Web’s Doomsday Is Round The Corner

The digital doomsday is round the corner. In exactly 1,272 days there will be web chaos in the world as we run out of Internet addresses.

More than 85 per cent of the available addresses have already been allocated and the rest will run out by 2011, according to a prediction by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

These are not the normal web addresses that you type into your browser’s window. These are the numerical Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that denote individual devices connected to the Internet. They form the foundation for all online communications, from e-mail and web pages to voice chat and streaming video.

IP addresses are so basic to the success of the Internet that you really do not need to know a website’s domain name if you know their IP. In fact, domain names are only a convenience for people who have better luck remembering to type, say, www.google.com, than they would have trying to remember Google’s IP address of 216.239.39.99.

Whenever you type http://www.google.com into your browser, the browser sends a query off to a big telephone book in the sky and asks ‘Hey, what is the IP address for google.com?’ This big telephone book, more commonly called a ‘Domain Name Server’ or DNS for short, returns 216.239.39.99 to your browser. Your browser then heads off to Google’s website using the IP address as a map.

When the current IP address scheme, called Internet Protocol Version 4 (Ipv4), was introduced in 1981, there were hardly 500 computers connected to the internet. The address makers at that time allowed for four billion addresses, thinking they would last forever. They have been nearly gobbled up in just under 30 years!

As addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: internet speeds will drop and new connections and services (such as internet phone calling) will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain.

The solution to the shortage is to upgrade to a new address protocol.

The Internet protocols are prepared by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet.

The IETF is an organised activity of the Internet Society (ISOC), a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in internet related standards, education and policy. The Society’s south and southeast Asian Bureau was established this January.

The IETF is already prepared for the doomsday. It has devised a replacement system, called IPv6, more than a decade ago, providing enough addresses for billions upon billions of devices as well as improving internet phone and video calls, and possibly even helping to end e-mail spam.

Then why the doomsday predictions? The problem is that the new system is not really compatible with the Internet of today. If, for example, Google wants to support IPv6, it will need to build a whole new IPv6 web service, complete with new domain names, servers and bandwidth. The costs run into billions.

The OECD notes that “immediate costs are associated with deployment of IPv6, whereas many benefits are long-term and depend on a critical mass adopting it”, according to The Sunday Times.

Until such time, start looking at the countdown clock for the doomsday at penrose.uk6x.com. (DNA News)

Tibetans Fair Game In China

A new online game in China is feeding off the recent nationalist upsurge over the uprising in Tibet by offering rewards for ‘patriotic’ gamers with the suggestion that they are killing ‘Tibetan separatists’.

In the game, participants are required to track down and kill an evil force called ‘Zang-Du’ “hiding in the northern region”, the gaming literature says. The name – Zang-Du – is a play on words: it sounds like the Chinese words for ‘Tibetan independence’, but can also be read, as the literature does, as “Concealing Dangerous Drugs”.

But diehard gamers know what the name game implies. Says Houston Wu, a Shenzhen gamer, “The intended message is: ‘Kill Tibetan separatists and win rewards’, and all of us know it.”

In the promotional material, the company that offers this game is less coy about turning on the jingoistic rhetoric and pitching an anti-Tibetan line.

“We support the Olympics with our unique online game content against Tibetan independence,” it says. “We provide new services for China’s youth to vent their bilious rage.”

It also calls on “patriotic players around the world to spread the true red heart of patriotism, support the sacred flame and oppose Tibetan independence.” A gamer who kills Zang-Du also gets rewarded with a ‘certificate of patriotism’.

This isn’t of course the first instance of popular ‘art’ imitating life — or even of online games encouraging gratuitous violence in the virtual world.

The latest release of the action-adventure video game Grand Theft Auto IV has been criticised as violent and profane, and perhaps of condoning drunken driving’. An earlier version of that game depicted Hare Krishna devotees as victims of some other mindless form of violence.

Sociologists have long criticised the violence depicted in online games as contributory factors to real-life violence. The 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in the US was orchestrated by two students, who were believed to be obsessed with violent games. Families of victims in that shooting initiated lawsuits against manufacturers of games like Doom.

In a 2001 study on the effect of violent video games on children’s behaviour, psychologists CA Anderson and BJ Bushman offered empirical evidence to link online violence to aggression in children.

Yet, for all its attempts to tap into resurgent Chinese nationalism, it’s not clear how popular the Zang-Du game will be. Online polls on gaming websites appear to indicate that it’s not exactly a big hit. (DNA)

"Blogs Don't Worry Me," Says Zainuddin Maidin

Malaysia's Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has said that the government will not be affected by blogs and other Internet forums that may be created during campaigning for the upcoming elections.

Mr Zainuddin insisted that while the younger generation are tech-savvy, they tend to believe newspaper reports over comments made on the Internet, China Press reported.

