Category: IT

The Malaysian Insider
Jun 02, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Most of Malaysia’s mainstream newspapers appear to have taken a hit since the May 5 general election for perceived biased reporting, Singapore’s the Straits Times (ST) said today.

The broadsheet cited the examples of Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and MCA-owned The Star newspaper.

“Star is in a dilemma of trying to be independent and yet pressured to boost BN’s image,” Shaharuddin Badaruddin, a political analyst at Universiti Teknologi Mara, was quoted as saying to the ST.

The Star is the largest English-language daily in Malaysia, averaging audited sales of 290,000 copies daily between January and June last year.

Umno’s network of media outlets is wide, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based Centre for Independent Journalism.

Via proxies, Umno controls Media Prima, which publishes the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro. It also owns the Utusan Group, which publishes Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo!

The ST said Utusan Malaysia has been accused of biased reporting for years, and its circulation has fallen from 213,000 in 2006 to between 170,000 and 180,000 last year. Continue reading “Straits Times: Credibility of Malaysia’s mainstream newspapers at stake”

The new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is the best example of being “own victim” of the lies of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in past six years to employ a 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders.

This is again illustrated by today’s Utusan Malaysia, one of the chief instruments of UMNO/BN propangada in the 13GE, which carried a report headlined “Red Bean Army serang kerajaan – Ekoran DAP gagal peroleh kuasa di Putrajaya”, which states:

“Kuala Lumpur 27 Mei – Kecaman serta penghinaan berterusan yang dihamburkan oleh Red Bean Army terhadap kerajaan jelas membuktikan tentera siber DAP itu gagal menutup rasa kecewa kerana tidak berjaya memperoleh ‘kuasa’ di Putrajaya.

“Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi berkata, walaupun beliau sendiri tidak terlepas daripada serangan tentera siber berkenaan, perkara itu adalah lumrah bagi mereka yang bergelar ahli politik.

“Meskipun tidak menyatakan bentuk tindakan yang akan diambil terhadap pihak terbabit, beliau dengan nada sinis memberitahu, mereka merupakan jenis manusia yang hanya tahu menyalahkan pihak lain berbanding diri sendiri.”

I do not believe Zahid suffers from any hallucination about the DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in the past six years to employ a 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers to demonise him and other Umno/BN leaders.

The kindest thing one can say about Zahid is to regard him as an “own victim” of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” lies about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in the past six years to employ 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders. Continue reading “Zahid best example of being “own victim” of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” lies about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in past six years to employ 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders”

Yesterday, the UMNO “lies-paper” Utusan Malaysia front-paged “Perangi Red Bean Army – Pelbagai pihak gesa kerajaan pinda Akta Komunikasi dan Multimedia” while today another UMNO mouthpiece New Straits Times headlined “’Anwar using Red Bean Army to incite hatred’”.

Suddenly, the “Red Bean Army” has become the vogue of attack of the gutter press of UMNO/BN.

Even the truculent and belligerent new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was roped into the propaganda “circus” with him declaring that the Home Ministry, via the police, will work together with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as well as Malaysian CyberSecurityj to check immediately the channelling of contents by certain cybertrooper groups which violate social media laws.

How much I had wished that the police, the MCMC and Malaysian CyberSecurity had identified the culprits and cleaned up the racism and poison spewed by UMNO/Barisan Nasional cybertroopers on the Internet during the 13th general elections, in particular those which had targetted me and the DAP as either having caused the May 13 riots in 1969, or all the lies and falsehoods to paint a picture that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers.

But absolutely nothing had been done. Continue reading “Claims that DAP spends RM108 million in past six years to employ a 200-strong Red Bean Army of cybertroopers a total figment of imagination of Utusan Malaysia and failed UMNO/BN propagandists”

By AMIR EFRATI and GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
Wall Street Journal
May 17, 2013

TECHNOLOGY

As Congress frets about the privacy implications of Google Glass, one thing is clear: The technology that can redefine what is “public” and link the digital and physical worlds is here.

Now the question is what will anyone do about it?

Questions of appearance and privacy arrive for Google Glass wearers.

Owners of wearable Internet-connected devices already face choices about where or when it is appropriate to wear them—while legal experts say there aren’t many protections for people whose activities the technology records. Continue reading “Google Glass Is Watching – Now What? .”

DAP will lodge an official complaint to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) of violation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Guarantee of “No Internet Censorship” since dissolution of the last Parliament last month, causing blockade to several DAP sites.

It is clear that for this period, Malaysian internet users, particularly visitors to Pakatan Rakyat websites and others deemed unfriendly to Barisan Nasional have been put under surveillance, censorship, filtering and blockade without their knowledge – which is a gross violation of the MSC Guarantee of “No Internet Censorship”.

