I-Café Pilipinas Supports “One Web Day 2009”

I-Café Pilipinas, the national advocacy organization of the Internet café industry in the Philippines, would like to announce its full support to the 1^st official Internet day celebration in the Philippines called “One Web Day”. Organized by the Philippine Internet Users Society, the Philippines will join a target of some 50 countries on September 22, 2009 in a simultaneous global annual celebration of Internet day - One WebDay, which is aimed at highlighting the importance of the Internet in empowering individuals, enhancing social ties, and contributing to economic growth and development.

Our participation in this year’s celebration reflects our continuing commitment in uplifting the quality of services and participation of the different internet café owners around the country to contribute to the development of the Philippines through information communication technology. We strongly believe that the internet café owner is a vital contributor to the socio-economic development of the community by providing affordable internet access to the majority of our population.

It also reflects our belief in ensuring that the internet remains to be free from any government intervention that would limit it collaborative nature. We strongly believe that proper education on the responsible use of the internet would contribute greatly to the empowerment of the community.

We are hoping to air our appeal to our lawmakers in the Senate and the House of Representatives to reconsider certain provisions in the proposed “Anti-Child Pornography Bill” that would institutionalize internet surveillance through the mandatory installation of monitoring software at the ISP level. Truly, these provisions would empower the state to look at your personal emails and files under the guise of saving the children from child pornography.

In line with this celebration, we would like to encourage internet café owners and operators to initiate community projects on September 22, 2009 like offering computer literacy trainings for the elderly and strive to continue to in the information drive to the community that in the use of great technologies lays great responsibilities.