Quoted from LegallyBlawg.com http://blawg.joshua3.com/?p=5

A friend remarked: “Freedom of speech? Of course we have it in Malaysia! You can say anything you want in your speech. Its your freedom after your speech that is in question!”

Lets read what the Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia states:

(1) Subject to Clauses (2), (3) and (4) –
(a) every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression;
(b) all citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms;
(c) all citizens have the right to form associations.

(2) Parliament may by law impose –
(a) on the rights conferred by paragraph (a) of Clause (1), such restrictions as it deems necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of the Federation or any part thereof, friendly relations with other countries, public order or morality and restrictions designed to protect the privileges of Parliament or of any Legislative Assembly or to provide against contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to any offence;
(b) on the right conferred by paragraph (b) of Clause (1), such restrictions as it deems necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of the Federation or any part thereof, or public order;
(c) on the right conferred by paragraph (c) of Clause (1), such restrictions as it deems necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of the Federation or any part thereof, public order or morality.

(3) Restrictions on the right to form associations conferred by paragraph (c) of Clause (1) may also be imposed by any law relating to labour or education.

(4) In imposing restrictions in the interest of the security of the Federation or any part thereof or public order under Clause (2)(a), Parliament may pass law prohibiting the questioning of any matter, right, status, position, privilege, sovereignty or prerogative established or protected by the provisions of Part III, article 152, 153 or 181 otherwise than in relation to the implementation thereof as may be specified in such law.

Article 10 (1) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, guarantees the freedom of speech, the right to assemble peacefully and the right to form associations to every Malaysian citizen. But such a fundamental right is not absolute in Malaysia.

This right is qualified by Article 10(2)(a) which allows the Parliament to impose restrictions on these rights in the interest of the security of the Federation, friendly relations with other countries, public order, morality; and restrictions designed to protect the privileges of Parliament, to provide against contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to any offence.

It has been argued by the judicial community that the rights of Part II of the Federal Constitution, in particular Article 10, have been so heavily qualified by other parts of the Constitution, for example, Part XI in relation to special and emergency powers, and the permanent state of emergency that has existed since 1969, that much of [the Constitution’s] high principles are lost (Hickling’s Malaysian Public Law).

Article 10 (4) states that Parliament may pass law prohibiting the questioning on issues related to language, special position of the Malays and natives and sovereignty prerogative powers and jurisdiction of Rulers.

As the right expressed in Article 10(1) is subject to 10(2), it has been argued that the validity of such laws cannot be questioned on the grounds that it imposes restrictions as are mentioned.

However a closer reading you will note that what is deemed to be restrictions, cannot then be authorization and license for the creating laws (or in the case of the Police Act, apply the law so) that it denies the rights established in Article 10(1).

Repeated denials by the Police to grant a permit for a recent citizen’s assembly is a case example of how ‘restrictions’ have become denials. A proper application of these restrictions (in Police Act) in tandem with an understanding of the spirit of Article 10(1), would have been the issuance of a permit for assembly subject to certain restrictions for public safety. Unfortunately, most of us can only hope for proper application but not witness it.

Several acts of law regulate the freedoms granted by Article 10, such as the Official Secrets Act, which makes it a crime to disseminate information classified as an official secret.

The Sedition Act 1948 makes it an offence to engage in acts with a “seditious tendency”, including but not limited to the spoken word and publications; conviction may result in a sentence of a fine up to RM5,000, three years in jail, or both.

The Public Order (Preservation) Ordinance 1958 allows the Police to declare certain areas “restricted”, and to regulate processions or meetings of five persons or more. The maximum sentence for the violation of a restricted area order is imprisonment of 10 years and whipping.

Other laws curtailing the freedoms of Article 10 are the Police Act 1967, which criminalises the gathering of three or more people in a public place without a licence, and the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, which grants the Home Affairs Minister “absolute discretion” in the granting and revoking of publishing permits, and also makes it a criminal offense to possess a printing press without a licence.

The Sedition Act in particular has been widely commented upon by jurists for the bounds it places on freedom of speech. Justice Raja Azlan Shah (later the Yang di-Pertuan Agong) once said:
“ The right to free speech ceases at the point where it comes within the mischief of the Sedition Act.[8] ”

The freedom of speach in Malaysia is very limited as anything we said that is sensitive to the government we might end up in ISA.

Quoted from wikipedia:

Computer crime encompass a broad range of potentially illegal activities. Generally, however, it may be divided into one of two types of categories: (1) crimes that target computer networks or devices directly; (2) crimes facilitated by computer networks or devices, the primary target of which is independent of the computer network or device.

