There is an ongoing debate on rights and freedom of speech and expression in the Internet age. For the Philippines, it began with the CyberCrime Prevention Act of 2012, with the inclusion of Online Libel provisions. It continued with the petitions before the Supreme Court. It goes on today with Nancy Binays e-violence bill, and the Santiago-Conjungco Magna Carta on Philippine Internet Freedom (MCPIF).

The Presidents argument in the inclusion of online libel in the Cybercrime Prevention Act is sound. We have rights, but it shouldnt be abused. Thats not whats wrong with the Cybercrime law. Whats wrong about it is how it goes about it.

The same tone exists with Nancy Binays e-violence bill. It seeks to prevent electronic attacks. The Binay argument is based on what the senator experienced during the campaign. Never mind that the bill she wishes to file doesnt actually protect her. Never mind that its inclusion into the Violence Against Women and Children, muddles VAWC. Never mind that e-violence goes about solving the purported protection for women, in the same way the cybercrime law does. To put it simply, a misnomer.

A meme, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. A meme is a shortening of the Greek word, mimeme, and the word meme was first coined by Richard Dawkins. And an Internet meme is of course speech, and expression spreading from social networks, in email, as hashtags, video, photos, and so on. Even as viral marketing. It was meant to be shared. Meant to be viewed. Memes have been in existence since the dawn of the Internet.

Internet meme in the political context has taken over what political cartoons used to be. Public figures and public personas are the favorite targets of meme. President Aquino is a target. And his successor would be too. Just ask many Internet sites, and Facebook pages that love to attack the president.

Sometimes the meme is totally baseless, intellectually dishonest and at times, propaganda and opinion. The deputy press secretary, Abigail Valte, for example has been a victim of meme attacks. Her face, embedded with words she didnt actually say. Perhaps, it is the cognitive bias built by an echo chamber that exist only to validate their world view.

During the 2013 Senatorial campaign, Nancy Binay has been a victim of memes. A favorite target partly because she refused to engaged the online world, and partly because the online community is hardly her demographic. And so, apparently her ego bruised by the recent campaign.

President Aquino, Nancy Binay and Abigail Valte share the same problem. They are publicly attacked. Now, it can be argued that all three are public figures. Do they deserve it? Whether the attacks had basis or not, is beside the point. Every public figure should be ready to have their reputations and image disfigured because we live in a democracy that doesnt place unnecessary demand of intelligence to be heard. So the bar of libel and the bar of tolerance ought to be set higher than the ordinary citizen. It can be argued that as public officials ought to have thicker hides. it can also and rightly argued that sometimes public opinion can take it a bit far, and below the belt.

Would an amendment on Violence against women help protect Deputy Press Secretary Valte or Senator Nancy Binay? The quick answer is: No because the matter is not a domestic issue because the Violence against women and children is focused on domestic violence so the proposed e-violence bill doesnt work for them. Whats more, the leveling of playing field that is the Internet doesnt give any sex more power or less power on the Internet. While it is true, that women are far more easy targets in the real world, on a purely statistic basis, there are 47% male users and 53% female Facebook users in Philippines, compared to 49% and 51% in United Kingdom and 49% and 51% in France.

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MCPIF on freedom of expression and speech