AUSL Technology & the Law

by Jane Hazel Marie S. Garcia
2006–0220

I. INTRODUCTION

Section 4, Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for redress of grievances.” The freedom of speech is one of the rights guaranteed by our Constitution and the Philippines have been known throughout the world as one of the staunchest defenders of democracy. From the time of the Spanish and American colonizations to the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, the Filipinos have shown that they are ready to take on the mountains, the streets and even the written word to express indignation or protest.

Activism has taken a new shape and face in the advent of modern technology. Although rallies are still not considered to be as things of the past, the socially involved individual have a new, more cost-efficient way of getting their messages across and this is through the Internet or the World Wide Web.

This paper seeks to define and understand the new mode by which technology, particularly the World Wide Web, is being used to shape the opinion of individuals all over the world in a variety of issues as well as compel action. Due to the “flattening” of the world and the crossing of the barriers, people can already communicate their opinion at real time, mobilize resources and even lobby on issues by participating in online forums, blogging or mass email. Technology has made it easy for individuals to become participants and not just passive observers as the world takes shape.

II. WHAT IS CYBER – ACTIVISM?

Internet activism (also known as e-activism, electronic advocacy, cyber – activism, e-campaigning and online organizing) is the use of communication technologies such as e-mail, web sites, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster communications by citizen movements and deliver a message to a large audience. These Internet technologies are used for cause-related fundraising, lobbying, volunteering, community building, and organizing.¹

Cyber-Activism is also defined as the process of using the Internet to participate in civil disobedience and to send messages to a large number of subscribers across the Internet. Basically, this is a non-violent means to gather participants to fight for a particular social cause. This is a new trend of non-violent campaign for individuals or groups to gather resistance for an issue and use the Internet to send unsolicited email messages (these might come off sometimes as junk mail) or user-created chatrooms for online discussions. With the growing number of Internet users each day and with more than 200,000 websites created each month, cyber - activism has become another outlet for activism.²

Author Sandor Vegh classifies cyber – activism into three (3) main categories:

1. Awareness / Advocacy
2. Organization / Mobilization, and
3. Action / Reaction

The Internet provides for a key component for independent activists to air their sentiments in an uninhibited setting. For instance when a serious violation of human rights occurs, listservs like Burma Net and China News Digest, help in communicating to the world information that would might have otherwise be inaccessible to other countries. The Internet is a tool used by cyber – activists to create awareness in the assumption that such awareness or knowledge would spring to more concrete actions later on.

Cyber – activists also use the Internet to pass on electronic or e-petitions on certain issues in order to compel the government and other organizations to effect positive policy change or basically to show protest. Many non- profits and charities use these methods, emailing petitions to those on their mailing list and asking people to pass them on.

Further to this, cyber – activists resort to the Internet because it enables communication in an inexpensive and timely manner. Mobilizations and protests may be organized via the web and lobbying is made easier by mass e-mail. The ability to broadcast a message to as many people as possible at minimal cost is one of the main selling points of this strategy.

The third category, Action / Reaction consists largely of various types of actions including denial-of-service attacks, the taking over and vandalizing of a website, uploading Trojan horse virus, mass mailings, among others. Although these actions will not be tackled lengthily in this paper, suffice it to say that such extreme forms of activism are not the kind genuine cyber – activists pursue. Plain hacking is not cyber – activism.

III. METHODS OF CYBER –ACTIVISM

There are several ways in which cyber – activism can be conducted. First, groups or individuals need to identify with an issue. Usually, this is an issue that one is deeply or passionately concerned about or an issue that the individual can relate to. It may be due to a personal experience that usually triggers an emotional outburst which can in turn ignite activism. There are various issues that one can think for instance, those dealing with human or animal rights violation or global warming caused by environmental abuse. Even nonsensical or trivial issues may be the subject of cyber – activism such as people littering, smoking in public, improper garbage disposal, among others. These can actually start the flame of activism.

