System Technology Institute

Bacoor Branch

The Effectiveness of Anti-Selfie Bill

As Perceived by the Students of STI College Bacoor

A Research Paper
Presented to:
Mr. Jerson G. Madrona

By:
Althea Laureen Lucis
Michael Romasanta
Rannie Russel Villanueva
Vincent Gayanilo
Adrian Leander Pesino
Kim Dionesio
Lhorraine Vasquez

October 21, 2014

Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

How important is it for you to preserve memories? Every single day

plays a role in our history. With the revolution of cameras digital
cameras, DSLRs, smart phones, Tablets, Phablets and a like almost
everyone can now own a piece of this equipment and capture memories.
Due to that fact, taking photos have become a part of our daily lives
especially Selfie. The term has been around for more than a decade
now. But where did it all start? The usage of #selfie first appeared on
Flickr in 2004, but it took almost a decade to reach the masses. 1 It is a
fact that anyone who has a camera, at one point in their lives from kids
to oldies, celebrity or not took selfies. In 2013, the word selfie has
become popular. On that same year, Oxford University Press declared the
word selfie as the Word of the Year for 2013 and they officially added
the word to their dictionary. It means, a photograph that one has taken
of oneself, typically one taken with a smart phone or webcam and shared
via social media.2 Usually, they are flattering and made to appeal you and
others. With the growing number of Social Media like Facebook, Twitter,
1
2

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/selfie-history-infographic_n_4101645.html
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/selfie

Instagram, Path, etc., sharing, distributing, inscribing, storing and

posting these pictures into a network, is an instant communication of
where we are, who we think we are and what were doing at the moment.
All these have made available with easy access to almost everyone.
Moreso, Apps are designed to help us capture those precious moments of
ourselves at our convenience. Even the inventions of Selfie Stick or
Monopod, Shutterball, The Selfie Shutter, Cellfy Stic make it easier to
snap a selfie.

Selfie in the Philippines, selfie is no longer an alien word. In fact, in

March 2014, 3 Philippine cities were included in TIME Magazines top 10
selfie-takers in the world. Makati and Pasig topped the most selfie-takers
with 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people. Cebu City is in top 1 with 99
selfies per 100,000 people.

Chapter II
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Selfies are usually done in the name of good fun. But sadly, they
do not always end up well. A few selfie-related incidents have been
recorded and proved that a simple selfie-taking activity can be fatal. In
Philippines, a 15-year old boy borrowed the gun of his uncle to take a
selfie. With a camera in one hand and a gun on the other, the boy
accidentally pulled the trigger instead of clicking the camera button.

There was also a schoolgirl who suffered a fatal fall down stairs while
taking a selfie.

A House Bill 4807 or commonly known as Anti-Selfie Bill is now in

Congress and is now causing outrage. However, in the Filipino context,
especially to those politicians who drafted the said bill, selfie is not just
about taking pictures of you. The Bill seeks to prevent the act of taking
photos of people without their permission. This Bill defines intrusion of
personal privacy as any person who willfully intrudes into the personal
privacy of another, without the consent of that person and with the
intent to gain or profit therefrom, shall be civilly liable to the offended
party.

This research paper seeks to answer the following questions:

Will the students of STI Bacoor be in favor of the Anti-Selfie Bill?

How will this Bill affect the daily lives of the students?
Does this Bill deserve to be a law?
How will the student react if such Bill is passed?

o Yes
o No
3. How often do you take a
Name: _________________________
Age: ____

Gender: ________

1. Have you heard of the AntiSelfie Bill?

o Yes
o No
2. Are you in favor of passing
such Bill?

selfie?
o Once a day
o More than once daily
o Once a week
o Once a month
4. In what Social Media site/s
do you normally posts
these selfie photos?

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Flicker
Tumbler
o Others, please

6. If the bill is passed, how

o
o
o
o
o

will this affect your daily

life?
o I dont care
o Not really
o Greatly affected
7. Do you think, this Bill

specify:
___________________

deserves to be a law?
o Yes
o No
8. If no, why?
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________

5. How often do you post your

___________________________

selfies?
o Once a day
o More than once daily
o Once a week
o Once a month

___________________________
___________________________
___________________________

Chapter III

Review of Related Literature

Based on previous reports, if youre one of those persons who like
taking pictures of random thing then posting it to your social media
account, well you better be careful.