He added that the Internet is used mainly to book budget airline tickets or to get entertainment news.

He claimed that he is not worried that blogs and forums critical of the incumbent Barisan Nasional coalition would affect its chances of winning the election.

Since independence in 1957, the multi-ethnic coalition has won every election.

He stressed that young Malaysians would not turn to the Internet for political news.

He said: 'My children are young professionals and enjoy surfing the Internet. But they don't read blogs.'

Mr Zainuddin pointed out that Malaysians are a mature lot and would rather give more credibility to newspaper reports than the 'gossipy news' on the Internet.

He said that while Malaysia respects press freedom and the right of expression, these liberties are not absolute and must be exercised responsibly.

Mr Zainuddin alluded to how sensitive press reports fanned the Sino-Malay racial riots in May 1969. (Electric New Paper, Singapore)

***** The above report very clearly demonstrates how out of touch Lord Zam is with the reality in Malaysia. The fact that he believes that the Internet is used mainly to 'book budget airline tickets or to get entertainment news' shows that he is not fit to be the information minister and holding that portfolio for this long has taught him nothing.

Almost laughable is his insistence that the younger generation tend to believe newspaper reports! Whatever gave him that idea? He must think that they are kindergarten kids who need to be spoon-fed and are unable to distinguish between government-sponsored lies and the stark truth.

Despite very strong government initiatives and the use of several laws to discourage independent thought and action, educated Malaysians have consistently made up their own minds about what to believe and what to ignore or discard as government propaganda. This includes the younger generation too, who probably won't think twice to give the likes of Zam the 'up yours' when exercising their right to vote.

Even those whom Umno has sought to keep in a perpetual state of ignorance and disinformation have started to see through the veneer of lies and deceit. These are the folks whom Najib would prefer to label as 'ungrateful'.
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Police Report Lodged By Labuan Businesswoman Against Malaysia Today

A businesswoman has lodged a report against the internet news portal Malaysia Today for allegedly carrying a series of comments, allegations and remarks deemed as insulting, defaming and having bad intention on her.

Emelda Doliente @ Norsiah Abdullah made the report at the Labuan Police Station Friday, claiming the allegation carried by Malaysia Today in its web has tarnished her image and reputation.

She said the report lodged was to enable a police investigation before proceeding to legal action against those involved. In her report, Norsiah also stated that she wanted the person who made the statement with his picture posted on the Malaysia Today web to come forward to clear his statement because the said person had claimed he was not involved.

The report mentioned Parti Keadilan Rakyat youth chief Zainuddin Hassan @ Simon as the person responsible for making the statement.

"I have spoken to Zainuddin said to be the Parti Keadilan Rakyat youth chief and he denied it. I would like him to come up with a denial statement and to tell police that his name had been used by certain party," she said.

"I'm not a politician but a businesswoman with no political connection," she said. The case is being investigated under Section 266 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. (Daily Express)

***** Can anyone with more details on this story please enlighten us on what the whole hoo-haa is about?

Exclusive Chat Site For Muslim Youth Far From Hit

An exclusive chat site for Muslims, hosted last year with an unusually long list of 'no-nos' to keep the chat content "clean", has not quite clicked with youngsters in Pakistan.

DesiMuslimchat, which encourages youngsters to exercise their gray cells "with their own kind" in rooms with names like the "Adbi corner" (Academic corner), "students corner", "sports lounge" and of course, the "Islamic chat room" has not been getting the anticipated hits.

"We offer free chat rooms for desi Muslims around the world to chat pure and chat clean. If you are up to a Muslim chat, desi chat, Pak chat, Pakistani chat, Urdu chat- join our free chat rooms... Meet nice and cool desi Muslims and enjoy a clean Muslim chat of your own kind," DesiMuslimchat announces on its home page.

But unlike what the hosts must have imagined, the rooms youngsters throng to are not the "Adbi" or "Islamic" corners, but the romantic-sounding "Chandni Raaten" and "Suhani Shaam" -- and there's no stopping the offensive puns there.

Even the forums to brainstorm youth issues have not made a dent. The discussion forums have been blank, with an occasional post on the imposition of emergency in Pakistan and the October 19 suicide attack on former premier Benazir Bhutto's rally in Karachi.

Only five topics have come up for discussion in the Islamic forum, while nearly 300 topics were discussed in the general section. (DNA)

***** Youngsters it seems will be youngsters first, no matter what their religion.
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UK Police Go Online To Warn Kids Of Social Website Dangers

UK police launched a website on Tuesday to warn children as young as eight about the dangers of putting their personal details on social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo.

The site — THINKUKNOW CYBER CAFÉ — has an online cafe where children can learn about the dangers of revealing too much about themselves online. It warns them not to give away their real name, full address and mobile phone number and to think twice before posting their pictures.

The child exploitation and online protection centre, a police agency set up to tackle child sex abuse, said it receives about 10 reports each month relating to children aged between eight and 11.

