SOUTH EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, INC.

National Highway, Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato

ETHICS FOR I.T. PROFESSIONALS

with Legal Aspects in Computing

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IT 223: Fundamentals of Database System

SOUTH EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, INC.

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 LEARNING MANUAL
FOR
IT 223: ETHICS FOR I.T. PROFESSIONALS
_____________________________________________________

WEEK 5-6

COURSE OUTLINE

COURSE CODE : IT 223

TITLE : ETHICS FOR I.T. PROFESSIONALS
TARGET POPULATION : All College of Information Communication Technology Students
INSTRUCTOR : MR. Franklin R. Tamayo, MIT

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 TECHNOLOGIES’ IMPACT ON PRIVACY

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this chapter, the student is expected to:

 Be knowledgeable of his privacy rights and the rights to due process guaranteed by the constitution;
 Recite the requisites of procedural due process;
 To evaluate whether a particular scenario constitutes a violation of his rights to privacy;
 To defend and argue whether in a particular instance, a person may have a reasonable expectation of
privacy; and
 Demonstrate the concept of identity theft and illustrate the ways from which such may be avoided.

Dicussion
TECHNOLOGIES’ IMPACT ON PRIVACY
INTRODUCTION
The impact of technology has affected almost every individual from a nursery pupil to the oldest senior
citizens. A laptop being used by a three year old child is now common; senior citizens who used to hate computers
are now using Facebook and Twitter. An employee who came to work without his mobile phone will be forced to go
back home for he cannot live a day without his phone. During my daughter's eighteenth birthday, the resort owner
told me, "Sir, because of Facebook, my gross income was significantly increased due to the frequent reunion
prepared by my customers which was usually initiated due to posting of class pictures in Facebook. On the other
hand, are problems brought about by stalkers who used technologies in order to obtain private information from
Facebook users by pretending to be a friend. Hence there are also drawbacks brought about by technological
advances.

Constitutional Provision on Privacy

The word “PRIVACY" was only mentioned once in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, thus:
(1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or
when public safety or order requires otherwise as prescribed by law.
(2) Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding section shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any
proceeding. (Art. III, Sec. 3)

Reading or even memorizing this constitutional provision of our Constitution will not be enough in determining
whether one's privacy is being violated or not because the right of citizen to privacy is NOT absolute, that is, it
admits of exemptions and this is clear in the phrase "except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or
order requires otherwise as prescribed by law." A good question might be,

 When can we say that the order of the court is lawful?

 In what instance that a citizen's right to privacy can be invaded because public safety or order requires it?
 What are the laws which prescribe the invasion of an individual's privacy?
A. Exemption 1. Lawful Court Order.
The court order is lawful when the search warrant (court order) is issued by the judge after he personally
determines that there is a probable cause which is required by Art. III Section 2 of the Constitution, thus:
The right of the people to be secured in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches
and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of
arrest shall be issued except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination
under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the
place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

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 B. Public Order or Safety Requirement
This provision is best explained without regard to technology. In the Philippines, terrorists often
carry out their attacks in public places such as LRT/MRT station and shopping malls. Hence, if Pedro is
carrying his precious wedding gift specially wrapped and sealed for wedding purposes decides to ride at any
LRT/MRT station, he cannot prevent the security guards to compel him to open and show the contents of
the gift. This is because of the principle that the general welfare of the public is the supreme law. Thus,
when one decides to ride in LRT/MRT or to travel by plane, he is temporary surrendering his rights to privacy
because public safety requires it.
C. Express Provision of the Law
There are so many laws which provide an express provision requiring surrender of one's privacy. For
instance, under the Anti Money Laundering Law, when an individual deposits in one transaction an amount
of at least Three Hundred Thousand pesos (P300,000) in a bank, the latter is obliged by law to provide the
name, as well as the personal information of the depositor, to the Anti Money Laundering council. Since this
book is NOT intended for law students, we do not need to enumerate all laws and explain each of them. It is
enough that the reader understands their meaning.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASE 1. LEGAL ISSUES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL COMPUTERIZED ID SYSTEM BLAS
F. OPLE, et.al vs. RUBEN TORRES, et.al (GR No. 127685. July 23, 1998)

FACTS:
On December 12, 1996, then Pres. Fidel V. Ramos issued Administrative Order No. 38 entitled "ADOPTION OF A
NATIONAL COMPUTERIZED IDENTIFICATION REFERENCE SYSTEM" (AO 38) to provide Filipino citizens and foreign
residents with the facility to conveniently transact business with basic service among others. The Administrative
Order was published on January 22, 1997 and January 23, 1997. On January 24, 1997, then Senator Blas OPLE filed a
petition contending that:

 A.O. 308 is unconstitutional usurpation of the legislative powers of Congress.

