philippines

Philippines court halts a contentious cybercrime law

Days after a strict cybersecurity law went into effect in the Philippines, the country's Supreme Court suspended it.

According to the Associated Press, the court issued a temporary restraining order to freeze the government's enforcement of the Cybercrime Prevention Act 2012. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the law will be suspended for 120 days. The court plans to hear oral arguments from the law's supporters and critics in January.

President Benigno Aquino III signed the law last month and it became official last week. There were no reports of anyone violating the law.

Thousands of people … Read more

Can you be jailed for a Facebook 'Like' in the Philippines?

I once dated a Filipina.

On her fridge were the words: "Believe in the miracle of the Blessed Virgin."

I mention this because what was written there was not quite what I experienced. There was a certain recondite, draconian, and rather unforgiving aspect to the miracle of meeting her, which undercut my initially blessed beliefs.

Naturally, not for a moment would I suggest she is representative of everyone -- or even anyone else -- in the Philippines. However, some citizens there are worried that there might be one or two difficult revelations in a miraculous new law that … Read more

Google Person Finder helping to find missing in Philippine floods

The recent flooding in the Philippines has left many people stranded or missing. Now Google is using its Person Finder to aid in the search.

Person Finder is aimed at connecting missing persons with their loved ones. Anyone who is looking for a lost person or has information about someone who's been found can use the Person Finder page to post that person's name.

If you're looking for someone who's missing, you can enter the person's name or at least parts of the name. And if you've have information on someone who's been … Read more

Four hack suspects linked to terrorist group

The FBI and Philippine law enforcement officials arrested four people in the Philippines this week who were allegedly paid by terrorists to hack into AT&T's system, but the company said its system was not breached.

The four, who were arrested Wednesday in Manila, were paid by the same Saudi Arabian-based terrorist group identified by the FBI as funding the 2008 attack on Mumbai, the Philippines' Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said in a statement. The coordinated attacks in India's largest city claimed 164 lives and wounded at least 308.

"The hacking activity resulted in … Read more

Fake iPhone costs $75 in the Philippines

Plenty of knock-off iPhones have surfaced over the years, but here's a fresh look at a model that's being sold today in the Philippines under the name i9 iPhone. According to CNET reader Samuel Sandoval, who shot a short video of the phone (Facebook sign-in required), it costs around $75 and has dual-SIM slots, which means you can be on two different carriers at the same time. There's even a nice Apple logo on the back of the phone.

It's hard to tell exactly what OS the i9 runs. Though it looks like the iPhone OS … Read more

Typhoon knocks out Asia telecom cable

A cut in the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 undersea submarine cable crippled connection speeds for users in the Asia-Pacific region on Wednesday, particularly in Singapore and the Philippines.

Users were sending updates to local forums and Twitter, complaining of slow connection speeds to sites hosted outside of the region.

According to a notice sent by Malaysian telephone company TM Net, the cable fault was traced to segment 7 of the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2), which stretches between Shantou, China, and Tanshui, Taiwan. TM Net traced the outage to Typhoon Morakot, which hit the region over the weekend.

Additionally, segment … Read more

Intel to close plants, up to 6,000 workers affected

Updated at 3:00 p.m. PST with comments from an Intel spokesperson.

Intel said on Wednesday it will close chip plants to align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions. Between 5,000 and 6,000 employees will be affected.

The world's largest chipmaker will halt production at five "older" factories.

The company plans to close two existing assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia, and one in Cavite, Philippines, and will halt production at Fab 20, an older 200mm wafer fabrication facility in Hillsboro, Ore., Intel said. Additionally, wafer production operations will end at the D2 … Read more

Desktop Linux proves its mettle in emerging markets

While I'm not much of a desktop Linux cheerleader, I found this news that the Philippines has rolled out 23,000 Linux desktops to schools very interesting, particularly when read in conjunction with commentary from Malaysia.

The net? Microsoft is heavily subsidizing Windows and Office to keep Linux out, but Linux is proving cheaper ("Microsoft matched the price by offering Windows XP for $US20 a copy and throwing in Office for $US30, but we still came out cheaper") and at least as easy as Windows to use.

In fact, the cost savings from Linux have been so substantial that the Philippines is rolling out its Linux desktop program beyond the 30,000 existing seats, and was even able to purchase an additional 3,000 seats for government use. The rationale is clear:… Read more

In the Philippines, an auction for the iPhone 3G

Philippines auction site Auction.ph is planning to make the Apple iPhone 3G available on the Web site, but issues such as product sourcing and potential carrier partnerships remain hazy.

In a press briefing Friday, Auction.ph--one of the country's pioneering auction sites--unveiled a special program to put the new iPhone for sale at an online auction.

"It is a promo for our loyal users and online merchandisers," said Angelo Hernandez, public relations chief at Auction.ph. The executive said Auction.ph will initially auction off one iPhone 3G unit, with a starting price of "only" 1 peso (2 cents), at bidding increments of 0.5 peso.

Hernandez said the company expects a "lucky" bidder to snare the iPhone 3G--which goes on sale in the Philippines on Friday, August 22--at a cost far less than the announced price tag of the mobile device.

The appeal of purchasing the phone on the site, he said, is that Auction.ph already has a "fixed" price range for the iPhone 3G, from 1 peso to 5,000 pesos ($110). The price range is considerably cheaper than the 30,000 (US$663) price tag of the iPhone currently offered in the local market, he added.

Hernandez, however, remained mum on whether the Apple phone will be a regular item on the auction site.

Although it has a substantial user base, he said, Auction.ph has yet to initiate talks on how it will source for iPhone units and on possible partnership with local distributors and carriers.

"But we are open to this arrangement," Hernandez said, adding that the auction site has more than 1 million subscribers, including individual sellers, merchants, and bidders.

Auction.ph's CEO and founder, Oh Hyuk, started a similar auction site in South Korea that was eventually acquired by U.S. online giant eBay. … Read more