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Black day for Internet users

— CPI
The Malaysian Insider
May 29, 2012

MAY 29 — The Evidence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2012 will come into operation in a few days on June 1. The impact of this hastily and stealthily rushed legislation could be devastating.

De facto law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz denies that amendments to the Evidence Act were a means for the government to curb online dissent by making Internet anonymity more difficult to maintain or ignorance to be used as an excuse.

Instead Nazri claims that the law was tightened because “we don’t want [anonymous or pseudonymous] people to slander or threaten others,” according to a report in the Sunday Star.

However opposition leaders such as DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng are unconvinced. Continue reading “Black day for Internet users”

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DDOS attacks against Malaysiakini begin, again

Malaysiakini.com
6:49PM Apr 27, 2012

Malaysiakini’s server came under attack as tensions mount ahead of tomorrow’s Bersih 3.0 rally.

Readers and subscribers, especially those using international routing such as Blackberries phones, have been unable to access Malaysiakini since 5.30pm this evening.

azlanThe attack known as a – distributed denial of service (DDOS) – involves using a large number of computers to flood Malaysiakini’s servers with ‘dud’ traffic, causing a traffic jam which denies access to legitimate users.

The attack is normally carried out by international syndicates paid to disrupt targeted websites.

A similar attack was carried out against Malaysiakini in April and July last year, in tandem with the Sarawak elections and Bersih 2.0 respectively.

Malaysiakini’s technology team is currently studying the attack patterns and will take measures to overcome the attacks. Continue reading “DDOS attacks against Malaysiakini begin, again”

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Wire Up, or Miss Out on Tomorrow’s Jobs

Thomas L. Friedman | January 05, 2012
The Jakarta Globe

Two things struck me about the Republican presidential candidate debates leading up to the Iowa caucuses. One is how entertaining they were. The other is how disconnected they were from the biggest trends shaping the job market of the 21st century. What if the 2012 campaign were actually about the world in which we’re living and how we adapt to it? What would the candidates be talking about?

Surely at or near the top of that list would be the tightening merger between globalization and the latest information technology revolution. The IT revolution is giving individuals more and more cheap tools of innovation, collaboration and creativity — thanks to hand-held computers, social networks and “the cloud,” which stores powerful applications that anyone can download.

And the globalization side of this revolution is integrating more and more of these empowered people into ecosystems, where they can innovate and manufacture more products and services that make people’s lives more healthy, educated, entertained, productive and comfortable.

The best of these ecosystems will be cities and towns that combine a university, an educated populace, a dynamic business community and the fastest broadband connections on earth. These will be the job factories of the future. The countries that thrive will be those that build more of these towns that make possible “high-performance knowledge exchange and generation,” explains Blair Levin, who runs the Aspen Institute’s Gig.U project, a consortium of 37 university communities working to promote private investment in next-generation ecosystems. Continue reading “Wire Up, or Miss Out on Tomorrow’s Jobs”

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Dissatisfied with TM UniFi High-Speed Broadband Service

Letter by James Ooi

I am a TM UniFi High-Speed Broadband VIP5 package subscriber since March 2011. As I am staying at a high-rise building, the TM UniFi service is provisioned to my premise using VDSL (copper) instead of using fiber optics. Ever since one month after I started using TM UniFi, I have been facing two major issues with the service of which one has been completely resolved while another has been happening up till this very day I am writing this letter!

Between April and July 2011, I had been experiencing disconnection where the DSL indicator on the VDSL modem blinked and reconnected itself. This happened randomly a few times a day. After numerous technician visits where they replaced my VDSL modem and changed the port, the problem was finally resolved in July 2011.

However, since May 2011, I have been experiencing what I call the “Upload Speed Syndrome” randomly where my upload speed drops till near zero. This happens randomly almost on a daily basis and at certain times, it happens at about the same time daily! At other times, the problem resolved by itself only to recur after a few days to a couple of weeks! Whenever this problem occurs, my upload speed drops till near zero where a speed test performed would either results in an “Upload Test Error” message or an extremely slow speed of 0.01Mbps! Performing a ping to a locally-hosted web server will even exhibit random packet losses! However, there is nothing wrong with the download speed as in most cases, my download speed is at least 90% of the advertised bandwidth.
Continue reading “Dissatisfied with TM UniFi High-Speed Broadband Service”

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Russians fight Twitter and Facebook battles over Putin election

Miriam Elder in Moscow
guardian.co.uk
Friday 9 December 2011

Protests against president’s party escalate across social media with flood of automated counterattacks and alleged hacking

Protest against Vladimir Putin United party over elections have escalated across social media, including Twitter and Facebook, with a flood of automated counterattacks.

Russians have flooded Facebook and Twitter as they organise unprecedented protests against Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. But they are not alone. Thousands of Twitter accounts appear to have been created with the sole purpose of drowning out opposition voices by flooding the service’s hashtag search function.

