Halo Halong Pinoy

Saturday, January 31, 2009

All bloggers in the Philippines will need to register for a license?

Do you have a license to blog?


If the plan of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) gets approved and implemented, then all bloggers in the Philippines will need to register for a license.

This, of course, is not limited to bloggers but to anybody who creates content and publishes it online. The draft Memo can be found at .

The NTC scheduled a public hearing last January 22, 2009, but immediately cancelled it a few minutes before the scheduled hearing.

I am not privy to what their reasons are for canceling or postponing the hearing but I am hoping that the NTC will explain it on the website as to the real reason(s) for not pushing through with the hearing.

Frankly, I do not know who suggested this to the NTC but I find it absurd! From the point of view of an educator, sharing information is crucial in learning. Accessing content created by experts and peers are of equal importance to learning.

Now, imagine each student and each teacher being required to pay PhP6,300 per year just so they can post on the internet is highway robbery! How else can we allow our students to participate online?

What does this mean to our IT industry? Software developers creating web-based applications or distributing software online, creative folks who design web-sites, multimedia artists who craft audio, still and video content and all other IT-related professionals who use the internet will be burdened by this circular.

Personally, I’d rather move out of the country than be under this ridiculous rule! I am sure that IT companies who are thinking of setting up offices in the Philippines will think twice! No thanks to NTC!

The cost of publishing information online will increase and will definitely be passed on to the consumers. If this will be the case, then most will refrain from doing transactions online, which is supposed to make information access cheaper, and revert back to plain dead tree versions. Who wins? Only NTC wins because they get paid to issue a license to allow you to write a single paragraph on your blog!

I refused to admit it but this country is going backwards! Whilst the rest of the world is trying to capitalize on a new mode of information dissemination, our government, thanks to the NTC, wants to make it more difficult for its citizens to participate. In this so-called Participation Age, the NTC wants the Philippines to be left out by making it difficult for its citizens to even post a single relevant comment on a blog!

I honestly think that the NTC should push the country forward by requiring broadband providers to give better services to Filipinos. Access to information is crucial in today’s highly competitive landscape.

However, with telcos providing poor coverage, poor customer services, and relatively slow broadband connections, how can we be competitive? IMHO, NTC should require telcos to increase their broadband bandwidth offerings by doubling it every year.

Right now, we’re stuck at 3Mbps, which is PATHETIC! It would have been great if we are getting 3Mbps every single time and not only during the wee hours of the morning!

Anyway, I urge everyone to be vigilant. The NTC might announce another hearing on this circular, and just like this one, may try to slip it under our noses. Make sure that you oppose this circular because it does more harm than good for our country! (By Rom Feria)


http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2009/01/26/TECH20090126146615.html

2 comments:

MrValdez said...

Ouch! I have to monitor this. >.<

MrValdez said...

Clicky:

http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?s=a42a754e15006f17b1b8cce3107ca817&threadid=34561

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