Why Support the Magna Carta for Philippine Internet Freedom

I still remember a time hearing the chime of bells as one gets connected to the Internet. I still remember a time you could cook four strips of bacon and still wait a bit more for a file to download. I could still remember Netscape. Where in the time did Carmen Sandiego go?

Today you could surf the Web using the mobile. Contact and talk to family and friends via Facebook. Get the news, gossip and false news via Twitter. Speaking of news and opinion, today you could probably read something crafted in Washington, Tokyo, Paris and Mexico. Reading a newspaper is no longer just reading. In the past reader wanting to react a piece of news or opinion by sitting down writing letter to the editor and mailing it. Perhaps you could even call the newspaper. And still your opinion will only be seen if at the end of the day someone deems it worth publishing. Today, a reader can almost automatically write a reaction on the article/post comment track – something from blogs ( or weB logs) that can often be seen in online newspapers. And it does not stop there – and it does not stop at that a reaction can be transformed into several things online.

The Digital world has became fused to our lives. And even though there is still the great digital divide: only about 35% of the Philippine is on-line (We still have to work on closing this divide): the Internet and the Web has become an important part of Philippine Society. First, because the Internet has become the information highway of economic growth. Second, because Internet Communication Technology and Computers have became a critical part of our daily lives. And Third, for all its imperfection cyberspace is a forum for ideas and a bastion of freedom … a fortress of Democracy.

And this is why we, people from all walks of life, contributed this set of ideas, formed through words and built up to this document. A Magna Carta that extends all the rights, obligations, protection and duties between the People and its State to the Internet.

Last Monday, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed the MCPIF as Senate Bill 3327. This Quest does not end there. This is just the beginning. This will take a hundred … a thousand … a million … a billion times longer than cooking four strips of bacon … But we will get there -because it is not only our present at stake but the future of our sons and daughters.

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3 Responses to Why Support the Magna Carta for Philippine Internet Freedom

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