CLAD in Guy Fawkes masks, people claiming to be members of the hacker group Anonymous Philippines picketed the Department of Justice to demand the release of the two young men accused of hacking the website of the Commission on Elections.
The group said 23-year-old Paul Biteng, who was charged with illegal access, data interference and illegal use of devices under Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, should instead be hired to protect the Comelec database.
“Instead of putting him into jail, why not recruit him and other hackers who have skills to protect the system? Why are we being arrested when we are only concerned and defending the cybersecurity of our country without asking for a single peso?” stated a banner they held in front of the DoJ.
“Why [do] corrupt officials remain at-large while a fresh graduate of IT known in Facebook as a security expert is arrested and jailed? Where is justice? This is why we in Anonymous will continue to be on guard,” one of their members who requested anonymity said, in an interview.
The group claimed they only hacked the Comelec website to disprove the poll body’s claim that it has put sufficient cybersecurity safeguards.
According to them, Biteng, who was arrested last April 21, only defaced the website and that it was the second hacker arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation, Jonel de Asis, who was responsible for the theft of the voters’ information.
De Asis, a member of another hacker group LulzSec Pilipinas who was arrested last week, reportedly downloaded 340 gigabytes of data from the Comelec website to prove that it can be easily hacked. He also allegedly leaked the Comelec data, which includes the personal information of 55 million registered voters.
Earlier, the prosecutors filed criminal charges against Biteng and have recommended P600,000 bail for his temporary release.
As a show of good faith, the group declared a “ceasefire” and announced that there would be no hacking of government websites until after the election of next leaders on May 9. The group also issued a statement calling on Filipinos to vote wisely in the general elections.
“What we need is a government that will listen to us, a government that will look after the general welfare of its people, a government that will lead us well and will not sell our rights… Remember, politics is not showbiz. The quality of leadership cannot be based on popularity,” the group said.
Apart from hacking government website to air their grievances, Anonymous has also owned up to earlier hacking of social media accounts of various influential celebrities.