"We want children to use the Internet," said CEOP chief executive Jim Gamble," but we want them to do it in a way that safeguards their time in the virtual world." (Times Of India)
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Al-Qaeda Reaches Out To Youth With Flashy Websites

Over 100 English Internet sites, packed with flashy videos of car bombings and other terror strikes, are helping spread the message of the so called jihad by Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups among Muslims in the US and Europe, taking advantage of their anger over Iraq war.

While their reach is difficult to assess, it is clear from a review of extremist material and interviews that militants are seeking to appeal to young American and European Muslims by playing on their anger over the war in Iraq and the image of Islam under attack, The New York Times reported quoting terrorism experts.

Tedious Arabic screeds, it reports, are reworked into flashy English productions. Recruitment tracts are issued in multiple languages, like a 39-page, electronic, English version of a booklet urging women to join the fight against the West.

There are even online novellas like 'Rakan bin Williams,' about a band of Christian European converts who embraced Al-Qaeda and "promised God that they will carry the flag of their distant brothers and seek vengeance on the evil doers," it adds.

Militant Islamists are turning grainy car-bombing tapes into slick hip-hop videos and montage movies, all readily available on Western sites like YouTube, the online video smorgasbord. "It is as if you would watch a Hollywood movie," Abu Saleh, a 21-year-old German fan of Al-Qaeda videos, was quoted as saying. He visits Internet cafes in Berlin twice a week to get the latest releases.

The Internet has totally changed. Al-Qaeda and its followers, the Times says, have used the Internet to communicate and rally support for years, but in the past several months the Western tilt of the message and the sophistication of the media have accelerated.

For the full report click HERE.
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Music Industry Tests Malaysia's Internet Policies With Plea To Block Illegal Downloading

Record labels, faced with sliding sales, called on Malaysian authorities Friday to block Web sites that offer illegal music downloads — a move that could test the government's pledge not to censor the Internet.

The Malaysian music industry's revenue was 87 million ringgit in 2006, a fall from annual average sales of 200 million ringgit in the late 1990s, said Tan Ngiap Foo, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia. The figures comprised sales of both local and foreign artists.

Pirate sites based in foreign countries that offer free file-swapping services are currently believed to be the main threat, because many Malaysians are downloading songs instead of buying CDs amid the increasing availability of computers, digital music players and high-tech mobile phones, Tan told The Associated Press.

The trade association plans to submit a preliminary list of such sites — including some based in China, South Korea and Russia — to government regulators soon, Tan said. It would widen the group's anti-piracy work, which previously focused on seeking crackdowns on shopping malls and commercial zones where pirated CDs are openly sold.

The Communications and Multimedia Commission, the regulatory body for Malaysia's telecommunications industry, did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

The Malaysian government vowed to ensure unfettered access to Internet content in the late 1990s in a bid to win foreign investment for its efforts to become a regional hub for internet technology development.

Authorities have largely stuck to that promise, though government regulators recently blocked several illegal investment Web sites, including foreign-based ones, following complaints that thousands of Malaysians had fallen prey to online financial fraud.

Tan said record labels realize their request might be controversial, but stressed that "it's time for the government to take a stance. Illegal downloading is clearly copyright infringement," he said. He added that the companies were also proposing new laws so that people who participate in illegal music file sharing, either by making content available or downloading tracks to their computers, could be prosecuted.

The association represents about 100 companies and businesses, including the Malaysian operations of EMI Group PLC, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. (International Herald Tribune)
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Umno Youth To Battle The Opposition In Cyberspace

The Umno Youth movement will use the internet to ward off attacks by the opposition who are resorting to this medium of communication to woo voters in the coming general election. Its vice-head Khairy Jamaluddin said Umno Youth perceived efforts by the DAP to campaign via the cyber world as a serious matter as many of the internet users comprised the young generation.

“We concede that this is one avenue that we have not ventured into in totality. We have to address this matter in the near future as we know that the internet will be a popular medium of communication in the future. “Without the presence of the Umno Youth, we will lose support from the young generation who only look at the real world through the internet,” he told reporters when asked to comment on the intention of the DAP to use this medium to campaign in the next general election.

Describing the campaign using the internet as a major challenge to the Barisan Nasional (BN) election machinery, Khairy said Umno Youth would monitor the message conveyed by the opposition via the electronic medium. This was because the information in the internet was more inclined towards sensationalism and its validity had yet to be ascertained compared to the mainstream print and electronic media, he said.

Asked on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s intention to sue him for describing the former deputy prime minister as a traitor and an agent of the United States, Khairy said: “I will not apologise for what I have said.” (NST)

***** Khairy and his motley group of hangers-on are welcome to the cyber world to present their case. However theirs will be an uphill task for they enter the fray totally devoid of any credibility or goodwill, except from computer illiterate Umno lackeys.