According to Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, there's a bill in

Congress that seeks to stop taking photos of people without their
permission.
House Bill 4807 or the Protection against Personal Intrusion Act is
now up for 3rd reading in plenary. It defines "intrusion of personal
privacy" as "any person who willfully intrudes into the personal privacy
of another, without the consent of that person and with the intent to gain
or profit there from, shall be civilly liable to the offended party."
HB 4807 will cause a commotion in the media industry because it
will affect citizen journalism.
Zarate said, and I quote, "HB 4807 will create a chilling effect on
media and would especially affect citizen journalism. It would punish
with civil suit taking photos, video or even audio recording anything
claimed as a personal/ family matter even of public officials and
personalities,"
"Even an innocuous selfie with public figures at the background
would be liable for 'intrusion of privacy'. This is absurd and we urge our
colleagues to reconsider," he added.
According to HB 4807, the following acts are considered an
intrusion into the personal privacy of another and shall be presumed to
have been committed with the intent to gain or profit.

a. Capturing by a camera or sound recording instrument of any

type of visual image, sound recording or other physical impression
of the person
b. Trespassing on private property in order to capture any type of
visual image, sound recording or other physical impression of any
person
c. capturing any type of visual image, sound recording or other
physical impression of a person or family activity through the use
of a visual or auditory enhancement device even when no physical
trespass has occurred, when the visual image, sound recording or
other physical impression could not have been captured without a
trespass if no enhancement device was used.
Section 4 of the bill says any person whose personal privacy was
intruded as defined may in a civil action against the person who
committed the intrusion, obtain any appropriate relief, including
compensatory

damages,

punitive

damages,

and

injunctive

and

declaratory relief.
Any person obtaining relief may be either the person whos visual
or auditory impression has been captured or the owner of the private
property trespassed to capture the visual image, sound recording or
other physical impression of another.
"The fact that no visual image, sound recording or other physical
impression of a person was actually sold for gain or profit shall not be

available as a defense in any civil action or proceeding for the

enforcement of the provisions of this act," the bill explained.
The only exemption from these acts is legitimate law enforcement
activities.
The bill is authored by Congressmen Rufus Rodriguez, Maximo
Rodriguez, Jorge Almonte, Gwendolyn Garcia, Linabelle Ruth Villarica,
Lito Atienza and Leopoldo Bataoil.
The critics said that implementing the bill will cause complications
on press freedom and even social media.
Jose Torres Jr., board member of the Photojournalists Center of
the Philippines (PCP), Inc., said the bill needs to define what "intent to
gain or profit there from" means.
"It would seem that people from the media and journalists can be
targets of the proposed measure. Worthy of being emphasized is the
phrase 'with intent to gain or profit there from.' In case a complaint is
filed in court against a photo journalist, can lack of intent to gain be
used as defense?
"It must be clearly defined what can be classified for 'gain' or
'profit.'

News

outfits

newspapers,

magazines,

television,

online

publications, radio, and news wire agencies - are basically for profit
organizations. There must be clear provisions that specify that news
gathering must be exempted from this section," he added.

The group said it wants media to be exempted from the coverage of

the proposed law.
"We suggest to add the qualification 'unless this is done in the
practice of a media professional in the interest of public interest. If we
limit Sec 3 a, Sec 3 c will then apply only to the protection of privacy
clause." The group is also pushing for a definition of "private property."
"Private property must be spelled out and defined. Public places,
cars, public transport, public buildings, among others, and individuals,
who by nature of their position or profession are classified as public
figures, cannot claim violation of privacy. Does 'personal privacy' extends
to public domain or public places in private spaces, for instance malls,
shopping centers, events venues, a luxurious resort, among others?"
On the matter of capturing any type of visual image, the group said
this provision can affect journalists who use modern legitimate tools of
news gathering like drones with cameras or telephoto lenses.
The group proposed that news and visual storytelling that fall into
educating, warning, exposing incidents and events that will benefit the
majority of society must be exempted because interest groups can use
provisions of the law to put enterprising journalists in tough situations.
The group also wants a corresponding provision of penalty for
grave use of authority and clear use of provisions of the law for
harassment of journalists.

"Our apprehension is based on the premise that the act being

made punishable by this proposed measure is not clearly defined to the
point that many acts can be considered 'malum prohibitum' or conducts
that constitute an unlawful act only by virtue of statute as opposed to
conduct evil in and of itself."
"We worry that this proposed measure can become a tool that
'unwilling public figures' will use to suppress press freedom,
Soon, if by any chance, the bill will be passed, taking self shot
pictures wont be an innocent gesture anymore. We will have to think
about that anti-selfie law before we could post our pictures.
The said bill was approved on its second reading last August 12,
2014 and I therefore quote the following statements:
We have to carefully study this proposal since some of the
grounds constituting the violations are vague and too broad and may
constitute prior restraint and may pose further Constitutional problems,
AKO BICOL party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe said in reaction to HB No.
4807.
I think we need more definitions and qualifications. [Provision]
could be broad but the discussions will clarify things, said Baguilat who
is the chair of the Agrarian Reform panel.
On the other hand, the members of the House minority said
harsher things about the said Bill. One even said that a law on selfie is
a clear violation to freedom of expression and it has no place in a civilized
and democratic society.

Chapter IV

Result
Results are based on the answered survey forms by 100 STI
College Bacoor students. The survey forms are composed of 8 questions
that will be further explained in this chapter.
I.

Respondents
Graph of Age Brackets

II.

Graph of Gender

The respondents were asked fill in a survey form with their age and
gender. As shown in table 1.1, 43% of our respondents are minors. 37%
claims to in the bracket 0f 18-20 while the remaining 20% ranges from
21 and above.
In table 1.2 shows that 53% of our respondents were male. The
remaining 47% are female. This proves that both male and female
respondents are both part of the so called Selfie Society.

