Accounts of social media users found to violate the TOCs can be disabled. The
same is true for telephone companies. But users with the propensity for or willful
intention to use the internet for illegal and harmful purposes, can easily create new
accounts under different identities. As for the phone companies, pre-paid SIM cards
are readily available, cheap, and do not require registration, making it easy to replace
disconnected cellular phone connections.
She later
realized
that her fight
for justice
was
no longer
her own...
Telecommunications companies, ISPs and other service providers are explicit in
their terms and conditions: they are under no legal obligation to monitor or screen
how their services are used. They leave it with the users to report, and only after a
complaint is substantiated will they take action. This is problematic because even if
there are unusual and suspicious digital traffic data they will not voluntarily monitor
or report to authorities.
In the case of cyber-pornography in Cordova, for example, even if a series of raids
have been carried out there is still no apparent effort on the part of service providers
to cooperate with authorities. Phone companies, on the other hand, claim that they
do not keep an archive of text messages or SMS contents, but they keep transaction
records. Unless a victim is able to save the messages she received from a harasser
for example, she does not have evidence to prove her complaint.
The privacy policies of service providers state that confidentiality of a client’s
information will be protected and will not be disclosed without the consent of the
client, but under international and national laws, these intermediaries are required to
submit to subpoenas, warrants or court orders.
Data preservation policies are time-bound and therefore restrictive. The
intermediaries store their data for a limited period of time; if it took time for
arrests and prosecution to occur – and they do take a long time in the Philippines –
important data would have been deleted.
Dynamics of Justice
research sought to document what ‘obtaining justice’ meant to the victims/
T hesurvivors
of technology-driven VAW. Of the three cases, only one victim (Ruby)
was willing and available for interview, hence first-hand information on the subject
is limited.
18
<End Violence: Women’s Rights and Safety Online>
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