Related to hacking, the E-Commerce Law of the Philippines will be tested in court for the first time with the landmark case Thames International Business School vs. Leilani Garcia. Here is an article from Metropolitan Computer Times that summarizes the status of this case.
Landmark Hacking Case Goes on TrialBy Melvin G. Calimag, Assistant Editor Posted 05 June 2002 14:28 +8:00
The first hacking case to be filed under Philippine laws went on trial last May 29,2002 starting off a groundbreaking legal process that is being viewed as a test case for Internet-related crimes in the country.
Charged for allegedly violating a provision of RA 8792, also known as the e-commerce act of 2000, was Leilani Garcia, a former employee of the complainant, Thames International Business School.Garcia was alleged to have illegally accessed the school's computer system with a password that was provided to her by co-accused Cesar Mañalac, the former IT support chief of Thames.
A similar case has been filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against Mañalac and is now undergoing preliminary investigation by the prosecutor's office. The preliminary investigation, also called a pre-trial, is required before a formal case is filed in court. Garcia, a 27-year-old certified public accountant, was the school's system supervisor from January 29, 2000 until her resignation in March 23, 2001. The intrusion allegedly happened December 17,24, 25, and 31, 2000 and January 1, 2001. Garcia, who posted a P6, 000 bail for her temporary liberty, did not grant interviews to the media when she attended the first hearing of the case in the sala of Judge Maria Cristina Romero of Branch 96 of the Pasig Metropolitan Trial Court.
The landmark case was filed in Pasig, a city south of Manila, since Garcia supposedly used the telephone number of her residence in subdivision located in the city to hack into Thames.
The school, an international college affiliated with universities in the United Kingdom, is owned and operated by Vivienne Tan, daughter of beer and tobacco magnate Lucio Tan. It is located in a building in San Juan, a municipality next to Pasig.
During the trial, Robert Lim, counsel for the accused, filed a motion to dismiss the case. The presiding judge rejected the move saying the case was "only on its first day of trial."
Lim questioned the documents presented by the plaintiffs and demanded that the contending party issue a list of evidences allegedly used by Garcia to commit the unauthorized access.
The school's lawyer, Charlton Jules-Romero, argued that the evidences have already been presented in the pre-trial stage. "I'm afraid this will become a fishing expedition because we have submitted all the documents." In her counter-affidavit filed in court, Garcia said she did not commit the crime "unauthorized access" since the password to the Thames account was freely given to her by Mañalac. "He also told me to that it was common practice for other employees to sometimes access and use the account, as long as the school was not using it," she claimed.
On this basis, she said the one of the elements of hacking—unauthorized access—is not present. Garcia added the complaint was unfounded and was only filed to harass and destroy her reputation. She bewailed the fact that Thames failed to file an administrative case against her although she was still working for the school when the alleged crime happened. She said she was never subpoenaed by the NBI regarding the investigation and only read her name in the newspapers.
The second hearing has been set for June 19, wherein the prosecution is expected to present its two principal witnesses. They are Martin Salazar of Net Gen IT, the Internet service provider of Thames which was purportedly able to record the phone number used by Garcia, and Jaime Noel Santos, co-founder of Thames.
Have and Merry Christmas and a properous New Year....!