The next step is to be prepared by way of research. An activist is like a soldier engaged in battle; he cannot proceed without first doing his own assignment. Facts and figures when objectively presented are far more convincing than one’s personal opinion. If there is a need for changes to be implemented, the specific governmental body or agency responsible for such should be involved. Research would also reveal whether previous solutions were implemented or acted upon as well as the effectivity of these. The Internet facilitates faster retrieval of information and the activist can even try searching the archives at various national or international organizations and all sorts of fact sheets from various websites.

Third, it is important to start networking. The Web search on the issues can also reveal online discussion groups or forums, newsgroups and may even provide links to fellow individuals with the same inclinations. By joining chat groups, the cyber – activist gains strength in numbers because they can already coordinate with their group and see if their concerns jive.

As in everything in life, the cyber – activist must also clearly define the goal to be achieved. Such lofty ideals and passions must be set down in order to arrive at a more realistic agenda. What is the goal that you want to achieve? Is it just an opportunity to be heard, to vent out frustrations and find others who share the same sentiments? Or is it something deeper, requiring a call to action? These must be defined at the onset.

The fifth step is to try contacting the local legislators or the leaders of the government agencies concerned. Using the electronic mail, cyber – activists can “bombard” the websites of these government agencies with comments, suggestions or violent reactions on the issues that they have identified. Email is faster and more effective compared to the snail mail which might take forever in reaching the recipient, if at all. Also, the cyber – activist can ask their legislator’s views on the issues thus, adding “pressure” to them.

Another way by which support to the issue can be solicited is by launching an electronic petition campaign. You have to create your own website and introduce your cause. Clearly state your beliefs and the reforms or actions needed. Then make a form in your web page so people can subscribe to mailing lists. When new campaign ads are at to be sent now and then, you can electronically send these to all the email addresses in your list. Your subscribers can either view your campaigns in either HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or text format. You can also send invitations to join your campaign via tie-ups with other websites. You can even go far as to create pop ups that Internet users try to block just so you can make your message come across. You can create message alerts, too, and have it sent to various chat rooms so that every time someone logs in to his or her messenger account, they automatically receive the alerts. Your website might also include an educational forum wherein responses can be viewed and read by other visitors.³

This is not to say however that electronic campaign tactics are the more effective approach. Electronic campaigning techniques may work best when supplementing offline tactics or may even be entirely unsuitable given a campaign’s intended audience, targets, timing, or resources. Constituencies that are less connected to the Internet, for instance, are less likely to be reached by Internet organizing alone.⁴

IV. EFFECTIVE INTERNET ACTIVISM

Cyber – activism is conducted for a variety of purpose and according to data, the most effective are for lobbying and fundraising. Lobbying includes electronic versions of certain kinds of collective action aimed directly at influencing the political process and legislative outcomes. Online petitions and email campaigns fall into this category. Targets may be elected officials and government bodies, multilateral institutions, transnational nongovernmental organizations or other social movement organizations.⁵

The practice of lobbying in order to influence political decisions is a legitimate and necessary part of the democratic process. Individuals and organizations reasonably want to influence decisions that may affect them, those around them, and their environment. Government in turn needs access to the knowledge and views that lobbying can bring.⁶

Fundraising includes appeals to membership and donations as well as the online sale of merchandise such as shirts, books, buttons, posters, and so on. Fundraising efforts are also aided by computer-assisted direct mailing campaigns and by member database management.⁷ Raising money by way of online donations has become an inexpensive method although statistics showed that the overall percentage of charitable donations made online is still very small.⁸

In cases of disasters requiring substantial amount of donation, humanitarian organizations resort to the Internet by creating donation sites as in the case of the 9/11 attacks which raised an unprecedented amount of money for the families of the victims.⁹

In the U.S., registered non-profit organizations are restricted in the amount and kinds of lobbying they are permitted to conduct. All funds must be accounted for and must reach their intended beneficiaries. The thing is how to determine the genuine donation sites and the hoax. Especially since this involves money, the cyber – activist must be very careful in selecting the donation site.

