The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday said the proposal to shut down social media accounts linked to terrorism could “impinge” individuals’ right to privacy. “The State must acknowledge that the proposal necessarily entails surveillance power, which impinges on the right to privacy of communication and correspondence as well as the sacred right to private life,” CHR said in a statement. ADVERTISEMENTCHR was reacting to the proposal of Senators Panfilo Lacson and Gringo Honasan to task the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to shut down social media accounts linked to terrorism. Roberton Lapuz of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) said their agency suggested to include acts such as posting, liking, sharing, propagating hate, and participating in ISIS websites as grounds for the shutting down social media accounts. “To ensure protection of basic freedoms and rights, the provisions must be very precise in order to guarantee utmost due process,” it said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 29, 2018 11:26 UTC