerning matter governed by this law which are not expressly settled in it are to be settled in conformity with the general principles on which this law is based.

In the Preparatory Stages, the UNCITRAL Working Group stated that the intention behind this section was to limit the application of local/domestic law in the interpretation of the domestic version of the UNCITRAL Model Law, thereby ensuring uniformity in the interpretation/application of the various versions of different countries on the Model law. Governments and Courts are encouraged to look instead to the international origin of the model law, as well as the generally accepted principles of international law for guidance on interpretation.

The Working Group gave a non-exhaustive list of such general principles: 1) to facilitate electronic commerce among and within nations, 2) to validate transactions entered into by means of new information technologies, 3) to promote and encourage the implementation of new information technologies, 4) to promote the uniformity of law and, 5) to support commercial practice.

While the effort is laudable, we feel that this rule on interpretation will cause problems in the future, that instead of fostering harmony, this will be a source of dispute. In our Civil Procedure and Constitutional cases, it has always been taught that the State is very protective of its exercise of sovereignty and the Courts’ of its jurisdiction. As much as possible, the state does not relinquish its control over its “subjects.” With the model law and its bias towards the generally accepted principles, the state will definitely relinquish some of this control and oust the court of its jurisdiction over cases arising from e-commerce disputes. We do not think that the State will easily allow this to happen, thus the phrase “unless otherwise provided” in § 37 of the E-commerce act.

Another problem that we foresee is that public international law and private international law are very amorphous and lack established doctrines, thus the reliance on the generally accepted principles of international law is very problematic as the subjects are very broad and issues are not clearly as defined as compared to our legal doctrines.

The General Assembly stated that the purpose of the model law is to “further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade and in that respect to bear in mind the interest of all peoples, in particular those of developing countries, in the extensive development of international trade.” The law gives preferential treatment towards developing countries, however given the state of international law, we believe that the Philippines does not have a chance of battling it out with the bigger fish because it can easily be out-muscled and “out-interpreted” in the international scene.

Original of an Electronic Document?

The question posed by our professors the last meeting was "what is an original of an electronic document?"

Looking into the Rules on Electronic Evidence effective August 1, 2001, we stumbled upon Rule 4 which is about the Best Evidence Rule applied to electronic evidence.

It states in Section 1 of Rule 4:

"Original of an Electronic Document -- An electronic document shall be regarded as the equivalent of an original document under the Best Evidence Rule if it is a printout or output readable by sight or other means, shown to reflect the data."

Now, this original of an electronic document which is readable by sight or other means, in our view, must also satisfy the requirements in Sec. 10 of the E-Commerce Law dealing with Original documents:

"Original Documents -- (1) Where the law requires information to be presented or retained in its original form, that requirement is met by an electronic data message or an electronic documnt if:

a) the integrity of the information from the time when it was first generated in its final form, as an electronic data message or elecronic document is shown by evidence aliunde or otherwise; and

b) where it is required that information be presented, that the information is capable of being displayed to the person to whom it is to be presented.

(2) Paragraph (1) applies whether the requirement therein is in the form of an obligation or whether the law simply provides consequences for the information not being presented or retained in its original form.

(3) For purposes of subparagraph (a) of paragraph (1):

a) the criteria for assessing the integrity shall be whether the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from the addition of any endorsement and any change which arises in the normal course of communication, storage and display; and

b) the standard of reliability required shall be assessed in the light of the purpose for which the information was generated and in the light of all relevant circumstances.

Simply put, this section states that when the law requires the original document, such would be considered original if its integrity is proved by evidence aliunde and is displayable. Such integrity is proved when the information remained complete and unaltered taking into account the assessment of the standard of reliability in light of relevant circumstances.

In the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce from which we have patterned most of our E-Commerce Law, it states:

Part one. Electronic commerce in general

Chapter II. Application of legal requirements to data messages

Article 8. Original


(1) Where the law requires information to be presented or retained in its original form, that requirement is met by a data message if:

(a) there exists a reliable assurance as to the integrity of the information from the time when it was first generated in its final form, as a data message or otherwise; and

(b) where it is required that information be presented, that information is capable of being displayed to the person to whom it is to be presented.

(2) Paragraph (1) applies whether the requirement therein is in the form of an obligation or whether the law simply provides consequences for the information not being presented or retained in its original form.

(3) For the purposes of subparagraph (a) of paragraph (1):

(a) the criteria for assessing integrity shall be whether the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from the addition of any endorsement and any change which arises in the normal course of communication, storage and display; and

(b) the standard of reliability required shall be assessed in the light of the purpose for which the information was generated and in the light of all the relevant circumstances.

Some Comments:

Given these provisions, we feel that the rules on an original electronic document fall short of its counterpart in traditional documents in ensuring that a particular document is the original. We believe that given the ease in tampering with electronic documents thru hacking or simple editing, the security measures adopted for electronic documents should be more stringent.

Consider a situation where a seller sends a word file containing the contract to his customer through email. The crafty customer then changes some provisions of the contract, then to cover his tracks, he somehow changes the date the document was last modified back to its original date, which we believe is possbile! When they sue in court, it would be hard to know which document is the original. Of course there is extrinsic evidence to help one's cause but it would be a matter of evidence and the seller could simply make up some of his own evidence.

To prevent this and to make the rules more stringent, we propose that for every electronic transaction, there should be a third party involved, a kind of verification/storage system. If any dispute arises between the parties, then they could simply ask the 3rd party to furnish them a copy. No doubt as to the integrity of the document shall exist.

That's all for now, and we hope you enjoyed our simple thoughts on the matter!

Have a good day!

Cheng_Echiverri

hello

hello...

testing, testing...

hi guys, we must admit we dont know much about blogs or blogging.

charles: my knowledge of the internet is limited to emails and google search.

juris: as for me, mostly the same except that i used to look into some exotic websites.

so kindly pardon us if our blog is not as flashy or complicated as the others'. we don't even know how to place pictures!!!

but nothing to worry, we're confident we'll soon master the relevant blogging skills...

...we think.

ok, we guess that's it.

testing, testing..