"The Philippine Government has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Freedom of Expression in the Philippines," the message read.
"But some parts of the bill basically says it can imprison anyone who commits libel either by written messages, comments, blogs or posts in sites such as Facebook, Twitter or any other comment spaces of other social media in the Internet."
To make a stand has yet to cross my mind. Not that I won't be affected by the Cybercrime Bill, but I still have to read the law before I can judge its potency. Moving behind the curtains has effectively covered my tracks. My words, with their ability to destroy, also, have yet to be used for such purpose.
The ground I walk is built on anonymity. I may have revealed myself to some. But to the digital cosmos, I have remained largely incognito. For this reason, I fear not the bill. If I wish to mangle someone's name, I could always do it without leaving a hint of my doing.
I know little about libel, and from the words I heard, news organizations were successful in promoting their interests while protecting their men. In college, I remember little about the subject since Journalists seldom get imprisoned for the letters they put on print.
And then this hacking incident came.
Let it be a warning that this government website takeover is just the beginning. The online community has yet to realize how the bill can bring misery to individuals. When word flies that a careless denizen really got jailed for the words he left online, expect a backlash never before seen in this country's history.
The people won't give up their freedom without putting up a fight.