IT Law Journal

administrator May 16th, 2004

Lexicon of CyberLaw Terminologies

(This will be a regular section to acquaint law practitioners, students and researchers on legal terms in IT law preferably from the Philippine context).

“Convergence” refers to technologies moving together towards a common point and elimination of differences between the provisioning of video, voice and data, using digital and other emerging technologies; the coming together of two or more disparate disciplines or technologies; the ability of different network platforms to carry any kind of service; and the coming together of consumer devices such as, but not limited to, the telephone, television and personal computer. (Sec. 6 (d), Chapter 1, Part II, Implementing Rules and Regulations of the E-Commerce Act of 2000).

“Interconnection” refers to the linkage, by wire, radio, satellite or other means, of two or more existing telecommunication carriers or operators with one another for the purpose of allowing or enabling the subscribers of one carrier or operator to access or reach the subscribers of the other carriers or operators. (Sec. 3 (k), R. A. No. 7925)

“Intermediary” refers to a person who in behalf of another person and with respect to a particular electronic document sends, receives and/or stores or provides other services in respect of that electronic document. (Sec. 5 (h), R. A. No. 8792)

“Originator” refers to a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the electronic document purports to have been created, generated and/or sent. The term does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to that electronic document. (Sec. 5 (i), R. A. No. 8792)

“Telecommunications” refer to any process which enables a telecommunications entity to send and receive voice, data, electronic messages, written or printed fixed or moving pictures, music or visible or audible signals or any control signals of any design and for any purpose by wire, radio or other electromagnetic, optical, or technological means. (Sec. 3 (a), R. A. No. 7925)

“My hope is to push this common sense along. I have become increasingly amazed by the power of this idea of intellectual property and, more importantly, its power to disable critical thought by policy makers and citizens. There has never been a time in our history when more of our “culture” was as “owned” as it is now. And yet there has never been a time when the concentration of power to control the uses of culture has been an unquestioningly accepted as it is now.” (Prof. Lawrence Lessig, in his book “Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity.”)

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