The recent Internet censorship and filtering on Malaysian Internet users are both unprecedented and sinister, as they are designed to filter specific websites, facebook accounts, youtube videos and live video streaming.

The filtering of the specific content and websites are designed to sabotage and cause annoyances to Malaysian Internet users by preventing the sites from loading immediately. And more seriously it denies Malaysians a source of information when the censored site/video could not load.

Independent in-depth technical study of the effects of filtering and censorship, such as that posted on a popular Malaysia’s Internet forum by rizvanrp on May 1 (https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2794929) have been verified by separate independent tests carried out by the DAP IT Manager, Goh Kheng Teong, viz: the MSC guarantee of “No Internet Censorship” had been violated since the dissolution of the previous Parliament in early April.
Continue reading “DAP will lodge official complaint to MCMC of violation of MSC Guarantee of “No Internet Censorship” since dissolution of last Parliament last month, causing blockade to several DAP sites”

Pengundi-pengundi perlu berhati-hati dengan kempen fitnah cybertroopers pro-UMNO/BN yang memburukkan DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat. Ini adalah kerana kempen rasmi pilihanraya umum ke-13 sudah pun bermula. DAP bersama PAS dan PKR yang membentuk Pakatan Rakyat telah memulakan kempen secara bersih, adil dan telus. Ini adalah prinsip bersama kami ke arah membentuk Malaysia baru yang bebas dari rasuah, salah guna kuasa dan penyelewengan.

Saya sedar ada kempen-kempen kotor yang terus dilakukan oleh pihak-pihak tertentu, terutamanya oleh cybertroopers pro-UMNO/BN, yang menyebarkan fitnah dan pembohongan. Ini adalah kempen yang tidak sihat dan bersifat hasutan.

Namun, walaupun golongan ini terus memfitnah dan menyebarkan berta palsu, saya bersama DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat tidak akan putus asa untuk terus berkempen dengan cara yang baik dan terhormat sebagaimana yang kami telah lakukan sejak beberapa dekad yang lalu.

Saya harap rakyat Malaysia, terutamanya orang Melayu, tidak mudah terpengaruh dengan fitnah dan pembohongan, sama ada yang disebarkan melalui internet atau melalui ceramah. Fitnah amat berbahaya kerana ia boleh menimbulkan ketegangan antara kaum di negara ini.

DAP telah difitnah sebagai perti perkauman, parti cauvinis, parti anti-Islam dan sebagainya. Semua ini tidak benar dan bohong belaka. DAP adalah parti politik yang sah yang menghormati Perlembagaan Persekutuan. DAP menolak segala bentuk politik perkauman dan diskriminasi kaum, agama dan gender.
Continue reading “Pengundi-pengundi perlu berhati-hati dengan kempen fitnah cybertroopers pro-UMNO/BN yang memburukkan DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat”

By Keith Rozario | march 15, 2013
keithrozario.com

I’ve been pretty busy the past few months, and my post count has been pretty low, and although I just returned from a 2 week trip abroad and am now flushed full of work, I decided to burn a bit of the midnight oil today because the Malaysian Insider completely pissed me off.

It all started with an article from Lim Kit Siangs blog, which read “Malaysia uses spyware against citizens, NYT reports“. The post was merely a cut-and-copy reproduction of a Malaysian Insider article that had the same headline. The headline really got my blood churning and it was followed up with an even more mouth watering opening paragraph:
Continue reading “Malaysian government using spyware against citizens? No, not really.”

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 14, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Malaysia is among 25 countries using off-the-shelf spyware to keep tabs on citizens by secretly grabbing images off computer screens, recording video chats, turning on cameras and microphones, and logging keystrokes, US newspaper the New York Times (NYT) reported yesterday.

Besides Malaysia, researchers at Citizen Lab based at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs found that the United States, Singapore, Indonesia and Britain also used the surveillance software known as FinSpy.

“Rather than catching kidnappers and drug dealers, it looks more likely that it is being used for politically motivated surveillance,” security researcher Morgan Marquis-Boire was quoted by NYT as saying.

Martin J. Muench, managing director of Gamma Group — a British company that sells FinSpy — has reportedly said that Gamma Group sold its technology to governments solely to monitor criminals, and that it was most often used against “paedophiles, terrorists, organised crime, kidnapping and human trafficking”.

Marquis-Boire, however, pointed out that the software was open to abuse, saying: “If you look at the list of countries that Gamma is selling to, many do not have a robust rule of law.”