 It violates of individual's right to privacy.

ISSUE:
Whether or not A.O.308 is unconstitutional for violation of individual's right to privacy.

RULING:
There is an extensive debate which was first resolved by the Supreme Court regarding the nature of AO 38, that is, is
it a law or just an administrative order implementing a law? The Supreme Court held that AO 38 is a law and hence,
unconstitutional because the President has no power to make laws. We shall not 1. Broadness, vagueness and
overbreadth of AO 38. It does not state in clear and discuss this extensively since our focus is only in privacy issues.

AO 38 was held to be unconstitutional for the following reasons:

1. It does NOT provide who shall control and access the data, under what circumstances and for what purpose.
2. There is NO guard against leakage of information. Thus, an intruder, without fear of sanction or penalty, can make
use of the data for whatever purpose, or worse, manipulate the data stored within the system.
3. An individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy with regard to the National ID System
4. The rules and regulation to be promulgated by the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee (IACC) cannot remedy
the defect.
5. It does not satisfy with the rational relationship test

Question: Is our Supreme Court against the use of technology?

Answer: Not really. According to the Supreme Court,

Even while we strike down A.O. No. 308, we spell out in neon that the Court is not per se against the use of
computers to accumulate, store, process, retrieve and transmit data to improve our bureaucracy. Computers work
wonders to achieve the efficiency which both government and private industry seek. Many information systems in
different countries make use of the computer to facilitate important

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Personal Observation
Normally when one of the grounds raised by the petitioner was resolved so that the others would become
irrelevant and/or moot and academic, the Supreme Court will not mind discussing the other grounds. AO 38 is
unconstitutional because it is a law and making laws is not included in the powers of the executive branch. The SC
would normally stop there. However, the divided court15 explain and discuss fully the privacy issue notwithstanding
that fact that said AO 38 would still be unconstitutional even if it will not violate the privacy right of an individual.
Maybe, the magistrates would like to guide the lawmakers in the future if the latter decide to enact law called, the
National ID System.

Practicing Our Logical Reasoning Skill

Since there is an express provision of the law which requires that authorization must be given by all parties,
the SC is without any authority to interpret otherwise because that is the clear intention of Congress. Doing so
would be tantamount to indirectly amend the law which is NOT vested by the Constitution in the Legislature. What
cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly To test our logical reasoning skill let us suppose we are
lawmakers. If we were the ones who will make laws, is it really more reasonable and justified to require the
authorization of all parties? Or is it enough to get the consent of at least one? Bear in mind that in case we find it
more proper to require that at least one of the parties to the private conversation, the intention of Congress will still
prevail because such is an example of a political issue and not a justiciable one. We cannot question the wisdom of
Congress. Another simple example of a political issue is when Pres. Noynoy Aquino appointed Mr. Robredo as DILG
Secretay. Although many believed that Vice President Binay is the best person for that job, no one can question the
wisdom of the President because that is NOT a justiciable issue but a political one. stone or the

Privacy Rights of Convicted/Detained Person

If Juan is convicted of the crime of rape, can he invoke his right of privacy? Can he still use a mobile phone or
a laptop computer to communicate freely with his friends and /or families? In one case involving the then Lt. SG now
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, the latter alleged that the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
("ISAFP") officials violated his privacy rights when they opened and read the letters handed by Trillanes, and other
detainees to their visitors.

The Concept of Identity Theift

Identity theft is a type of consumer fraud and "occurs when a person knowingly uses another person's
information in a fraudulent manner for the purpose of obtaining goods, services, or credit the identity thief looks for
information he can use to create official documents or gain access to financial accounts Nowadays, phishing and
computer hacking are the most prevalent means of obtaining personal information. Phishing is a high-tech scam that
uses spam or pop- up messages to deceive a person into disclosing his credit card numbers, bank account
information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information. It is mostly done through an e-mail.
Phishers send an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you deal with
internet service provider (ISP). bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message usually
says that the person needs to "update" or "validate" his account information. It threatens some dire consequence if
he does not respond. The message directs them to a Web site that looks just like a legitimate organization's site. The
purpose of this is to deceive a person into divulging his personal information so the operators can steal his identity
and run up bills or commit crimes in his name So, we must be careful and be cautious before we surrender our
personal information to anyone. Worst, if we become a victim of this scheme, the process of determination by our
law enforcement agency is NOT easy despite the fact that our laws are NOT enough in our dear country.