Dictating policies from Level 4 and making heroic 'maruah bangsa' speeches to fawning boot polishers is the easy part. Gaining some level of believability and respect in the goblok-sphere is a totally different ball game. Try it Khairy. It should provide the rest of us some comedic relief.
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Umno Capitalizes On Negarakuku YouTube Idiocy; Demands Regulatory Control Of Bloggers

Only a couple of days ago I had posted that "the direct beneficiary of this silly act is the government, especially Umno. They were looking around for a good cause which they could employ to rally all the Malays behind them. The usual sandiwara stuff has not been very successful thus far. Now this golden opportunity has landed on their collective laps and you can be sure it will be milked dry at the appropriate time. Wait and watch as the self-appointed guardians of bangsa, agama dan negara start spitting their venom, no thanks to this idiot in Taiwan."

Sure enough, the scheming mini-warlords at Umno Youth have started to rachet up the momentum and are baying for blood. Not only that of the Taiwan based student but of all bloggers! This YouTube mega-blunder is the type of ammunition which the ruling keris wielder types have been waiting for with relish. And boy are they happy!

Read the following report from Bernama.

Umno Youth Chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said today the time has come for regulatory control of bloggers who resort to unethical means to belittle the country's leaders and mock national symbols and instruments.

He said the movement would not tolerate anyone, particularly bloggers, who threaten national stability, harmony and traditional values of the country.

"Umno Youth warns that freedom has its limits and we will not tolerate those who touch on the issues of national stability, harmony, cultural values and the personality of national leaders," he said when opening the Subang Umno divisional delegates conference here.

Hishammuddin related how irresponsible bloggers had victimised him and his family by spreading slander and even published the picture of an indecently attired young woman whom they claimed to be his daughter.

On Malaysian mass communications student Wee Meng Chee, 24, in Taiwan who rapped to the Negaraku in a video clip, Hishammuddin, who is Education Minister, said the student had discarded the cultures and values of Malaysian society.

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Malaysian Student Defends YouTube Rap Video Of Negaraku

A Malaysian Chinese student has defended posting a racially provocative rap video of the national anthem on YouTube that enraged ethnic Malays, saying he was merely exposing the truth in his music, according to a report Thursday.

"I'm simply reflecting the truth about our society through my music and I did not mean to offend anyone by producing such a video clip. I still love my country," Wee Meng Chee, 24, was quoted as saying The Star newspaper.

Wee has come under fire for mocking the national anthem and using racial slurs in his rap video posted on the Internet site last month, which sparked a flood of abusive criticism from Malays but expressions of support from the ethnic Chinese community.

The divergent responses expose the deep divisions in the multiethnic country, where minority Chinese and Indians have long resented the privileges that the majority Muslim Malays receive in jobs and education under an affirmative action program.

Wee, who is studying at the Ming Chuan University in Taiwan, insisted he was patriotic and didn't mean to be seditious or to attack the government, The Star newspaper said.

More than half a million people have viewed the six-minute clip, in which Wee blends the national anthem, "Negaraku," with a rap song that bemoaned discrimination that Chinese face in Malaysia.

He also poked fun at Muslim morning prayers broadcast from mosques, corrupt policemen and laid-back civil servants, who are mostly Malays. Some of the lyrics implied that Malays are arrogant and Chinese are hardworking.

Officials have said they are investigating whether Wee has flouted the Sedition Act, which carries a maximum prison term of three years.

But Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Thursday that the government does not have plans to recall him from Taiwan, or the means to do so. "We can recall him if he is on a government scholarship," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama. "If a Malaysian citizen commits something unlawful under Malaysian law in a foreign land, we cannot recall him or her."

At best, police can take steps toward filing charges against him, he said.

The Star quoted Wee as saying that he wrote the song in conjunction with Malaysia's 50th independence on Aug. 31, describing it as his "gift" to the country.

He said he had removed the video from the Web site after receiving negative responses but it was uploaded again by some other supporters, the newspaper said. His face can be clearly seen in the video and he sings with the Malaysian flag as a backdrop.

Such direct lampooning of a race in public is highly uncommon in Malaysia, where the three main ethnic groups have lived peacefully together since racial riots on May 13, 1969, left at least 200 people dead. (International Herald Tribune)

***** Attempting to "merely expose the truth" with his music is one thing but to be seen as scoffing at the national anthem while "simply reflecting the truth about our society" and then claiming to be 'patriotic' demonstrates remarkable naiveté and downright stupidity.

The direct beneficiary of this silly act is the government, especially Umno. They were looking around for a good cause which they could employ to rally all the Malays behind them. The usual sandiwara stuff has not been very successful thus far. Now this golden opportunity has landed on their collective laps and you can be sure it will be milked dry at the appropriate time.

