Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas on Wednesday said that it is illegal for hackers or any third party to use the stolen data from the Commission on Elections.
Caparas’ warning, however, did not ease the fears of the National Movement for Free Elections which said the data theft put some 57-million voters at risk of identity theft, harassment and even fraud.
“It’s a case of stolen information. Everything that does not belong to you must be returned to the rightful owner. And if you’re going to use it, send it, transact with it, in the meantime, then that’s illegal,” Caparas told reporters.
According to Caparas, any transaction committed using the hacked information on individual voters would also be illegal, citing the legal principle of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” that prohibits use of documents of evidence obtained through unlawful means.
Nonetheless, the Justice Secretary assured that authorities would eventually be able to trace those liable for passing on the leaked information.
But he admitted that it is very difficult at this point to speculate as to what could be done with individual data of voters.
“Our job right now is to take a look at the extent of the compromise of data and to find out how we could minimize the ill effects of that,” Caparas said.
He also pointed out that the government agencies would make sure the database leak would not compromise the conduct of the May 9 elections.
Caparas also revealed that there are foreign agencies offering assistance in hunting down those responsible for the hacking of the Comelec database system.
Namfrel, for its part, said the unresolved issue of the stolen Comelec database, was a source of worry.
Namfrel said that the Comelec may be held accountable for lack of security of its official website which bears several data, including the personal information of majority of Filipinos.
It called on concerned citizens and lawyers to come up with possible violations and increasing the security under the Data Privacy Act.
“This is a matter that will have to be dealt with in the very near future as to possible violation of the Data Privacy Act,” Namfrel said.
“It is anticipated that the database will continue to be reposted in other websites. Chatter in social media and blogs indicate that the leaked voters’ registration database has fallen in the hands of malefactors to be exploited,” the group feared.
The poll watchdog said that the data leak could have long lasting effect.
“Lawyers and experts in the field of information security have opined that the data leak has exposed more than 57 million registered voters to risks of identity theft, harassment, fraud, and scams in both cyberspace and physical world with detailed personal information and sensitive personal information available online,” it said.
Namfrel said that they have encountered an online problems when their PayPal account, an online paying scheme website, was locked on April 21 after there were several remote attempts to access it through an email address that was on the voter registration record.
The group then expressed concerns on the fate of overseas Filipino workers whose passport data have been exposed.
“The information may be illegally used and they may suffer inconvenience as they travel,” Namfrel stated.