Examples of crimes that primarily target computer networks or devices would include,

• Malware and malicious code
• Denial-of-service attacks
• Computing viruses

Examples of crimes that merely use computer networks or devices would include,

• Cyber stalking
• Fraud and identity theft
• Phishing scams
• [Information warfare][1]

A common example is when a person starts to steal information from sites, or cause damage to, a computer or computer network. This can be entirely virtual in that the information only exists in digital form, and the damage, while real, has no physical consequence other than the machine ceases to function. In some legal systems, intangible property cannot be stolen and the damage must be visible, e.g. as resulting from a blow from a hammer. Where human-centric terminology is used for crimes relying on natural language skills and innate gullibility, definitions have to be modified to ensure that fraudulent behavior remains criminal no matter how it is committed.

A computer can be a source of evidence. Even though the computer is not directly used for criminal purposes, it is an excellent device for record keeping, particularly given the power to encrypt the data. If this evidence can be obtained and decrypted, it can be of great value to criminal investigators.

I find that computing viruses happens most among us students as everytime I plug my pendrive into the campus computer it is bound to get infected with virus.

QuestionA

Andrew is a computer Science student with Microhard Corporation in Cyberjaya as a practical trainee. One day he managed to crack the company’s information system but did not do anything afterwards. The following day he also managed to intrude into Microhand Corporation’s website system and then posted his picture on the front page of the website and left his mobile number below his picture, hoping that someone will call him and make friends. Subsequently his phone rang, but unfortunately it was his training manager who called and later warned him that actions will be taken. Upon investigations, it was also revealed that Andrew had previously leaked the company’s system access code to his friends at University, to whom he also sent emails telling bad things about his manager. Advise Microhand Corporation on various potential liabilities of Andrew from the incidents, with reference to various cybercrime laws applicable in Malaysia.

AnswerA

Issue 1: Crack

Andrew is a computer Science student with Microhard Corporation in Cyberjaya as a practical trainee. One day he managed to crack the company’s information system but did not do anything afterwards.

First Andrew has violate the Computer Crimes Act 1997 which in the first category, the CCA criminalize the act of unauthorized access (section3(1)). Andrew could be charged under offense against intellectual property and other crimes which did not fall into the traditional criminal statutes. Andrew could be looking at a punishment of RM50,000 fine or 5 years imprisonment or both.

Issue 2: Intrusion into others privacy

The following day he also managed to intrude into Microhand Corporation’s website system and then posted his picture on the front page of the website and left his mobile number below his picture, hoping that someone will call him and make friends.

Unauthorized access and amending / changing the website’s look and structure means that its an illegal action. Hacking into a website no matter how light it is is considered hack and a criminal offense. For example setting foot on a person’s house compound means you are in the person’s area no matter if its a toe or the entire feet once you step into it it means trespassing.  The punishment for this section will be a maximum of RM 100,000.00 fine or to 7 years imprisonment or to both.

Issue 3: Disclosure confidential information

Upon investigations, it was also revealed that Andrew had previously leaked the company’s system access code to his friends at University, to whom he also sent emails telling bad things about his manager.

Leaking company’s private data is a serious offense where Andrew had violated Computer Crimes Act 1997 in section 6(1). The company’s system access code which he leaked to his friend may cause the company to be in big trouble as if this codes is obtained by the company’s competitor it may cause severe damage to the company. They may loose client’s private and confidential information.

The punishment for this  act will be a maximum Rm25, 000 fine or a 3 years imprisonment or both.

QuestionB

Meera has been receiving emails from travel companies that keep offering her holiday packages to various places in the world. She replied to the senders to stop emailing her, but only to find that the emails keep coming and flooding her inbox. She came to you to on the legal aspects that may arise out of this practice by the travel company. Advice her on both criminal and data protection aspects.

The mails that Meera received is considered as SPAM. In Malaysia I dont think there is a law yet to procecute spammers, but in europe, several countries has imposed a law to combat spammers. Meera could install some filtering email software and filter out those spam emails.

Defamation can means that a person who uses words to degrade the other party’s status publicly.

Recently I came across a video in youtube of this guy name namewee which he swear , curse TNB Muar because of the frequent backouts which happens in his neighbourhood.

Acording to Defamation Act 1957, section(5), in an action for slander in respect of words calculated to disparage the plaintiff in any office, profession, calling, trade or business held or carried on by him at the time of the publication, it shall not be necessary to allege or prove special damage whether or not the words are spoken of the plaintiff in the way of his office, profession, calling, trade or business.