Wait and watch as the self-appointed guardians of bangsa, agama dan negara start spitting their venom, no thanks to this idiot in Taiwan.
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Law Needed To End 'Anarchy' Of Hostile Websites, Says Belarus Leader. Some In Malaysia Share Your Views Mr President

President Alexander Lukashenko said the Internet was full of sites hostile to Belarus and a law was needed to end such anarchy, local news agency BelTA reported on Thursday.

"It is time to stop the anarchy on the Internet. We cannot allow this great technological achievement of man to be turned into an information garbage heap," Lukashenko told reporters at a press event to which foreign media were not admitted.

Lukashenko, criticized by the West for his iron grip over the former Soviet republic, said: "It is a massive loudspeaker, not even of the opposition, but a loudspeaker of voices hostile towards us, hostile states." He did not name the states.

He said such sites should be ruled by laws similar to those governing pornography or defamation.

Later on Thursday a communist opposition party said it was banned for six months for paperwork irregularities.

The United States has dubbed Belarus "Europe’s last dictatorship" and the European Union has funded the creation of independent radio stations such as Poland-based Radio Racja, aimed at Belarusians, which can be listened to on the Internet.

Belarusian opposition Web sites have also become more popular since the president clamped down on the traditional independent press.

"There is more than enough freedom in Belarus today and no less than in other countries," Lukashenko said. "If there are limits on freedoms somewhere, they come not from the authorities but from the people."

The opposition Belarusian Communist Party, which counts 4,000 members, said its activities were suspended for six months because it had not filled in Ministry of Justice forms.

***** It looks like info-dictators all over the world are the same -- justifying censorship on tenuous grounds and demanding that laws be enacted or used to crush alternative views. At least he didn't call the webmasters monkeys! These intolerant 'leaders' are also experts at clamping down on the mainstream media, while claiming that enough 'freedom' exists already. When it comes to muzzling the press and eagerly searching for avenues to suppress other sources of information, especially the gobloksphere, we have so much in common with this dying breed of communist dictators.
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Some Countries Imposing Excessive Restrictions On Internet Use Says OSCE Report

Kazakhstan and Georgia are among countries imposing excessive restrictions on how people use the Internet, a new report says, warning that regulations are having a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

"Governing the Internet," issued this week by the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), called the online policing "a bitter reminder of the ease with which some regimes — democracies and dictatorships alike — seek to suppress speech that they disapprove of, dislike, or simply fear."

"Speaking out has never been easier than on the Web. Yet at the same time we are witnessing the spread of Internet censorship," the report says.

Miklos Haraszti, who heads the OSCE's media freedom office, said about two dozen countries practice censorship, and others have adopted needlessly restrictive legislation and government policy.

Among those are Malaysia, whose de facto law minister, Nazri Abdul Aziz, said this week his government was drafting new laws for bloggers and would not hesitate to prosecute those deemed to have insulted Islam.

Haraszti cited separate research by the OpenNet Initiative, a trans-Atlantic group that tracks Internet filtering and surveillance, which also points to questionable online restrictions in Belarus, China, Hong Kong, Sudan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan and elsewhere.

The report says Kazakhstan's efforts to rein in Internet journalism in the name of national security is reminiscent of Soviet-era "spy mania," and it says Georgian law contains numerous provisions curbing freedom of expression online.

Web sites, blogs and personal pages all are subject to criminal as well as civil prosecution in Kazakhstan, and the country's information minister, Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, has vowed to purge Kazakh sites of "dirt" and "lies."

"Those who think it is impossible to control the Internet can continue living in a world of illusions," Yertysbayev told the Vremya newspaper in a recent interview.

In the most publicized instance of a government crackdown, Kazakh authorities took control of .kz Internet domains in 2005, and then revoked a domain it considered offensive that was operated by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, creator of the movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

Baron Cohen since has relocated his satirical Web site.

The OSCE report warns that Kazakhstan's approach to the Internet has produced a hostile atmosphere where "any dissident individual, organization or an entire country could be named an 'enemy of the nation.'"

On Thursday, in a speech at OSCE headquarters in Vienna, Yertysbayev insisted his country was committed to democracy and the creation of what he called an "e-government" that would expand Internet access and make "our information sphere more open and our media more free."

Georgia, the report says, has laws on the books that contain "contradictory and ill-defined" provisions "which on certain occasions might give leverage for illegitimate limitation of freedom of expression on the Internet."

"It is important to support the view of the World Press Freedom Committee that 'governance' must not be allowed to become a code word for government regulation of Internet content," it says. (International Herald Tribune)

***** Look at the countries named - Kazakhstan, Belarus, China, Sudan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, among others - some of the most intolerant and despotic scum in the world. We're in good company?
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Absolved Of Corruption Charges, Johari Baharum Wants Revenge. Demands Probe On Websites Spreading 'Lies'.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom who himself was slandered on the Internet that he had taken bribes, wants the Police to initiate investigations to trace writers spreading lies through websites.