Other countries with servers running FinSpy include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Qatar, Serbia, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Continue reading “Malaysia uses spyware against own citizens, NYT reports”

— The Malaysian Insider
Feb 17, 2013

FEB 17 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wrote today about the media – and how governments were able to exercise control through licensing and laws.

But then came the alternative media, or rather online media, he wrote, ironically, on his blog which is online.

“In the alternative media just about anyone can put anything they like to say on the internet directly, with no managers, editors or sub-editors changing any of the contents. The freedom is almost total. This is the essence of democracy?” he says.

Thank you, Dr Mahathir. Your views are always welcome because thanks to you, we are here. Without your foresight, the internet would have taken its time to come to Malaysia.

But your hindsight is another thing. You speak of the alternative media where anyone can put anything, without checks and balances. Continue reading “Dr M, on media and lies”

Pada majlis perembahan Gangnam Style bintang pop Korea Psy di Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina Perdana Menteri di Pulau Pinang esok, adakah Datuk Seri Najib Razak akan membuat kenyataan sama ada Malaysia mampu mengejar Korea Selatan atau sekurang-kurangnya mula merapatkan jurang yang semakin besar antara dua negara?

Seorang Menteri Kabinet berkata kemunculan Psy akan menjadikan Pulau Pinang terkenal di serata dunia dan yang lebih penting daripada itu adalah Pulau Pinang dan Malaysia menjadi terkenal di serata dunia kerana pencapaiannya sendiri dalam semua bidang usaha.

Enam belas tahun lalu, ketika kita mengisytiharkan Koridor Raya Multimedia sebagai “hadiah buat dunia”, Malaysia dan Korea Selatan pernah pada tahap yang sama memulakan perjalanan dalam dunia IT.

Hari ini, MSC dan Malaysia semakin hilang dari peghetahuan dunia sebagai tempat penting IT antarabangsa, sementara Korea Selatan telah jauh menjadi negara pertama di dunia menjadi masyarakat jalur lebar juga negara yang yang mempunyai internet terpantas di dunia – dengan purata kelajuan internet pada 2012 14.7 Mbps, 650% lebih tinggi daripada purata 2.2 Mbps di Malaysia.

Di dalam tadbir urus yang baik, Malaysia tertinggal di belakang Korea Selatan terutamanya dalam Indeks Persepsi Rasuah Transparency International sejak lima tahun lalu, yang mana Malaysia dilihat lebih korup, antara No. 47 hingga 60 dalam kedudukan dunia berbeza dengan Korea Selatan yang berada di kedudukan 39 hingga 45. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 60 Hari ke PRU13 – Bilakah Najib akan membuat kenyataan sama ada Malaysia mampu mengejar Korea Selatan atau sekurang-kurangnya mula merapatkan jurang yang semakin besar antara dua negara?”

On the occasion of Korean pop superstar Psy’s Gangnam Style performance at the Prime Minister’s CNY Open House in Penang tomorrow, will Datuk Seri Najib Razak make a statement whether Malaysia can ever catch up with South Korea or at least begin to close the yawning chasm between the two countries?

A Cabinet Minister said Psy’s appearance will make Penang world-famous but it is more important that Penang and Malaysia become world-famous because of our own achievements in all fields of human endeavour.

Sixteen years ago, when we proclaimed the Multimedia Super Corridor as “a gift to the world”, Malaysia and South Korea were on the same level embarking on the IT journey.

Today, MSC and Malaysia have faded away from the world radar screen as an international IT hot spot, while South Korea has powered ahead to become the first country in the world to become a broadband society as well as the land of fastest internet in the world – with an average internet speed in 2012 of 14.7 Mpbs, 650% higher than the average 2.2 Mpbs registered in Malaysia.

In fact, Malaysia is ranked among the world’s worst nations in internet speed – even slower than Thailand’s average internet speed of 2.9 Mpbs for 2012. Continue reading “60-Day Countdown to 13GE – When will Najib make a statement whether Malaysia can ever catch up with South Korea or at least begin to close the yawning chasm between the two countries?”

— The Malaysian Insider
Dec 13, 2012

DEC 13 — In the past 24 hours, some of you and definitely The Malaysian Insider have been inundated with emails from a number of names like Imran Sulaiman, Ranesa Jegatheesa and Malaysian Indian over the PKR protest for Indians who are purportedly stateless in Malaysia.

These emails are spam.

They are a waste of time and definitely a waste of money if someone is being paid to churn them out and send them to all and sundry.

It shows how much political parties and even governments go to great lengths to get their views across to each and every one of us Malaysians ahead of the general election.

