A new "cybercrime" law introduced in the Philippines increases punishments for criminal libel and gives the authorities excessive powers to shut down websites and monitor online traffic.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the penalties for online libel amount to a serious threat to free expression.
HRW's Asian director, Brad Adams, said: "The cybercrime law needs to be repealed or replaced. It violates Filipinos' rights to free expression and it is wholly incompatible with the Philippine government's obligations under international law."
One section specifies that criminal libel will apply to acts "committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future."
It increases the penalty for computer-related libel, with the minimum punishment raised from six months to six years. The maximum punishment is doubled from six to 12 years in prison.
Several journalists in the Philippines have been imprisoned for libel in recent years. Radio journalist Alexander Adonis, who was convicted in 2007 of libel, spent two years in jail.
In his case, the United Nations human rights committee determined that the Philippine government violated the international covenant on civil and political rights.
Source: HRW
