Lawmaker: Right Of Reply Bill To Affect Bloggers, Texters

I haven't been following the Right Of Reply Bill issue very much; the duties on books, and personal matters, have been keeping my attention of late. In a nutshell (a very small one) what I know of it is that if a newspaper or other form of media were to publish or present something critical about someone, that someone has the right to express his or her rebuttal, and that form of media is required to carry it. Did I get that right? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

This recent article where a lawmaker says that The Right Of Reply Bill will affect bloggers and texters got my attention, though. An excerpt:

The bill's Section 1 states that: “All persons natural or judicial who are accused directly or indirectly of committing, having committed, or are criticized by innuendo, suggestion or rumor for any lapse in behavior in public or private life shall have the right to reply to charges or criticisms published in newspapers, magazines, newsletters or publications circulated commercially or for free, or aired or broadcast over radio, television, websites or through any electronic device."

"The bill, therefore, would not only affect media outfits and journalists but also all website owners, website masters, email account holders and other netizens who are not necessarily media practitioners," Palatino said further in statement released Sunday.

"This would affect the more than five million bloggers and millions more of Internet users in the country. My fear is that when this bill comes to law, it will be used to regulate the content of the Internet," he said.

"When we are checking our emails, when we open our Friendster or Facebook accounts, we are checking our websites. Does this mean that we will be compelled to moderate, modify or edit our personal websites? Is this not Internet censorship and suppression of freedom of speech and expression?" he added.

"Does this mean that whenever a criticism is published in these venues a person can use the Right of Reply to compel a blogger or moderator of a social networking site to publish a space or a reply for that person? Or when an individual decides to copy or re-post an article from a news website in his or her personal blog, and in the future the said article becomes a subject of this Right of Reply, will he or she be sanctioned or fined also?" Palatino added.

If anyone can explain the details and give a timeline of the developments of this bill to me and to PGS blog readers, please do so by leaving a comment. Even though I'm coming late to this topic, I have a feeling this may be of some matter. I'll try and do some research too, on my own. Thank you!