But it is a pain. Continue reading “Spamming Malaysia”

By Vernon Silver
Bloomberg
Oct 10, 2012

On a Monday in July, Ahmed Mansoor sat in his study in Dubai and made the mistake of clicking on a Microsoft Word attachment that arrived in an e-mail, labeled “very important” in Arabic, from a sender he thought he recognized.

With that click, the pro-democracy activist unwittingly downloaded spyware that seized on a flaw in the Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) program to take over his computer and record every keystroke. The hackers infiltrated his digital life so deeply they still accessed his personal e-mail even after he changed his password.

Since then, Mansoor, 42, an electrical engineer and father of four, says he has suffered two beatings by thugs in September during his campaign for citizens’ civil rights in the Persian Gulf federation of the United Arab Emirates. While those assailants remain unknown, researchers say they’ve figured out what was behind the virtual assault.

The spyware that penetrated his laptop appears to be a Western-made surveillance tool sold to police and intelligence agencies that’s so powerful it can turn on webcams and microphones and grab documents off hard drives, according to the findings of a study being published today by the University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs’ Citizen Lab.

Mansoor’s predicament shows how nations have rapidly moved beyond the surveillance of phone and e-mail transmissions to rifle through the most intimate details stored by personal computers and the smartphones that citizens carry with them everywhere. The tools, which can peer into people’s living rooms and access rough drafts of love letters, business strategies or plans for street demonstrations, mark the latest escalation in a digital arms race between governments and the people they watch. Continue reading “Spyware Leaves Trail to Beaten Activist Through Microsoft Flaw”

— Damien D. Cheong and Yeap Su Yin
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 02, 2012

SEPT 2 — An internet blackout day was declared in Malaysia on 14 August 2012.

This was in protest against Section 114A of the recently-amended Evidence Act, which enables the authorities to act firmly against individuals who post defamatory, inflammatory and/or seditious content on the Internet.

The law not only holds the user/blogger potentially accountable for the offending post(s) but also any individual or organisation connected to the objectionable website or blog such as a person who: owns, administers or edits the website; is registered with the network service provider; and is in custody or control of the computer at the time the offence was committed.

These new amendments have alarmed many netizens and civil society groups because of the legislation’s wide scope and the heavy onus placed on the accused to prove his or her innocence. Many individuals have interpreted these amendments as an attempt by the Malaysian government to stifle internet freedom. The Stop 114A campaign was spearheaded by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), a civil society group, but it soon attracted support from several prominent civil society organisations, bloggers and opposition parties.

In the wake of Internet Blackout Day, the Najib administration promised to re-evaluate Section 114A, with the prime minister assuring the public that ‘Whatever we do, we must put the people first’. While this outcome may be interpreted as a success for online activism in Malaysia, the question this raises is whether such online activism can truly create an impact on its own or whether it needs support from opposition parties and political notables to do so. Continue reading “Internet blackout day: Politicisation of online activism?”

— Michael Yap (loyarburok.com)
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 25, 2012

AUG 25 — I must admit that when the Evidence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2012 was given royal assent, it infuriated me so much that our new laws of Malaysia are nothing better than what we have had for the past 50 years. When every statute book of ours is filled with laws that are draconian, that respect no rule of law, that are harsh and cruel in punishment; and that work unfairly against the individual, the 2012 Act is certainly outrageous to the extent that no right-thinking Malaysian would ever believe what the law minister has professed to be the “legitimate aim” of the Act.

I too joined the Internet blackout day on August 14, and appreciated the fact that I was not alone, for thousands and millions of my peers echoed the same concerns on that very same day. It was — to me and to all Malaysians — a successful step in our battle against section 114A! It was truly momentous to see a united front in our cyberspace at that point.

However, having said that, it is alarming to see that not every Malaysian who opposed (and supported) section 114A are getting their facts (and contents) right. It is meaningless to see section 114A being repealed (or upheld) when the masses do not really understand what they are opposing (or supporting). Developments since August 14 have been vibrant as there are many more statements on the section being made by various stakeholders, plus increasing media reports over the subject matter, and not to mention the volume of comments on Facebook and Twitter.

I might not be well informed either on the issue of how many Malaysians truly understand the nature of section 114A and why we oppose it; there is neither empirical evidence nor statistics to reflect that. Perhaps those misinformed are just a minority or maybe I have inadvertently exaggerated such a phenomenon. But these are some of the errors that “might” be perceived amongst fellow Malaysians: Continue reading “Stop 114A and stop these mistakes”

By Art Harun | August 15, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

AUG 15 ― Many may not realize this but the law does make many presumptions about the subject matter of its governance, namely, us.

The most famous (infamous?) and perhaps harshest presumption that our law makes is in respect of drug trafficking. Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 stipulates that whoever is found guilty of drug trafficking shall be punished by death.

