The Philippines have suspended a controversial cybercrime law passed last week, after the public protested the SOPA-like act.
The country's Supreme Court has blocked the law for four months while the pros and cons are studied, Agence France Presse reported.
The law has been compared to America's SOPA, which drew ire from the
public online and in the streets. It was initially put in place last
week to protect against Internet crimes like hacking, identity theft,
spamming, and online child pornography, the Associated Press reported.
More from GlobalPost: Philippines: click "like," go to prison
However, it also made online libel a crime that could be punished
with up to 12 years in jail, and "seemed to indicate that citizens could
be arrested for negative comments toward the police or government
leveled via Facebook, Twitter or the internet in general," Forbes reported.
Human Rights Watch's Asia director Brad Adams welcomed the move by
the court in a statement, but urged it to "now go further by striking
down this seriously flawed law," BBC News reported.
The Supreme Court is currently in its regular full court session, and set a review of the law for January 15, 2013, the Manilla Bulletin reported.
INFORMATION FROM THIS SITE : http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/philippines/121009/philippines-cybercrime-law-suspended