III.

Persons Aware of The Anti-Selfie Bill

Based on the table above, most of the STI College Bacoor students
are aware that the Anti-Selfie Bill exists. Still, 20% of them claim to not
know about the said bill. Some of them even asked why the bill was
created. Those who are aware were unhappy with the governments
actions. Some stated that forming the HB No.4807 was a waste of time.

IV.

Persons in Favor of Passing the Bill

Only a small portion of the respondents were in favor of passing

the bill. 85% of them strongly disagree with the passing of the Anti-Selfie
Bill.

V.

How Often the Respondents Take Selfie Photo

We asked the respondents how often they take selfies and based on
their answers 31% takes one selfie a month. The following 27% takes a
selfie once a week. 22% of them take one daily, while the remaining 19%
takes more than one selfie a day.

VI.

Social Media Sites They Often Use

The data above proves that most of the students use Facebook as
their photo sharing site. 75% claims Facebook to be their widely used
site, the following 13% post their selfies in Instagram and 10% shares
their pictures through Twitter. No one seems to use Flickr and Tumblr.
The remaining 3% uses social media sites such as Viber and Google.

VII.

How Often the Respondents Post Their Selfies

In the previous graphs, data collection about how often the

respondents took selfies was asked. The graph above states how often
they post these selfies. 20% of 100 post their selfies once a day. 44%
shares their picture once a month. 35% posts their pictures weekly while
the remaining 5% seems to be addicted in taking selfies and posting
them more than once a day.

VIII. How Will It Affect the Respondents Life

Though most of them disagree with the Anti-Selfie Bill, 46%

doesnt seem to care about the effects it will cause. 43% of 100 said that
it will not really affect their daily lives. The smallest portion, 11%, will be
greatly affected if such bill takes place.

IX.

Does the Bill Deserve to be a Law?

Does this Bill deserve to be a law? we asked the respondents.

72% said no and 28% said yes. We had a follow-up question to those
respondents who answered no. Why? we asked. Some said that it is a
useless bill and it should not be made into a law. Some said it was stupid

and most of them said it was a waste of time. A big portion of the
respondents disagreed because it will violate their freedom of expression.

Chapter V

Conclusion
Based on the given data above, we therefore conclude that most of
the students are aware of the Anti-Selfie Bill. We explained the said bill to
those respondents who doesnt have a clue and they proceeded to the
next question in the survey. Only 15% were in favor of passing the AntiSelfie Bill and the remaining 85% are against it.
Most of the students take selfies as a daily routine and they post
the photos in their social media accounts. Facebook was chosen to be the
social media site that the students often use to share their photos. It was
followed by Instagram and Twitter. The larger portion 39% of the

respondents claims to post their selfies once a month. The following 34%
said that they share their photos once weekly.
Even though a lot of them disagree with the bill, 46% of the
respondents said that it wont affect their daily lives. 43% doesnt care,
and the remaining 11% said it will greatly affect their lives.
71% said that the bill should not be a law and 29% said it should
be formed. Based on their opinion, such bill was useless and the
government should focus on the bigger problems our country is facing.
These innocent photos wont change corruption and it will solve the
continuous growth of crime rate.

Recommendation
We

recommend

that

this

bill

should

not

be

furthermore

entertained. The said bill will only add additional concerns to the social
media site users. Most of the feedback from the respondents aims to stop
this bill because they think that there are more important matters to
discuss than this Anti-Selfie Bill. They should be focusing on a more
serious crime than making a law about self-taken photos. Some of the
respondents even called this bill useless, nonsense and stupid. In their
opinion, these selfies wont affect our economy or the government.

According to them, posting these self-taken photos is one way of

expressing their feelings and is just a form of entertaining themselves or
others. The government must not focus on such things that look
personal.
As for freedom of expression, everyone has the freedom to capture
their moments through these pictures and let it serve as a memorabilia
for the future generations to see.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.wikipedia.com/anti-selfie-bill
www.blogspot.com/anitarosales/antiselfiebill

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/232370/news/nation/antiselfie-bil-in-process
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/selfie-historyinfographic_n_4101645.html
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/selfi
e

Appendices

Name: _________________________
Age: ____

Gender: ________

1. Have you heard of the Anti-Selfie Bill?

o Yes
o No
2. Are you in favor of passing such Bill?
o Yes
o No
3. How often do you take a selfie?
o Once a day
o More than once daily
o Once a week
o Once a month
4. In what Social Media site/s do you normally posts these selfie
photos?
o Facebook
o Twitter
o Instagram
o Flicker
o Tumbler
o Others, please specify: ___________________

5. How
o
o
o
o

often do you post your selfies?

Once a day
More than once daily
Once a week
Once a month

6. If the bill is passed, how will this affect your daily life?
o I dont care
o Not really
o Greatly affected
7. Do you think, this Bill deserves to be a law?
o Yes
o No

8. If no, why?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________