V. INTERNET ACTIVISM IN THE PHILIPPINE SETTING

In the Philippines, the “Juana Change” protest videos have become the newest sensation on the website YouTube. The videos were introduced when various groups lobbying to oppose the proposal to amend the Philippine Constitution which would have extended the terms of office of incumbent politicians, including that of the President. Thanks to the internet and mainstream media, Juana Change has become a popular figure in the country today.¹⁰ Using the steps of the dance, cha-cha, the activist behind that satirical video tried to instill in the minds of the viewer the treacherous ways employed by certain sectors in trying to change the charter for their own personal ambitions. According to activist Pepe Diokno, the video has generated 50,000 views in its first week alone, generating publicity and interest on such serious issues such as corruption and social change.

The turn of social activism in the Philippines by using the Internet is an important milestone for a people who are “immune” to people power mobilizations and rallies. The use of the creative and socially aware Filipino of a combination of political satire, existing technology and cyberspace is in the hope that viewers will be enlightened and hopefully be inspired to effect the changes that we all need. From the streets to the Web, the online Filipino can still show the world that we are a nation that will not take our rights lightly.

Very recently, a controversy erupted surrounding an article entitled “The War at Home” written by a Hong Kong writer in HK Magazine (originally published on March 27). The article was posted on the magazine’s website and has touched on the working conditions of overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong. Filipino netizens have expressed disgust and protest on the article through the hkgolden forum website and the Asia City Publishing House (publisher of HK Magazine) was forced to remove the article from its website and issue an apology to the Philippine Consulate General. However, certain groups are still demanding a sincere public apology from the writer himself for what they called as the racist, discriminatory and demeaning take on the Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong.¹¹

Filipino bloggers have also taken to the cyberspace their disgust on the utter disregard for human rights in our country as in the case of the rampant extrajudicial killings of journalists and abduction of suspected rebels. The government has not been successful in finding the root cause and the solution to this problem to the point that crimes have become more gruesome and heinous as in the case of the rebel’s daughter who was abducted and raped. Many are outraged by the gruesome crime and the Philippine blogging community has its share of reactions.

VI. CRITICISMS ON CYBER – ACTIVISM

Many critics of this form of activism argue that cyber – activists are sure to encounter challenges in the so-called “global digital divide.” This means that only those who are computer-literate and have access to the Internet can participate in online forums for instance. Internet activism may give disproportionate representation to those with disproportionate access or technological ability. This concern is especially relevant in developing countries, where many people still lack even the basic literacy needed to access written materials on Internet.¹² Thus, while the Internet created a new form of power to the individual to be heard real time, it has at the same time amplified existing forms of social exclusion, reiterating the social and economic divide.

Another concern expressed by critics is that online discussions may lead further fragmentation and polarization rather than lead to a common consensus. Since people can access voluminous amount of information, they can also pinpoint the ones they agree with and ignore the rest.¹³

VI. CONCLUSION

They say that changing the world is such a herculean task. Most people take off trying to do this on a grand scale only to end hung up and disappointed. The thing about cyber – activism is that it does not try to change the WHOLE world; it only tries to change a PART of it, by breaking issues into “bite-size” pieces easy enough to swallow and digest. Taking part in a campaign on an issue you earnestly believed in is one way of making that difference. If one would just stand up and make his voice heard through the babble of sounds that alone may lead to something bigger. Even if that means pouncing on your keyboards and “spamming” other people’s mailbox.

Endnotes

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_activism#Examples_of_early_activism [↩]
2. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/144726/cyberactivism_pg4.html?cat=9 [↩]
3. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/144726/cyberactivism_pg4.html?cat=9 [↩]
4. An Introduction to Activism on the Internet (http://backspace.com/action/introduction.php) [↩]
5. ibid (http://backspace.com/action/examples_of_effective_action.php#Lobbying) [↩]
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying [↩]
7. Ibid (http://backspace.com/action/examples_of_effective_action.php#Fundraising) [↩]
8. ibid (http://backspace.com/action/examples_of_effective_action.php) [↩]
9. ibid. [↩]
10. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/01/08/philippines-phenomenal-video-protests/ [↩]
11. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/31/hong-kong-and-the-philippines-satire-or-racism/ [↩]
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_activism#Examples_of_early_activism [↩]
13. ibid. [↩]

April 4th, 2009 | Category: SY08-09b | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL