Archive for category IT
The 100 apologies that immortalised Blu Inc
By Nathaniel Tan
June 03, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 3 — Malaysia makes the big news: “Social activist forced to tweet apology to corporation 100 times.”
I think that’s up there with the other international coverage we get — churches burned down, detaining parliamentarians without trial and banning yoga.
What actually happened
So this all began with a tweet by Fahmi Fadzil dated January 25: “My friend’s wife, who works at Female magazine, has tendered her resignation because they’re giving her so much shit because she’s pregnant.”
Female magazine is owned by Blu Inc Media and Magazines, who apparently got their knickers all in a twist upon learning of this tweet.
It sounds like some pressure was applied to all the parties involved, resulting in a follow-up tweet from Fahmi that very same day: “I would like to formally & unequivocally apologise to Blu Inc and Female mag for my tweets earlier today. All inconveniences are regretted.” Read the rest of this entry »
RM450m Tambatuon dam controversy – Why MP Kota Belud never visited kampong? (2)
This is twitter sequel to “RM450m Tambatuon dam controversy – Why MP Kota Belud never visited kampong?”:
29th May – 1 June 2011
mpkotabelud Abdul Rahman Dahlan
Baru landing di KK. Buka phone, timeline dan DM saya flooded wt tweets abt @limkitsiang’s visit to my beloved Kota Belud. Ish..
29 May
mpkotabelud Abdul Rahman Dahlan
Saya dah bermesyuarat &trima memo JK Bertindak Empangan Tambatuon dua bulan lalu. Kluar dlm paper. @limkitsiang playing spin doctor lagi ke?
29 May
mpkotabelud Abdul Rahman Dahlan
Tak payah main politik dgn I. U all pun sama. RT @kaikiok: Read the rest of this entry »
Can They Win, One Tweet at a Time?
By Michael Scherer
Time
Monday, May. 30, 2011
When Barack Obama traveled to Texas this month to talk immigration, David Plouffe, his top message guru, decided to stay home and watch Twitter instead. While Obama spoke, Plouffe sat before two flat-screen televisions in the White House complex. One showed live footage of Obama in El Paso. The other flickered with a lightning-quick vertical ticker tape of people tweeting with the #immigration hashtag, reacting line by line to the President in real time. “I find it useful,” Plouffe says, “to see what’s penetrating.”
When Obama went off script to joke that Republicans would soon demand a border moat filled with alligators, a blur of Twitter messages showed people sending the quote to friends and followers, signaling a messaging victory of sorts. “It’s kind of the next evolution,” Plouffe explains. “Remember back in 2008, you’d have the presidential debate, and then most of the networks would have some sort of dial going up and down. That seems very Jurassic Park–like compared to this.” (Read Joel Stein’s essay: “Following the Leader.”) Read the rest of this entry »
News portal Merdeka Review sends SOS for funds
Malaysiakini | May 19, 11
Independent Chinese news portal Merdeka Review is facing closure at the end of this month as their funders, who have hitherto remained anonymous, have suddenly decided to pull out.
In a statement today, the news portal appealed for public donations and investors to meet its RM60,000 monthly expenditure.
“You decide whether we can stay on by donating to us now!” read the urgent statement.
Read the rest of this entry »
Of online privacy, PR snafus, and self-righteousness
By Edwin Yapp | May 19, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 19 — All’s fair in love and war, so says the age-old adage. But while this might be true in the old days, all’s not necessarily fair at all especially in the cyber age world.
Late last week, news broke that Facebook has owned up to hiring a public relations consultancy to expose supposed flaws in Google’s privacy practices. According to the Economist, numerous reports appeared stating that Burson-Marsteller, a public-relations company working for the social networking giant, has been urging bloggers and journalists to write scathing pieces about Google’s Social Circle.
Social Circle enables users to view information publicly available of other users who are connected to their Google Chat and Contacts, and includes data such as Facebook accounts, Twitter feeds and personal Web sites.
Read the rest of this entry »
Existing systems better, cheaper than myemail service
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, IT on Tuesday, 10 May 2011
By Koh Teng Gee | May 10, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
I refer to Idris Jala’s advertisement “Truth and Lies About myemail.”
I believe people at Pemandu are not aware that a practical and secured system is already in place which is also cost-effective. All that the government agencies need to do is to implement it.
Many GLC’s and Government Agencies already have their portals in place. Many had already made arrangement with banks for online payment. Currently, these agencies send billing statements by post to customers. Payment can be made online at their portals, via online banking bill payment, at one-stop payment centres or their office counter. To go paperless, what they need to do is to inform their customers when the eBilling statement is available at their portals.
Read the rest of this entry »
1 Malaysia Email Advertorial: Truth or Lies?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, IT on Tuesday, 10 May 2011
By Tony Pua
May 08, 2011
I had taken the opportunity to read every word in the advertorial placed by Pemandu to explain and justify the “1 Malaysia Email Project” controversy across all major newspapers and even news portals yesterday.
I also read with interest the repeated assertions with regards to “misrepresentations spewed by the vocal minority”. Datuk Idris Jala had clarified that “the reason why Pemandu is clarifying this situation is to make sure that the general public is not misinformed by people who distort the truth” and that “Pemandu believes in integrity and transparency.”
I am not sure if I’m included in this exclusive circle of “vocal minority” who is “bent on distorting the truth”, and I shall not be so bold as to think that the criticisms are directed at me. However, after reading the “comprehensive” reply, I’m felt compelled to compile my own list of “frequently asked questions” (FAQs) on “truths and lies about MyEmail”
Read the rest of this entry »
10 questions about 1Malaysia Email
Oon Yeoh | Apr 26, 11
Malaysiakini
There’s been a lot of negativity about the 1Malaysia Email project to be handled by Tricubes. Perhaps a big part of that has to do with the fact that there aren’t actually that many facts released by Tricubes or the government about this controversial project.
We’ve heard bits and pieces about it through news reports, and an interview on BFM89.9 has shed some light on the project. But many questions remain.
Here are 10 key question that, if answered properly by either Tricubes or the government, would probably go a long way towards stemming the tidal wave of criticism the project has attracted thus far.
1. Why is it called 1Malaysia Email?
Apparently, the registered and approved domain email address will be [email protected]. So why isn’t it called MyEmail instead of 1Malaysia Email? Besides, doesn’t Tricubes know that roughly half the popular votes in the last election went to Pakatan Rakyat? That being the case, isn’t it a foolish strategy to brand an email service with name that is so incredibly politicised that it would alienate roughly half the electorate? Read the rest of this entry »
1 Malaysia email page changed on Pemandu website
By Shannon Teoh
April 21, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) changed details of the 1 Malaysia email project on its website between the day it was announced and yesterday, and now calls it a private sector initiative when it was previously listed as a government initiative.
“The 1Malaysia Email project is a government initiative in providing a unique and official email account and ID for the citizens of Malaysia,” the description read on Tuesday.
Since yesterday, the description of the RM50 million project read: “The 1Malaysia Email project which features the domain name of ‘myemail.my’ is a private sector initiative led by Tricubes Berhad to provide a unique and official email account and user ID for interested citizens of Malaysia.”
This came after public outcry over the project that many said was a waste of public funds forced both Pemandu and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to clarify on Tuesday that the government would not fund the platform for secure communication with the public.
As of 8am today, close to 36,000 Facebook users have joined a virtual protest against the project and both #1malaysiaemail and Tricubes are still among the top 10 Malaysian topics on microblogging site Twitter, nearly two days after the emails were first announced.
The unit, under Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala, insisted yesterday that the project is a private sector initiative despite a report by The Malaysian Insider that the government had invited bids last November for a RM50 million government services Internet solution. Read the rest of this entry »
Pemandu takes fire as hostility grows over 1 Malaysia email a/c
KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) today reiterated the 1 Malaysia email accounts project is a private sector initiative — despite a report that the government had invited bids last November for a RM50 million government services internet solution.
Within 15 minutes of the clarification going live on its Twitter account, @etp_roadmap, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin questioned if the private investment to fund the project was being guaranteed by the government.
The government’s Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) invited bids for the project last November, according to documents sighted by The Malaysian Insider.
It is understood as many as five companies were invited to pitch for the project by Mampu although it was unclear why the task was given to a civil service unit that manages the public service.
Read the rest of this entry »
Experts doubtful of 1 Malaysia e-mail security
KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Computer security experts have questioned the rationale behind the 1 Malaysia e-mail initiative and whether the Najib administration can keep the service secure and affordable.
Open source expert Colin Charles said he did not think it was a good idea for Malaysians to use an e-mail account controlled by the government as there was no guarantee its contents would remain safe.
“The worst that can happen is that someone in the government can read your e-mail,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
“My general advice is: don’t use the e-mail account to write about anything you care about.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Government says voluntary, but 1 Malaysia email KPI 100pc by 2015
Posted by Kit in IT, Najib Razak, Twitter on Wednesday, 20 April 2011
By Jahabar Sadiq
Editor
The Malaysian Insider
April 20, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Several firms were invited to bid for the 1 Malaysia email project last November and demonstrate a 100 per cent take-up rate for the service, contradicting the Najib administration’s statement that the account is not compulsory.
The Malaysian Insider understands the key performance indicator (KPI) for the project was a 50 per cent take-up rate for those above 18-years old by 2012, before increasing to 100 per cent by 2015.
The winning bidder also had to demonstrate how it would get 50 per cent of the email account holders to use its value added services such online bill payment and public record searches by 2020, according to a document seen by The Malaysian Insider.
However, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who announced the project yesterday, clarified early this morning that the email account is entirely voluntary. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s 1 Malaysia circus — 1 email for every Malaysians
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, IT, Najib Razak, Twitter on Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Tweets @limkitsiang:
Are Malaysians so IT-backward? http://bit.ly/ggwc0K All Malaysians to get official 1 Malaysia email a/c (TMI)
04/19/2011 02:26 PM
Will 1 use of 1M a/c get a 1M burger, 2nd use IM-Tshirt, 3rd use 1M-Tupperware? http://bit.ly/ggwc0K All Msians to get 1M email a/c (TMI)
04/19/2011 02:29 PM
Najib’s 1Malaysia circus plumbs new depth – Big Brother-ism gone mad! http://bit.ly/ggwc0K All Msians to get 1M email a/c (TMI)
04/19/2011 02:30 PM
Results Najib’s 1M circus (1)Msians more divided bcos of rhetoric race/religion under UMNO patronage (2)birth new army of 1M fortune hunters
04/19/2011 02:33 PM
Wow! Ripoff of the century! RM50 million 4newfangled 1M email a/c 4Msians that nobody wants. Couldn’t Najib put RM50 million 2better use?
04/19/2011 03:09 PM
Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysiakini down, hit by cyber attacks
A cyber attack beginning at 11am today shut down Malaysiakiniservers simultaneously, making the website inaccessible to readers.
The Malaysiakini technical team has determined it to be a denial-of-service attack, where an attacker uses computers in different parts of the world to swarm Malaysiakini servers to the point that they are unable to cope with the massive traffic.
Both our servers, which are hosted at two data centres – TM Brickfields and Jaring – have been affected by the attack.
Malaysiakini has posted all of today’s reports in Facebook. Readers can access Malaysiakini in full via Facebook Notes.
We will soon be making our reports, especially those on the Sarawak election, available on WordPress, Blogspot and other publishing platforms.
Malaysiakini is also working to bring up a new set of servers.
We apologise for the technical problem and we will keep readers informed of developments via Facebook and Twitter.
Malaysiakini alternative sites :
Egypt cuts off internet access
By Charles Arthur
Friday 28 January 2011
guardian.co.uk
Most of the major internet service providers in Egypt are offline following week-long protests
Egypt appears to have cut off almost all access to the internet from inside and outside the country from late on Thursday night, in a move that has concerned observers of the protests that have been building in strength through the week.
“According to our analysis, 88% of the ‘Egyptian internet’ has fallen off the internet,” said Andree Toonk at BGPmon, a monitoring site that checks connectivity of countries and networks.
“What’s different in this case as compared to other ‘similar’ cases is that all of the major ISP’s seem to be almost completely offline. Whereas in other cases, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were typically blocked, in this case the government seems to be taking a shotgun approach by ordering ISPs to stop routing all networks.”
The cutoff appears to have happened around 10.30pm GMT on Thursday night.
Only one internet service provider appears to still have a working connection to the outside world: the Noor Group, for which all 83 routes are working, and inbound traffic from its connection provider, Telecom Italia, also working.
Protests in Egypt at the government’s rule have been building all week, and Friday was expected to see the largest demonstrations so far.
An analysis by Renesys, which provides real-time monitoring of internet access, says that “every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, internet cafe, website, school, embassy and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world. Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr, and all their customers and partners are, for the moment, off the air.” Read the rest of this entry »
Egypt blocks social media websites in attempted clampdown on unrest
Facebook, Google, Hotmail and Twitter among services blocked by government, report users
Charles Arthur, technology editor
Guardian UK
26th January 2011
Internet sites such as Twitter and Facebook were cut off within Egypt today as the government of President Hosni Mubarak tried to prevent social media from being used to foment unrest.
Many sites registered in Egypt could not be reached from outside, according to Herdict.org, a website where users report access problems.
Twitter, YouTube, Hotmail, Google, Chinese search engine Baidu and a “proxy service” – which would allow users to evade obvious restrictions – appeared to be blocked from inside the country, according to reports on the site.
Twitter said blocking was intermittent and some users were able to tweet while Bambuser, a Swedish site for streaming video from mobile phones, said it had been blocked after being used by some protesters this week. Read the rest of this entry »
Who are telling the truth – or who are telling lies – about government’s proposed censorship of online news?
Who are telling the truth – or who are telling lies – about the government’s proposed censorship of online news?
Could one of the country’s top civil servants like the Home Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam be openly and blatantly telling a lie when he was reported by Bernama yesterday as saying that the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 would be amended to expand its scope and include publications posted online and “plug loopholes”?
Mahmood had said that the Home Ministry was looking at the definition of “publication” and whether it should include Internet content, blogs or Facebook to expand the Act due to the changing landscape of the digital era.
Expressing the hope that the amendments will be tabled in Parliament by March this year because “we need to overcome weaknesses, especially those involving multimedia content”, Mahmood said the ministry was working with the Attorney-General’s Chambers to study the proposed amendments.
Read the rest of this entry »
MPs say press law changes will drive investors away
Posted by Kit in IT, Media, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 26 January 2011
By Clara Chooi | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Opposition lawmakers piled criticism today on the government’s plan to regulate online media content, predicting that the move would see severe voter backlash and hamper investor confidence in Malaysia.
DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang told The Malaysian Insider today that the Najib administration’s latest attempt to quell online dissent was a clear violation of the Barisan Nasional government’s pledge not to enforce censorship on the Internet.
The promise, he noted, was made under the 10-point Bill of Guarantees (BoGs) of the Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor launched in 1996.
“They should be aware of this violation and if they proceed with this, they will frighten away investors.
“If the guarantee is not honoured, investors will view Malaysia as losing its credibility,” he said when contacted.
Read the rest of this entry »
Lim Kit Siang’s blog tops in number of hits
(Thanks to “Ewe Paik Leong, The Wordslinger ” for forwarding the following blog):
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Lim Kit Siang’s blog tops in number of hits
“Cubestat [cubestat.com] is a free and perfect tool for website value calculation, estimations and information. How does it work? You simply enter the domain url [in the box], our unique algorithm will calculate and estimate the website worth, daily pageviews and daily ads revenue of the present domain.”
Out of curiosity, one evening, I reckoned the number of hits for the blogs of our country’s more vocal politicians selected at random. Here are the results in descending order of pageviews:
No. 1
Name: Lim Kit Siang
Website Address: limkitsiang.com
Site age: 4 years
Website Worth: $44,472.33
Daily Pageviews: 20,307
Daily Ads Revenue: $60.92
No. 2
Name: Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Website Address: cedet.co.cc
Site Age: N/A
Website Worth: $26,028.15
Daily Pageviews: 11,885
Daily Ads Revenue: $35.66
No. 3
Name: Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahin
Website Address anwaribrahimblog.com
Site Age: 4 years
Website Worth: $25,699.65
Daily Pageviews: 11,735
Daily Ads Revenue: $35.21
No. 4
Name: Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak
Website Address: www.1malaysia.com.my
Site Age: N/A
Website Worth: $13,210.08
Daily Pageviews: 6,032
Daily Ads Revenue: $18.10 Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia Chronicle denied basic right of legal representation by MCMC
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, IT on Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
by Wong Choon Mei
Malaysia Chronicle
When my hand-phone alarm woke me at 5am this morning, it was with reluctance and a heavy heart that I opened my eyes. At the back of my mind the whole weekend was my 11am interview or interrogation by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.
And true enough, it turned out not to be a pleasant experience.
Less than 10 minutes into the meeting at the MCMC headquarters in Cyberjaya, my lawyer Latheefa Koya was ‘booted out’ from the room by none other than the director of the enforcement department, who personally came to ‘collect’ her.
And in doing so, he denied me of my fundamental right to legal representation. Read the rest of this entry »
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