The automated attacks have dumped a blizzard of meaningless tweets with hashtags such as #Navalny, on which tweets about Alexei Navalny are collated, making it impossible to follow the flow of news about the arrested opposition leader. Many of the so-called “Twitter bots” have now been shut down. Continue reading “Russians fight Twitter and Facebook battles over Putin election”

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Impotent rage

By Kapil Sethi | November 09, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

NOV 9 — So it’s final. No more PPSMI. Over a year of PAGE campaigning, petitioning, protesting and writing letters to the editors have come to naught. As the deputy prime minister remarked, the decision was made by the government in 2009 and it will not bow to the demands of small groups. The only concession is that those already under PPSMI will be allowed to finish their schooling under PPSMI.

So it’s final. No more arguments over amendments to the Employment Act. Three months of the Malaysian Trade Unions Congress (MTUC) campaigning, petitioning and picketing have had no impact on the government. The human resource minister called the picket illegal (November 1, The Malaysian Insider) and insisted “this is a policy issue by the government. If they picket, they are going against the law.”

Both PAGE and MTUC threatened to divert support from Barisan Nasional to the opposition if their demands were not met. The PAGE Facebook protest page garnered approximately 100,000 “Likes” while MTUC has over 800,000 members and counts on the support of 5.7 million workers. Even the Lynas controversy has managed to alienate a substantial portion of Kuantan residents, with no solution offered by the government beyond bare denials.
Continue reading “Impotent rage”

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Mozilla, Microsoft Withdraw Trust in Malaysian Intermediate CA

By John Ribeiro, IDG News
PCWorld

Mozilla and Microsoft said Thursday they are revoking trust in all certificates issued by Digicert, a Malaysian intermediate certificate authority (CA) , after it was found that it had issued 22 certificates with weak 512-bit keys and missing certificate extensions and revocation information.

The Malaysian company was issued an intermediate CA certificate in July, 2010 by Entrust in Dallas, Texas, which was licensed for distribution with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) certificates.

Entrust said in a bulletin on its website that it had been discovered that Digicert Malaysia has issued certificates with weak 512-bit RSA keys and missing certificate extensions. Entrust has revoked the 512-bit certificates issued by Digicert and made them available to major browser vendors to blacklist if found appropriate, it added.

Digicert in Malaysia does not have any relationship with DigiCert, a CA based in Utah.
Continue reading “Mozilla, Microsoft Withdraw Trust in Malaysian Intermediate CA”

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DAP wants MCMC to probe websites

By Yow Hong Chieh | October 24, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The DAP wants the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to act against websites spreading allegations that Lim Guan Eng’s son molested a girl.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said the party will submit to the MCMC a list of 34 offending websites and 200 pages of printouts compiled over the past three days for the regulator’s immediate action.

They include blogs by Papagomo and Bukit Gelugor Umno division chief Dr Novandri Hasan Basri, Pisau.net and Utusan Malaysia.

“Frankly speaking… they (MCMC) don’t need a report from us. Once they see something happening they can take the necessary action.
Continue reading “DAP wants MCMC to probe websites”

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Steve Jobs – Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs
1955-2011

Stanford Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.
Continue reading “Steve Jobs – Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

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‘Diamlah’ wake-up call for Najib

Oon Yeoh | Jul 28, 11 2:31pm
Malaysiakini

I read with amusement that news portals were not included in the media consultative council, mooted to be jointly-headed by Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Instead of having Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider and Free Malaysia Today – all very popular news sites – as representatives of new media, the government proposal included Blog House, a bloggers’ association.

This is not surprising as the government still obviously thinks of new media as consisting of blogs. Continue reading “‘Diamlah’ wake-up call for Najib”

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Utusan hitting the streets with blacked-ou​t headlines, blotches of black and full pages in black if it gets “Economist​” treatment from Home Ministry

The UMNO official organ, Utusan Malaysia, will be hitting the newsstands every day with blacked-out headlines in front or inside pages, blotches of black or even full pages in black if it is given the Economist treatment by Home Ministry “censoring incorrect and misleading information”.

And what a sight it would be!

This is because no other mainstream media in Malaysia could compete with Utusan for the tonnage of garbage, lies and falsehoods it purveys everyday!

It would undoubtedly make Utusan Malaysia the only one newspaper of its kind in the world as to justify to get into both the Guinness and Malaysia Books of Records! Continue reading “Utusan hitting the streets with blacked-ou​t headlines, blotches of black and full pages in black if it gets “Economist​” treatment from Home Ministry”

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Auntie Bersih spooked by Facebook attention

Kow Gah Chie | Jul 20, 11
Malaysiakini

Eleven days after inspiring netizens for her heroic role in the Bersih 2.0 rally, Auntie Anne Ooi has gone into hiding.

Ooi, 65, said she is stunned by the attention she has received on the Facebook page set up for her, which has gained more than 40,000 ‘likes’ to date.

She has been praised as the ‘Malaysian Lady of Liberty’ and held up as an icon of the Bersih 2.0 cause for clean and fair elections.

For a retired teacher who has led a simple life and who has no knowledge of social media, the intense attention has come as a culture shock.
Continue reading “Auntie Bersih spooked by Facebook attention”

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Khalid, the videos are all in YouTube

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 19, 11

‘How can the people trust the police with the video footage? They’ll probably use it as evidence to arrest more people.’

