BAUTISTA, Florbeth O.

7:30 pm
Technology and the Law
Grano, Jr.

Thursday; 5:30 pm
Atty. Romulo De

Critique Paper on Professor Jonathan Zittrains Lecture

This lecture provides the following insights: (1) internet system has
evolved from centralized to distributed, wherein the control for introducing,
sharing and receiving information was not centralized to one authority.
However, the other side of this is that viruses and worms can also spread
easily throughout this system; (2) data can be transferred fast and easily e.g
peers wherein two company agrees to receive packets and give data to each
other but this might cause certain consequences because certain information
can be used for illicit purpose; (3) internet technology is so sophisticated and
though a very helpful tool cannot be able to predict through time.

Professor Zittrain gives the basic foundation on how to understand

basic concepts and principles regarding internet technology. He also cites
some implication that is inevitable through the enjoyment or practice of
such; he gives an example that it can be used for nefarious purposes for e.g.
purporting to be a bank and demanding an update of information. However,
as expected he cannot give a blanket solution to the problem since nobody
can. But he also cite the the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) which
from what he said I can deduce that this organization not only improves the
quality of the intenet but also comply with certain rules and law. Being the
one cognizant with this very complicated topic, it is also good to know that
there is an organization who volunteered to make this system work.

Internet technology though a very revolutionary invention that

improves lives, economies, and well-being of each and every one. It has
several consequences that some had already been dealt with through law
and other through technology also eg, good worms. As he implies, though
one of the solution is government-private cooperation, this seems to be an

impossible task. His point is very well-taken given the fact that there are two
vital interests colliding in this case: the improvement of technology and the
government interest of protecting itself and its citizen. There should be a
delicate balance of the two important interests to make sure that technology
should not be hampered by government intrusion while the Government
should act in accordance to its mandate to protect the welfare of its people.

The use of technology can be considered a right of every citizen.

Improvement of technology is not only a national concern but also an
international concern and our constitution even explicitly provides for the
enhancement of the same. But just like every right it should be exercised in
consideration of others and with due regard that in exercising the same one
must not trample other rights. Though rights maybe a vague term, its
definition maybe enlarged or lessened by custom and law. Since in our
jurisprudence, customs are applied only in the court of justice in the absence
of law, every citizen should act in accordance with the law. The question now
is twofold: does the existing law covers such illicit acts over the internet, and
second: can the congress keep up with the latest ideas from the people who
are experts in their field? Professor Zittrains idea that the core principles of
internet technology like the cloud are entities that is virtually impossible to
police and apply the law. The extent of the cloud is virtually limitless, and
for the cloud to be totally policed one would need a highly centralized body
that does not stop policing every single entity on the Internet, hence his
central post office analogy. This is hugely impractical, let alone feasible.
This puts the legislature in a very difficult task to enact laws that can
regulate unscrupulous activities on the Internet according to its mandate. It
must be able to keep in pace with the latest in technology to keep up with
the various elements that use the Internet, whether for good or for evil. This
is a huge challenge for lawmakers, and considering the very fast pace of
technological development they will quickly know that their laws wont be
foolproof for very long. This is a game of cat and mouse, law and technology.