He said that he had instructed the Police's Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) to undertake the investigations and bring the culprits to book.

"Now all kinds of slander about the nation's leaders are being spread through the Internet. The Police must act to prevent them from tarnishing the image of the country," he told reporters after the opening of the delegates meetings of the Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings of Kubang Pasu Umno here today.

On Wednesday, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail ordered the Anti-Corruption Agency to close investigations into the bribery allegations against Johari as there was no evidence to link him to accusations that he had received RM5 million to release several suspected criminals who had been held under the Emergency Ordinance 1969.

The investigations were initiated after the allegations against him were posted on an anonymous website. Johari, who is also the Member of Parliament for Kubang Pasu and the head of its Umno division, said he thanked God that the truth had prevailed and was relieved the episode was over.

He said now he could fully concentrate on his government duties and also prepare for the upcoming general election. "I also received many SMSes (on the short-messaging-service) from Kubang Pasu Umno members voicing their support for me. It gave me added strength to weather the challenging period (corruption allegations) in my life," he added. (Bernama)

***** What theatrical heroics. What concern for the reputation of our leaders! The fury directed at the Internet must have been building up for some time and the detention of Nathaniel Tan must have caused Jumpin' Jackrabbit Joe to suddenly let loose and explode like a violent bout of diarrhoea. Not bad for a fella who a week ago was shitting bricks not knowing what else a police probe on him might have revealed.

Now that the A-G has in his infinite wisdom decided that there is no case, Jo should get back to what he is paid a salary for - work. Unnecessary histrionics and screaming "balas dendam" are for actors in a stage play and is most inappropriate for a Deputy Minister of His Majesty's Government.
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Which Crook(s) Hacked This Website?

A special website, SUARA RAKYAT, set up by the Insolvency Department to receive public complaints on Credit Tip Off Service Sdn Bhd (CTOS), has been hacked into by certain quarters.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk M. Kayveas said certain quarters had attempted to hack into the website, set up last Thursday, to transfer the data stored.

He said the hackers also attempted to channel the complaints sent to the Insolvency website to an undetected website.

"The hacking is done meticulously that the e-mails sent by complainants automatically go to the undetected website and not to the Insolvency website," he said in a statement today. Kayveas said following this discovery, the department was forced to transfer some of the data to a safer website.

"I shall not be hampered by such a tactic, but will continue to ensure that those who have been victimised by CTOS, especially those who were blacklisted, get justice," he added. He said those who had complaints against CTOS could do so at the Insolvency website where the safety features had been upgraded to prevent further hacking.

Last June 25, Kayveas issued a statement that the government had never issued a licence for CTOS to search for and provide information on individuals' financial background.

He said one of the complaints against CTOS was that it was still using out-dated information which resulted in some people not being able to get bank loans.

***** Whoever masterminded the hacking attempt must be a big time crook with little respect for the law. That the person(s) responsible for this were very curious about the complaints being made against CTOS is evident. Now WHO could be THAT interested about such complaints? Hmmm.

By the way does anyone know what kind of political connections CTOS has? What is the background of the company’s chief executive officer, Chung Tze Keong (pic)? Do you think that Chung and/or some of his colleagues could have been responsible for the hacking job?
Image Source:
1) Hacking
2) Chung
Update (7/6/07):
1) Credit status issue: CTOS officials to be charged.
2) CTOS Directors, Secretaries Facing 85 Charges Under Companies Act.

Whistle-blower In India Uses A Blog For Protection

BLOGS RULE!
This is a true story of an honest civil servant's travails in India's corrupt officialdom. Despite democratic institutions being firmly in place with the required checks and balances, India's state governments almost without exception are said to be extremely corrupted. From politicians to civil servants, they would make the shenanigans of our Malaysian crooks seem like child's play.

Moreover, unlike here, the honest public servant in India is probably looked upon as a curse and danger and therefore is often punished with repeated transfers and 'hardship' postings. There have also been cases where particularly 'difficult' officials have been executed/murdered/bumped off for exposing cases of rampant corruption.

The whistle-blowing official in this report, Vijayakumar, had filed about 25 formal complaints detailing specific instances of corruption to the highest-ranking civil servant in Karnataka state, which includes the technology hub of Bangalore. He said his complaints were rarely heeded.

Given these circumstances and realizing the grave danger facing her honest bureaucrat husband, the apprehensive wife devised an unusual ploy to protect him: She BLOGGED. To quote her, "we're creating a fortress around him - a fortress of people. I wanted to inform the people that this is happening, that my husband is a whistle-blower, so that it becomes the responsibility of every citizen to protect him."