Ethical Issues on Professional Relationships and Hearsay

According to Chief Justice Puno, the due process clause of the Constitution is an important element of the
privacy rights of an individual. The due process clause is contained in Article III, Section 1 of the Philippine
Constitution, thus:

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What is Due Process?
The constitution contains no formal definition of "due process", however, both local and foreign
jurisprudence held that:

By "due process of law" we mean "a law which hears before it condemns; which proceeds upon inquiry, and
renders judgment only after trial.

Affording due process, it has been observed, is a practical application in all areas of our life. Let's say, if you
are a strict parent, your teenage daughter one night came home at midnight. After opening the door, you quickly
slapped her face and shout, "Bakit ngayon ka lang dumating?!" (It's not a song from Oghie Alcasid). Your daughter
quickly ran quickly to her room and cried. Now let's pause for a while and put ourselves in the shoes of the parent
concerned. Normally, the parent will go back to his/her room wherein his/her spouse is waiting. Your better-half will
ask, "Bakit daw ginabi ang anak mo?" Then you will respond, "I did NOT ask her!"

Aspects of "Due Process":

1. Procedural due process - refers to the mode of procedure which government and private agencies, must follow in
the enforcement and application of laws and rules.
2. Substantive due process - prohibition against arbitrary laws.

Requisites of Procedural Due Process

For judicial proceedings:
1. A court or tribunal clothed with judicial power to hear and determine the matter before it.
2. Jurisdiction must be lawfully acquired over the person of the defendant or over the property which is the subject
of the proceedings.
3. The defendant must be given notice and an opportunity to be heard.
4. Judgment must be rendered upon a lawful hearing.

In analyzing the stylistic way of how the constitution is worded, we can formulate the following rule:

General Rule:
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property.

Exception to the Rule:

If there is due process of law.

So what? Anybody can understand this. Does it have any legal significance?

Yes, it has very important legal consequences. Since the exemption to the rule can be only applied if there is
due process, any person in litigation who alleged that there is due process of clause has the burden of proof. In law,
whoever alleges the exemption to the rule has the burden of proof! Going back to the case of Mr. Chavez, it is his
stand that he was not afforded the right to be heard. In other words, he alleges the absence of due process which is
the general rule. And since it falls under the general rule, it is presumed in law. In computing parlance, that is the
default value, the initial value! Since, it is presumed, Mr. Chavez does NOT have to prove it. It is his employer, who
alleged, that they gave due process to Mr. Chavez, who is tasked to produce evidence.

Now, what if the Constitution was amended and Sec. 1 of Article III was amended to read as follows:

"A person may be deprived of life, liberty and property, unless if there is no due process of law."

Due Process Clause Applied in Software Designs

You may not be aware that a programmer is applying that due process clause when designing and writing
programs, that is, it gives the users the right to be heard when it discerns the presence of a clear and present
danger.

To illustrate, suppose you open your file named "complete.doc" and type therein several pages, when you
accidentally press a key which is the key for closing a file. Since there is a clear and present danger, the system will
automatically give you an opportunity to be heard, thus, a message will automatically appear as in the following
figure:

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Name: Section:
Date: Score:

ASSESSMENT TASKS 1
TABAKO University is a well-known school in the Province of Laguna. The Security Department through the
advice of the MIS department implemented a rule which will subject every student's LAPTOP to inspection in order
to ensure that NO pornographic materials, pirated software and other prohibited materials are stored in a student's
laptop.

Mr. Manny Yac is the President of the Supreme Student Government (SSG) and contends that such a rule
violates their privacy rights guaranteed by the Constitution because a laptop is a personal property especially their
contents.

The Security Chief counter-argued and contends that their school bags as well as its contents are also
personal property but the inspection of such is not being ruled to be a violation of privacy rights. Thus, inspecting
laptops and their contents cannot be said to be a violation of a student's privacy rights.

The Dean of Student Affairs asks your opinion with the foregoing legal issue. What will be your advice to the
Dean of Student Affairs?

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Name: Section:
Date: Score:

ASSESSMENT TASKS 2
Atty. JD, Vice President for Legal and Human Resources Department of TABAKO Corp. issues a memorandum
advising all employees of TABAKO that the corporation had acquired a SPYWARE which is capable of monitoring the
activities done by each employee in their PCs including personal email messages, chats and all the sites they visited
in the net. Ms. Faying Baniqued, President of the Employee's Union, criticized the memorandum and opined that
such regulation is a violation of their privacy rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Will you support the contention
of Ms. Faying? Why or Why not?

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