David Bridges
THE Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, Women and Children Cybercrime Protection Unit (PNP-ACG-WCCPU) secured two
warrants from a Manila court that authorizes them to order social media giants “Facebook” and “YouTube” to disclose information chats, images and other content that were posted on their platforms by “Usapang Diskarte”, a site that allegedly promoted sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
The Warrants to Disclose Computer Data (WDCD) had asked Facebook and YouTube to preserve the data over fears that they may lose the information necessary for the filing of a case against the uploader.
The two social media giants granted the PNP request on July 20 and 28 respectively.
The Cybercrime Court in Manila issued the warrant and ACG has endorsed the cyber-warrants to the Department of Justice Office on Cybercrime (DoJ-OOC) for implementation pursuant to Rule on Cybercrime Warrants.
They cited Section 2.8 of the Extraterritorial Service of Warrants and other Court Processes-For persons or service providers situated outside of the Philippines, service of warrants and/or other court processes shall be coursed through the Department of Justice-Office of Cybercrime, in line with all relevant international instruments and/or agreements on the matter.
“After we forward this, we will wait for the data to be transmitted to us. This can include thousands of images, information on the account owner as well as their subscribers, chat logs and other information. We expect this investigation to be heavy,” Lt. Col. Irene Cena, head WCCPU.
“Usapang Diskarte” is a Facebook and YouTube account created and uploaded with content on sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The account has over 250,000 subscribers/followers connected to a group of sexual predators who equates “macho” (manliness) with being abusive.
Ivy Caldwell
Cameron Steel
