IT Law Journal

administrator May 16th, 2004

Editorial
by Jaime N. Soriano

The e-Law Center would like to publicly express its deepest appreciation to the Arellano University School of Law and the Arellano Law Foundation, particularly to Dean Mariano Magsalin Jr. and Mr. Florentino Cayco III, for their unwavering commitment to make the law school at the forefront of cyber law education, research, advocacy in the country.

With their continuing support, the e-Law Center was able to cause the publication of this IT Law Journal, now on its second issue. In my capacity as Executive Director of the Center, I was also fortunate to participate in the 2004 Internet Law Program of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society of the Harvard Law School last May 2004. The website www.lawphil.net is fast becoming the leading repository of on-line legal resources and jurisprudence in the country.

On a personal note, I also wish to commend the dedication and invaluable contributions of Arellano law students who compose the IT Law Society headed by Michael Vernon M. Guerrero. I recognize that their task of helping the Center in the realization of its vision and various activities entails a lot of personal sacrifice considering the fact that almost all of them are working students, not to mention the rigors of their law studies.

Very few people in our country realize how global developments in information technology have sharply increased during the last decade. The observation that information technology would affect the way people live is a certainty, and not a mere fallacious statement. As the demand for information technology increases, the need to address related legal concerns and issues also grow in the same proportion. Hence, there is no iota of doubt that the vision set by the law school in 1997 to produce technology oriented lawyers and professors appropriately responds to global trends. Expect the e-Law Center to be at the forefront in the realization of this vision.

In this issue, the banner story is the electronic court (e-Court) project initiated by Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in cooperation with Supreme Court Administrator Presbitero Velasco Jr. and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay. The issue also carries an article on cyberterrorism, or as the author puts it: “Web as a Means of Destruction” (WMD). The recent decision of the US Supreme Court in the case of “Ashcroft vs. ACLU” on the constitutionality of the Child On Line Protection Act (COPA) is also discussed in this journal. The case presented a constitutional clash between the government’s right to regulate Internet content and the right of the people to free speech. For the legal web section, this issue features the website of the Philippine Supreme Court, accessible at www.supremecourt.gov.ph.

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