Making things a lot easy for the prosecution is a legal presumption imposed by Section 37 of that Act that any person who is found in possession of, among others, 15g or more of heroin or morphine or 200g or more of cannabis will be presumed to be a drug trafficker unless proven otherwise.

Without that legal presumption, the prosecution would, regardless of the quantity of the drug being in possession of the accused person, have to prove that he or she is a trafficker. That means, the prosecution would have to prove that the accused person has been doing any of the following acts, namely, “manufacturing, importing, exporting, keeping, concealing, buying, selling, giving, receiving, storing, administering, transporting, carrying, sending, delivering, procuring, supplying or distributing any dangerous drug otherwise than under the authority of the Act.”
Continue reading “Section 114A and legal presumptions: Are they fair?”

By SHIBANI MAHTANI | August 14, 2012, 11:50 a.m. ET
The Wall Street Journal

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak took to microblogging site Twitter on Tuesday to say that he will ask his government to reassess a new law that critics say could restrict online freedoms.

Throughout the day, Malaysians surfing popular blogs and some political websites were greeted by pop-up banners and blacked-out pages prepared as part of a concerted campaign against section 114A, a controversial amendment to the country’s Evidence Act. The law holds owners of Wi-Fi connections or editors of blogs or forums legally accountable for any seditious or defamatory material spread through their accounts or websites.

A series of prominent websites, including those of the Malaysian Bar Council, the opposition Democratic Action Party, and news portals Malaysiakini, Free Malaysia Today and BFM Radio, were either blacked out voluntarily or featured a pop-up message: Stop 114A.
Continue reading “Najib to Reassess Malaysian Web Law”

— Jaleel Hameed
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 14, 2012

AUG 14 — Thank you, Mr Prime Minister, for realising the effects of the Internet Blackout Day today.

But, sir, how did this come about? Why does it take an uproar for your ministers and government to snap into action.

Well, not the government. Only you, sir, and a few other lawmakers, figured it out but that too way after Section 114A of the Evidence Act was passed.

Is this People First, Performance Now?

Because tonight, sir, you reaffirmed that people come first.

“I have asked Cabinet to discuss section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950. Whatever we do we must put people first,” you said on Twitter.

See, sir, you have to watch what’s going on now within your government and supporters, including the sycophantic cybertroopers who support anything done by your colleagues without thinking about it. Continue reading “Does it takes a blackout, sir?”

Tweets @limkitsiang

12:01am
Historic triumph 4Msian online democracy – 24hr Internet Blackout Day initiated by CIJ 2demand repeal of repressive S114A Evidence Act 1950

12:02am
“I have asked cabinet 2discuss S114A” – Najib acknowledges power of solidarity of online Msian community w sea of black on Msian cyberspace

12:02am
Law needed 2deal with slanderous offensive incendiary postings lies falsehoods 2incite hatred illwill agnst individual group race religion

12:03am
But NO 2any law which acts as internet censorship 2violate responsible legitimate freedom of expression online n persecute innocent ppl

12:03am
Outcome of historic “Internet Blackout Day” – Online community should be fully involved/consulted in framing any internet legislation

CIJ Release
13 August 2012

Kuala Lumpur — Malaysian civil society’s latest effort in campaigning against the newly introduced Section 114A to the Evidence Act 1950 — Internet Blackout Day – is gaining momentum and has received more endorsements from prominent websites, Netizens and politicians.

Bar Council has confirmed taking down their website (http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/) to support this while the Democratic Action Party (DAP) is shutting down all websites administered by them and will not be updating their Facebook and Twitter accounts all day on 14th August, 2012. Tech-savvy DAP politician Lim Kit Siang and lawyer/avid Twitter user Edmund Bon have both vowed to go offline for 24hours.

Bloggers who have pledged to support a pop-up to promote the Stop 114A campaign include Marina Mahathir, Hishamuddin Rais (Tukar Tiub), Uppercaise, Nat Tan, Niki Cheong, Anil Netto, Juana Jaafar, Sarawak Bloggers, Fahmi Fadzil, myasylum etc.

Internet Blackout Day pop-up is also being supported by news sites Free Malaysia Today, Malaysiakini, Digital News Asia, The Nut Graph, bfm, Merdeka Review, and party organ news sites Harakah Daily and Keadilan Daily. Supporters from commercial/entrepreneurial sector include lelong.com.my, entrepreneurs.my, nexusmediaworks and MOL. From the online resources & community sector, cari.com.my, anixekai.com, LoyarBurok, mobile88, jbtalks and edu.joshuatly.com Continue reading “Internet Blackout Day on 14 August gaining momentum”