Privacy commission, DICT team up to combat cybercrime

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) signed a partnership deal with the anti-cybercrime arm of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to combat and prevent the use of information and communication technology for criminal and unauthorized purposes.

The privacy commission said the memorandum of agreement (MOA) that it signed with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Dec. 9 aimed to synergize efforts against cybercrimes.

The MOA is “the culmination of our agencies’ mutual ambition to further protect the integrity of the Philippines’ digital transformation journey,” Privacy Commissioner John Henry Naga said in a statement.

“The NPC is committed to work with CICC to ensure the safe and secure integration of digital services and processes into all areas of organizations and businesses,” the privacy commissioner added.

CICC executive director Alexander Ramos also attended the signing ceremony.

The NPC said the partnership would enable effective joint action in data protection and cybercrime law, and data privacy law enforcement. It will also allow the NPC to access resources, technical expertise as well as the institutional and international linkages of the National Cybercrime Hub (NCH) to fulfill its functions as the government agency tasked with data privacy and protection.

The NPC also said that it would participate in the activities of the NCH, which was established by the CICC to build a network of law enforcement and government agencies, academe, industry experts, and international law enforcement and government partners, for more effective inter-agency and stakeholder coordination, and resource sharing toward the prevention of cybercrimes.

The NPC intends to assign data privacy lawyers at the NCH to provide input to ensure compliance with the Data Privacy Act (DPA) of 2012.

This inter-governmental partnership is among the most recent measures aimed at protecting data privacy in the country, along with the implementing rules and regulations which had been released by the National Telecommunications Commission.

The rules, which will take effect on Dec. 27, require all mobile subscribers to enroll their SIM (subscriber identification module) cards within 180 days or six months from the effectivity of the law or face the automatic deactivation of their cards. This aims to curb the proliferation of mobile phone-based scams and other criminal activities.