She built her Web site, Fight Corruption Now with help from her son, a doctorate student in computer science at Delaware State University. On the site she chronicles her husband's case and criticizes the government. An aficionado of India's new right-to-information laws, she has acquired and uploaded reams of documents. She updates the site nearly every day and has received responses from around the world, including many from Indian émigrés who say they left the country because they found it too corrupt. Government officials in predicaments like her husband's have sought advice.

If such a website were to be set up by a government whistle-blower's wife here, our info-dictator Zainuddin Maidin would probably have a fit! But it looks like blogging is one weapon the ordinary Joe now has, for not only exposing government corruption and wrongdoing but also as protection against government sponsored/inspired harassment or worse.

You can read the full report on the power of the blog HERE.
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Jubilant Zam Wants Porno Sites Banned Next. Blog Restriction Can't Be Far Behind

"If the Multimedia Commission can stop the illegal investment website via the Internet, why can't similar action be taken against the pornographic website which is becoming more rampant," asks Lord Zam, Darth Vader of the Information Darkside.

Frankly I had expected something like this from Zam sooner or later, but our info dictator believes in striking while the censorship iron is hot and fired his first salvo real quick. Oh and he's a smart cat. Instead of directing his ire at his pet hate, the internet media and blogs, he uses porno websites as a stepping stone. After all who would publicly declare that porno sites are absolutely essential, and more importantly how many people will openly support these sites and demand that they be left untouched?

Therefore it is only a matter of time before these are closed to Malaysian surfers. But what about the "no censorship" pledge given prior to the establishing of the MSC? Zam's logic is probably, "when even the MSC has not really taken off, why bother about a small matter like an assurance/promise? After all it is in the national interest and the good of the rakyat."

The next logical move that our intolerant Lord will make is to justify the banning/censoring/closing down of 'dangerous, subversive, anti-nationalistic, anti-government and opposition controlled' blogs. He would create a media hoo-haa along with like-minded dunderheads, of whom there are aplenty in Umno, on grounds of insult, injury and affront to 'bangsa, agama dan negara'. Those magic words should gain him some measure of support from the less literate groups on the ground. From that point on, it will be a war of wills between the resoluteness of bloggers on one side and the innate intolerance to free speech of this government, especially its Information dictator-in-chief, Lord Zainuddin Maidin, on the other.

If he gets his way, a few years down the road, the only Malaysian websites you can see would be an internet version of RTM 1. There will be thousands of blogs praising the munificence and benevolence of the government, some websites highlighting Islam Hadhari, a few hundred sites on Umno's continuing 'struggle' and also its role in achieving Merdeka, maybe a few government approved business websites selling baju kurung online and perhaps one or two on Lord Zam's ancestral hometown near the Malabar coast. Now THAT would be really semuanya OK in Zam's book.

Read of Lord Zam's fire and brimstone tirade HERE.
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Whacky Dictator Zam Goes Ballistic Over Press Freedom.

There he goes again foaming at the mouth, snarling and growling incoherently, ready to pounce on and tear you to shreds. No, not a rabid canine. I'm referring to our honourable Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin who according to Bernama has ticked off certain media organisations for 'abusing the transparency' of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi by rekindling racial political issues.

He said the move could harm the 'social contract' that has been well received by the Malays, Chinese and Indians. (Notice how he assumes firstly that the so-called social contract agreed upon at Independence is similar to the currently hijacked bastardized version, which includes the eternal implementation of the aptly named and internationally notorious Never Ending Policy. Secondly he arrogantly presupposes that it is universally accepted and acclaimed by all Malaysians! Has this man taken leave of his senses?)

As if to underline and emphasize his inability to come to terms with a rapidly changing and more inter-connected and well informed world, he pathetically admitted that "to me, press freedom cannot go beyond the time-tested social contract!" Zainuddin said matters agreed to in the social contract should not be questioned by the media as the move would create adverse effects.

He expressed disappointment over attempts by certain media to highlight incidents such as the May 13 racial riots, Maybank's move to impose 50 per cent stake ownership by Bumiputeras in legal firms and the Parliament leaking roof issue.

Abusing the transparency allowed by the prime minister as the head of government could ruin the pillar of strength of Malaysians who have been living in peace and harmony, he said.

On the publication of a book on May 13 by former Petaling Jaya MP Dr Kua Kia Soong, Zainuddin said the book would only serve to arouse anxiety among multiracial Malaysians. He said although the Government had not banned the book authored by the former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, certain media have reported that the book has been banned and has been sold off.

He advised the people not to be carried away by the negative views of certain individuals about the government through postings in their blog sites. "They try to incite the people's ill-feelings (through their blogs)," he said.

Earlier, in his speech, Zainuddin said the New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced about 30 years had succeeded in nation-building. "The NEP has helped mould a strong Malaysian race by way of fostering racial unity which must be maintained at all costs," he added.

