SMART Communications is playing a very dangerous game. Ako Mismo, a known affiliate of SMART through DDB Media led by former PLDT Senior official Antonio Samson is being charged with alleged phishing activities online. And AKO MISMO even revealed what goes on inside the SMART corporate boardrooms by revealing that the company has the tendency of using personal subscriber information to influence voter preferences.
Former Constitutional convention member Chito Garchitorena criticized the site and organizers of Ako Mismo for alleged phishing activities. Ako Mismo, an online movement which aims to raise political awareness among the youth, is engaged in personal info mining activities, charged Garchitorena. He says that the site will use the personal info of its members and sell these info to potential political entities come 2010.
I have'nt visited the site but I remember that I was invited by one of my friends to join Ako Mismo through Facebook. Now, I don't recall allowing them to do so, but I could be wrong though.
A certain Antonio Samson, a former PLDT official and chair of DDB Media, the outfit behind the Ako Mismo site defended its actions by saying that Ako Mismo does not need to gather personal info because Smart Communications already has 37 million subscribers. Ako Mismo, says Samson, just want to understand the issues and problems considered important by Filipinos.
If this is true, then, Samson just confirmed fears that SMART Communication and its affiliates intends to use its vast network to influence our political future in 2010. Bragging that a text blast is easier than maintaining a site, Samson just revealed an insidious mindset inside the SMART and PLDT corporate boardrooms---that this company is toying with the idea of injecting perception changing data right straight into our brains by using our personal information.
This is a violation of the secrecy and security agreement subscribers signed with SMART. When you sign up as a SMART subscriber, the company assures that all personal information of yours be kept strictly confidential and should never be used or sold to third parties.
If SMART Communications is using AKO MISMO as a bogey, a ploy, or a front for alleged money-making activities in the future, stop right now. I have high regard with the people behind SMART. I met Mon Isberto and his team and they are honest people. Yet, those who conceived AKO MISMO is doing a great disservice to our people.
Stop. Desist right now. Fire those people who thought of this concept. This is a very, very dangerous game you're doing right now, if this is true. Phishing is an illegal and immoral online activity. It not only taints the good brand equity of SMART---it also opens the company to numerous lawsuits. AKO MISMO invites subscribers like me to sue them should they use my personal info and sell it to the highest political bidder.
I ask Filipino citizens, especially subscribers of SMART Communications to file a restraining order before the courts, asking the telecommunications giant to cease and desist from using the personal info of its subscribers for any future fiduciary gain, other than keeping a personal subscriber file.
This is a patriotic move for those who endorses it and to us who support it. Gusto kong tularan yung apat na example nila sa site. Gagawin ko lahat para maging kapakipakinabang sa bayan.
ReplyDeleteOne such inspiring story is Efren Penaflorida, who has spent the last ten years of his life travelling the country to teach street children. He does this with very simple implements: a kariton bearing his teaching aids, books and monobloc chairs. Another is Susan Fernandez, a sociologist, teacher, and women’s rights advocate who has spent her life using her music to uplift the plight of women. And we have Filipino talents who have become international stars bringing pride to our country, like Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda. Their stories and their humble circumstances are an inspiration to everyone.
i know these people and they're admirable.
ReplyDeletebut, AKO MISMO should be forthright in its true motives.
hi arnie,
ReplyDeletegreat! AKO MISMO is a site that one should support. However, be mindful of their true purpose. some say they're like pied pipers.
The goal of the campaign is good.
ReplyDeleteI hope it stays that way.
Lets not turn the love for country, nationalism into a fad.
Hirap na ang iba sa atin sa paghanap ng identity. Wag na nating palalain