Police urge public to submit Bersih 2.0 rally videos

Joker: Deputy inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, if you were sincere, just go to YouTube. You can find lots of videos there.

You can also call up some of the participants such as PAS’ Abdul Hadi Awang, Marina Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim, Nurul Izzah, Khairy Jamaluddin, maybe even Information Minister Rais Yatim since he is investigating whether the people there were paid to rally.

You can also interview your own officers and take their statements first so you can later match it against other statements.
Continue reading “Khalid, the videos are all in YouTube”

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BN losing the cyberwar again

By Oon Yeoh
Jul 14, 11 | MalaysiaKini

What a difference a year makes. Around this time last year, I wrote an article entitled The Cyberwar of 2012 for my weekly Oon Time column in theSun newspaper.

In it, I wrote about how Barisan Nasional seemed to be getting the upper hand in the online space largely because many of the popular pro-Pakatan Rakyat bloggers had become MPs and had become too busy to blog.

Post-March 8, 2008, we saw the rise of pro-Umno bloggers who quickly went on to dominate the political blogging scene. Continue reading “BN losing the cyberwar again”

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The days of gatekeeping are numbered

By Alexis See Tho
July 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

Wong waved his hands in the air. “The tear gas canister was right in front of me!” he said.

The 22-year-old working adult was one of thousands of young Malaysians who went to Saturday’s rally that saw tens of thousands of people in the city centre.

Some of them weren’t die-hard supporters of Bersih’s call for clean and fair elections. Some like Wong were there “just for the fun” while others were relentless in their pursuit for the “perfect” photo.

Thousands of protestors and onlookers were at the rally with their cameras and snapped away at everything they saw. Some gung-ho ones even stood between riot police and protestors eager to get a good shot. Continue reading “The days of gatekeeping are numbered”

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Malaysians Resort To Facebook To Voice Out Their Opinions

By Dinesh Karthikesu
July 10, 2011

Malaysia, according to a recent report by greyreview, is home to more than 11 million Facebook users, and is Asia’s No. 4 Facebook nation behind Indonesia, India and the Philippines respectively. Malaysians however, aren’t just using this ingenious creation to keep in touch with their friends, and to have some social fun. They’ve actually resorted to Facebook to voice out their opinions, and to make themselves heard, and to be perfectly honest with you, they are doing a pretty good job at it.

In the wake of the recent Bersih 2.0 rally that took place in Malaysia, as well as several other countries by concerned Malaysians, several Facebook pages have been set-up by angry, and dissatisfied Malaysians.

A Facebook page was registered under the title, “100,000 People Request Najib Tun Razak’s Resignation“, and moments later, people started flooding the page. The page went viral, and has 52,802 ‘likes’ as I type this. The best part of it? Well, the page has been up for less than a day! Instead of blatantly insulting their leader, who is under immense pressure right now, they figured that being united would be the best way to achieve their goal of having a good government. Some use the page as a medium to share shocking facts, and revelations related to the country’s government. Continue reading “Malaysians Resort To Facebook To Voice Out Their Opinions”

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Bersih 2.0 warns of telco, Internet blackout

Malaysiakini | Jul 7, 11

With less than 48 hours to the Bersih 2.0 rally, the movement now claims to have received information that the mobile phone networks and Internet services would be suspended this weekend.

In a statement today, the Bersih 2.0 steering committee said that such a measures to frustrate the rally would make the authorities no different from Middle-Eastern dictators.

“Bersih 2.0 is alarmed by intelligence that there might be a full or partial clampdown on the Internet as we approach this weekend.

“Bersih 2.0 warns the federal government that should access to the mobile phone networks, the Internet, mobile 3G services, specific websites or social media be compromised in any way, then the authorities will look absolutely no different from the Middle-Eastern dictators who have used the same measures with no success whatsoever,” it said.
Continue reading “Bersih 2.0 warns of telco, Internet blackout”

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Hackers ‘steal entire 2011 census’

By Christopher Williams
21 Jun 2011 | The Telegraph

The entire 2011 UK census database has been stolen by hackers and will be published online, it has been claimed.

Ryan Cleary, an alleged member of the hacking group behind the claim, LulzSec, was arrested in Essex this morning by specialist cyber crime officers from Scotland Yard.

The 19-year-old was taken to a central London police station and remains in custody on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act and Fraud Act offences Continue reading “Hackers ‘steal entire 2011 census’”

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Soi Lek says Tourism Facebook pages incur more cost than personal ones

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 18, 2011

The Facebook pages operated by the Tourism Ministry are “complicated” and cost more to run than similar personal pages on the world’s most popular social networking site, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said tonight

The MCA president waded into the controversy surrounding the RM1.8 million paid for six Facebook pages by the ministry helmed by party vice president Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, saying it might cost nothing to start such pages but maintenance had costs.

He added that it was difficult to put a dollar figure to the creativity of the IT consultants used, which he suggested was the largest variable in the bill.

“That creativity, I don’t know how much they will charge,” he told reporters after attending a fundraising dinner at SMJK Chong Hwa here. Continue reading “Soi Lek says Tourism Facebook pages incur more cost than personal ones”