***** That claim by Zam is poppycock and he is merely attempting to perpetuate a myth. As far as I can see, the NEP has estranged the Bumis and non-Bumis almost irreparably. I wonder how racial unity can be meaningfully 'fostered' by officially depriving entire races without the slightest concern for the miserably poor in these groups who have been so very unfairly categorized as the 'haves' and made to suffer extreme poverty and torment all these decades? It is precisely the uncomfortable questions and unpalatable observations like those posted here which Zam wishes to conceal and totally suppress if possible.
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Classify Bloggers Says Malaysia's Gestapo Wannabe Zainuddin Maidin!

True to form this imperious proponent of press censorship (and if possible, the fast track and painful execution of those contravening his ideas of 'free speech') has once again bared his razor sharp fangs at bloggers as a whole.

According to Bernama, Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin said today Malaysia has to 'classify' web bloggers as professionals and non-professionals as a mechanism to prevent 'misuse' of blog sites. (Misuse in 'Zamspeak' means any adverse comment against or criticism of the government.) Glaringly exposing his ignorance as well as underlining the fact that he still lives in a make believe mid-20th century dictatorship, he emphasized that "this classification will also facilitate the action to be taken against those found to have violated the country's laws."

Zainuddin Maidin was once a respected journalist who began his metamorphosis into an intolerant tyrant around the same time he made the transition from scribe to bribe (i.e. politics). Although personally he is known to be an honest man who eschews corrupt practices, his harsh, unbending views on alternative sources of news especially via the Internet has done grievous harm to his reputation and many now consider him as a person who is not only out of sync with the times but has stayed beyond the expiry date for politicians.

Those like intolerant Zam have no place in the politics of a true democracy. But our government, privately not professing to be 'fully' democratic have entrusted him with of all cabinet positions, the information portfolio! Let him challenge the bloggers. It would be an interesting duel; our version of the archaic immovable object versus the modern irresistible force.

Read more of Zam's outrageous opinions on blogs and bloggers HERE.
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Now Zam Wants 'Politically-motivated' Blogs To Be Monitored And Registered!

One can't help but admire Lord Zam, Darth Vader of the Information Darkside, a diehard fan of suppression and misinformation. At least he is consistent and transparent in his desire and ambition to keep under his thumb everything that is published by Malaysians. He has succeeded admirably in doing just that with the mainstream media and now this hard-core dictator is day-dreaming of repeating this feat with the blogs. That it is an idiotic and supremely foolish idea has escaped the warped brain of this aging, out-of-date despot. The following report from Bernama details Zam's schizophrenic delusions.

Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin Friday lent his weight to a proposal to register blog sites, especially those which are politically-motivated.

He said the mainstream media were subjected to registration, monitoring and specific laws, and as such, there was no reason why the same should not apply to blog operators. "We must know who they are. So there must be laws that will facilitate their identification," he told reporters here.

However, he said, the need to register blogs with entertainment and social commentary contents might not be as great as politically-motivated ones. "When people involved in politics want to use blogs for their political interest or when blog operators are politically-motivated, we have to know who they are.

"Politics is meant to gain influence among the people, politics is meant to obtain power. When it comes to power, it's the people who are in control. When the people use the power, they'll have to identify themselves. They are dishonest if they hide themselves when talking about politics," he said.

Zainuddin said in the quest for political power, people were willing to resort to slander, disseminate lies, use unauthorized sources or choose not to verify the source of the information. "This is very dangerous as they are writing and taking steps to gain power. Their objective is to topple the government, widen the reach of their political doctrine and assist any parties for political purposes," he said.

Zainuddin said he concurred with the monitoring and registration proposal forwarded by the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry. Zainuddin discussed the blog issue and how the island republic was approaching the matter in a meeting this morning with his counterpart, Information, Communications and the Arts Minister Dr Lee Boon Yang.

The Malaysian minister said Singapore had formulated a mechanism for the registration of blogs which consistently churned out articles on politics. He pointed out that Singapore had a class licensing framework to supervise new media forms such as blogs, subjecting them to certain code of ethics under the supervision of the Media Development Authority.

A class licence involves the gazetting of the terms and conditions of a particular industry, and anyone who provides the services within the scope of the class licence will be deemed to have read and agreed to the terms and conditions, and would be considered licensed.

Zainuddin felt that the method implemented by Singapore was practical and it could possibly be modified for use in Malaysia. "We'll see whether or not this version can be done in Malaysia. I don't know yet but I feel that the method is a practical one," he said.

***** There are so many good schemes and projects that Singapore undertakes and innovates which can and should be emulated here. Yet our diktator tempatan goes only for the repressive side of Singapore's own deluded insecurity, impatience and intolerance. If he truly believes that blogs can be compelled to register, then there is no harm if we feel strongly that he should be certified under the Mental Health Act (or whatever it is now called).
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Related report: Shaziman denies censorship goal.
Another gem from Zam: Information Ministry Has To Counter Lies By Opposition.