GEARING UP AGAINST CYBERCRIME

 

GEARING UP AGAINST CYBERCRIME

The bad news is, incidents of cybercrime are increasing, and the cybercriminals are seemingly getting bolder and smarter. The good news is, the government is very serious about combatting cybercrime, and it now has the right organizations to do it, coupled with the right laws to back them up.

Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) is a newly established government agency that has its own charter, but is attached to the DICT. The CICC lists the DICT, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) as its “affiliated” agencies, and the PNP and NBI as its law enforcement agencies.

Perhaps it is just a billing issue, but technically, the CICC is attached to the DICT, therefore it is not simply an “affiliate”, so to speak. It is clear that in this pecking order, the DICT is “primus inter pares” simply because it is a cabinet level department, and in fact, both the NPC and the NTC are attached to it.

While the CICC appears to have its own law enforcement powers, both the PNP and the NBI also have their own powers. As a matter of fact, both of these agencies also have their own anti-cybercrime groups. While its good to have an apparent duplication of functions, it is also better if these are well coordinated. By the way, the DOJ also has its own anti-cybercrime group, but only for purposes of international coordination. IKE SENERES/04-09-2024

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES?

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES? When we talk about the crime rate in the Philippines, we often assume that the figures we see are accurate reflections of reality. But have we ever paused to ask—how exactly is the crime rate computed? Where does this data come from, and how reliable is it? The computation of the crime rate in the Philippines is officially handled by the Philippine National Police (PNP). The formula itself is straightforward: Crime Rate = (Total Reported Crimes / Total Population) x 100,000 This simple equation gives us the number of crimes per 100,000 people, allowing for fair comparison across regions and time periods. However, the reality behind these numbers is more complex than it appears. Data from the Ground The foundation of our national crime rate is empirical data collected at the grassroots level—from individual police stations scattered across the country. Every reported crime is logged in local police blotters, forming the buil...
Read more

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS Dear Mr. President: May I ask who is going to be the arbiter or referee whenever there are overlaps in functions between two or more government agencies? I imagine that there would be no problem if these agencies would just cooperate and collaborate with each other, but what if they are unable to settle their differences and they would just end up throwing blame at each other or finger pointing at each other? Allow me to cite some examples. Who is supposed to take the lead in waste to energy projects? Is it supposed to be the DENR that is supposed to handle waste? Or is it supposed to be the DOE that is supposed to handle energy generation? Or is it supposed to be the DILG since it is the one that could direct or influence the waste to energy projects of LGUs? Who is supposed to take the lead in producing and promoting the use of biofuels? Is it supposed to be the DA, since the production of biofuels is supposed to be all about planting biofuel ...
Read more

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES As it is supposed to be, anyone in the Philippines should be able to dial 911, and a telephone operator should be able to dispatch fire, rescue, ambulance and police (FRAP) units as soon as possible, based on acceptable response times. I invented the FRAP acronym for easy recall, and I hope it sticks, if there is no other alternative. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of technical and political reasons, the Philippines has not adopted 911 as a national number, because some LGUs would rather use their own three-digit numbers such as 117 and 168. I actually proposed a technical solution to that problem, but it was not adopted either. For whatever it is worth, my solution is to install a call forwarding system that could route all calls to a central operator, regardless of what number is dialed. It is very sad for me to know that up to now, even if our country is already over one hundred years old, there are still many LGUs that do not have fire trucks. it ...
Read more