So I think the action of the person is really unethical and he may face problems / sues from TNB.

Child Pornography is an act of filming and distribting children’s pornography. It is considered a very serious offence if anyone was found posessing these files.

Quoted from wikipedia :

Child pornography (also known as child abuse images ^[1][2][3]) refers to images or films depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child; as such, child pornography is a visual record of child sexual abuse.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} Abuse of the child occurs during the sexual acts which are photographed in the production of child pornography,^{[4][5][7][8][9][10][11]} and the effects of the abuse on the child (and continuing into maturity) are compounded by the wide distribution and lasting availability of the photographs of the abuse.^[9][10][12]

Child pornography is illegal in most nations, and carries severe penalties in almost all Western societies, but there are some countries that do not have relevant criminal statues in place. A large-scale movement is working to globalize the criminalization of child pornography, including major international organizations such as the United Nations, the European Commission, and others.^[3][13]

In common usage and for research purposes, child pornography refers to images of prepubescent children, and does not include post-pubertal teenage minors. But legal definitions generally refer to a wider range, including sexual images involving a minor or computer-generated images that appear to involve a minor.^[12] Most possessors of child pornography who are arrested are found to possess images of prepubescent children; possessors of pornographic images of post-puberty minors are less likely to be prosecuted, even though those images also fall within the statutes.^[12]

Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and among the fastest growing criminal segments on the internet.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]} Producers of child pornography try to avoid prosecution by distributing their material across national borders, though this issue is increasingly being addressed with regular arrests of suspects from a number of countries occurring over the last few years.^[12][14] NCMEC claims that around 20 % of all pornography contains children.^[21]

Child pornography is viewed and collected by pedophiles for a variety of purposes, ranging from private sexual uses, trading with other pedophiles, preparing children for sexual abuse as part of the process known as “child grooming“, or enticement leading to entrapment for sexual exploitation such as production of new child pornography or child prostitution.^[22][23][24]

In the United States of America a man whom was cought “accidentally” downloaded children pornography was jailed 20 years. http://bit.ly/792x5G

Kaspersky is a antivirus service provider where it updates its virus database very frequently. 

According to PC WORLD ( http://bit.ly/5Lyjpf ) The attacker, nicknamed “m0sted,” wrote that the site was compromised through SQL injection, wrote Roberto Preatoni on a Zone-H posting.

Hacking is a unauthorized behavior which the hacker hacks into the system of the particular company and causes damage into its system.

Phishing / fishing it may be called is a crime which is committed online where people try to fish / collect your personal data over the internet.

Quoted from wikipedia :

In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging,^[1] and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication, it may require tremendous skill to detect that the website is fake. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users,^[2] and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies.^[3] Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.

A phishing technique was described in detail in 1987, and the first recorded use of the term “phishing” was made in 1996. The term is a variant of fishing,^[4] probably influenced by phreaking^[5][6], and alludes to baits used to “catch” financial information and passwords.

All of these ‘ online predators ‘ are out there trying to phish your personal data such as account numbers , credit card numbers , emails , address , our sallary and so on. They are a potential thread as they threaten our daily routine.

It has always been a problem for movies / music creators. Piracy is a big problem where the content of their creation is being reproduced and mass distribution. Although there are many steps taken to prevent and stop the spread of piracy, but then people still like to purchase pirated dvds , download music illegally from the internet and so on.

We can always argue that those superstars are already making so much money why we should pay so much extra for the original disc when the pirated ones gives the same result as the original one? The solution sits between a very fine line where it is in my opinion either right or wrong.

In my opinion if you really like the song and the artist very much and if your wallet permits you to purchase original music please do support original music. These people do have to make a living too right?

This logo should be familiar. It was a pandemic which spread like a virus infecting everyone on this planet with 19 million visitors eveyday! (according to http://bit.ly/u62Bz) In a sence there are many people who are trying to make a buck out from tweeting / tweetering. But most tweeter users update their status so frequent that its kind of like a log of what the person is doing every second in his / her life for eg: cooking breakfast = 1 tweet , washing the car = 1 tweet and so on.

People dont mind about their privacy anymore as they want the whole world to know what they are doing every second of their lives.

Talking about digital privacy all these tweets which are sent into the twitter server are stored forever and it is not being deleted although you yourself delete the tweet from your account. So lets say if there is a tweet that you want it to be erased it cant be done as it is save in the company’s server like forever!