Posted on

Rais demonising citizens through Bersih, says Ambiga

By Debra Chong
June 18, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan denied today all links between the recent spate of cyber attacks on government websites and her electoral reform group raised yesterday by Datuk Seri Rais Yatim, saying his conjecture is an attack on Malaysians.

A group of hackers calling themselves Anonymous mounted an attack on at least 200 websites last Thursday, saying they are against censorship of websites by the government.

“It’s a wholly unfounded, unreasonable, preposterous suggestion made by a Cabinet minister who should really know better than to make such wild accusations,” she told The Malaysian Insider. Continue reading “Rais demonising citizens through Bersih, says Ambiga”

Posted on

‘The file-sharers are not the villains’

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 16, 11

‘We live in an age where the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia and its ilk, with their immense wealth, monopolise mainstream airwaves and distribution channels, driven by a desire to market rather than nurture creativity.’

Recording industry lauds ban on file-sharers

Nick C: As a member of the creative industry in Malaysia, I would like to state for the record that if there is any activity or organisation that has “highly destructive effects on the local music industry”, it is none other than the Recording Industry Malaysia and it’s efforts at suffocating online content.

Indeed, we now live in an age where RIM and its ilk, with their immense wealth, monopolise mainstream airwaves and distribution channels, driven by a desire to market rather than nurture creativity.
Continue reading “‘The file-sharers are not the villains’”

Posted on

A cyberwar waged by an army of Julian Assanges

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 17, 11

‘It’s great that the government has a taste of how it was like when Malaysiakini was attacked prior to Sarawak election.’

At least 41 websites hacked, says MCMC

Patriot: The truth cannot be hidden no matter how one tries to suppress it or prevent access to it. Malaysians who access the Internet are mostly those who have the capability of making their own judgements on what is right or fabricated, destructive or educational, etc.

Malaysians who surf the Internet today have intellectual capacity on par with their Western and advanced Asian counterparts. Third World governments and their depraved leaders are always fearful of their hidden skeletons in the closets being exposed and thus try to suppress anything that may even have an inkling of their wrongdoings.
Continue reading “A cyberwar waged by an army of Julian Assanges”

Posted on

At least 41 websites hacked, no data compromised

Jun 16, 11 | MalaysiaKini

At least 41 government websites were hacked into overnight but no personal or financial data were compromised, officials said today, as the Malaysia becomes the latest target of a cyber-war waged by the activists.

In the attacks, 51 websites were hit and at least 41 of these sites were disrupted, industry regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said.

The attacks, which began shortly before midnight yesterday, follow a warning by Internet vigilante group Anonymous, which said it would attack the government’s official portal to punish it for censoring WikiLeaks, the website that aims to expose governments and corporations by leaking secret documents.

hacked parliament”Our monitoring of the situation showed that there was a reduced level of attacks by 4am this morning and upon further evaluation, so far, we gauge that there has been little impact on Malaysian users as a result,” the communications commission said in a statement.
Continue reading “At least 41 websites hacked, no data compromised”

Posted on

Yen Yen claims Facebook pages free, contradicts reply in Parliament

By Shannon Teoh
June 15, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — With Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) both demanding an explanation for the tourism ministry’s RM1.8 million Facebook campaign, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen denied any wrongdoing today and accused DAP of twisting the truth.

“The opposition just goes around saying it’s for Facebook. They are twisting the issue.

“The Facebook pages do not cost a single sen. This is a social media advertising, promotions and branding campaign and also data collection,” the MCA vice president told reporters today.

However, her contention that the Facebook pages were free appeared to contradict her ministry’s detailed account of the cost for each page. Continue reading “Yen Yen claims Facebook pages free, contradicts reply in Parliament”

Posted on

Government portal down, 27 others defaced

By Shannon Teoh
June 16, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — Operation Malaysia launched by the international hacker group known as Anonymous has succeeded in not just bringing down the official website of the Malaysian government, but also spawned attacks on at least 27 other websites.

These include at least five other government sites such as the webpages of the information ministry, the fire and emergency services department and the land public transport commission.

As of 8.30am, malaysia.gov.my remained inaccessible, while other hackers appear to have taken it upon themselves to target sites like Sabah’s tourism website (sabahtourism.com) and the Tour Malaysia travel guide (tourmalaysia.com.my).

On the Sabah Tourism webpage, hackers claimed to have extracted the details of more than 3,400 of the site’s users and posted the particulars of 392 accounts. Continue reading “Government portal down, 27 others defaced”

Posted on

Cyber channels for GE13

By Oon Yeoh
Jun 14, 11 | MalaysiaKini

I clicked with interest on an article on this website titled Umno needs better ‘cyber warfare unit’. I was hoping to gain some insight into cyber strategies the party has in mind for the next general election, which seems to be looming.

But alas, it was just an Umno vice-president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, saying that the party needed to create a more systematic and efficient online unit to counter the opposition’s message and to get the party’s message to its target audience.

That much is obvious. The government’s online strategy seems to be non-existent, or incoherent at best. Then again, the same can be said of the opposition.

Yet, if you ask people from either side, they will tell you, “Yes, the Internet is important. Yes, cyber-warfare plays an important role in galvanising votes. Yes, we realise the need for a sound mobile strategy.” Continue reading “Cyber channels for GE13”

Posted on

Where is the accountability factor?

By Edwin Yapp
Jun 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 15 — I had been away on a break but being the news junkie I am, I had been following various interesting news even while on vacation.

One that certainly caught my eye was the item reported in The Malaysian Insider, as well as other online news sites, about how a recently set up government price check website had been hacked into, the act of which has resulted in the loss of over 2,000 registered users’ details.

The 1 Malaysia Pengguna Bijak’s (1MPB) website launched on June 7 allows the public to check and compare the prices of consumer products sold at 1,255 retail outlets nationwide by clicking on the portal (1pengguna.com). Continue reading “Where is the accountability factor?”

Posted on

Malaysia bracing for Anonymous onslaught, says IGP

June 15, 2011 | Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Malaysia has beefed up security ahead of a threatened hacking attack of its official government website by internet vigilante group Anonymous for government acts of censorship and will track down the activists, the police chief said today.

In an attack codenamed “Operation Malaysia”, Anonymous said it would target the Malaysian government’s online portal malaysia.gov.my from 3.30pm local time to teach the country a lesson for censoring whistle-blower site WikiLeaks.

“We have received word of this threat. There are many agencies involved in this and we will get to the bottom of this,” Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar told Reuters.

“Investigation needs to be done and we need to protect our systems at the same time.” Continue reading “Malaysia bracing for Anonymous onslaught, says IGP”

Posted on

MCMC: Forced to play bad cop in censorship game?

By Erna Mahyuni
June 09, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 9 — Tech blog Wirawan Web lived up to its “Internet hero” moniker by turning up evidence of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) directing local ISPs to ban certain sites.

In what looks like a circular sent out by the MCMC to ISPs, a list of file-sharing sites have been targetted including the controversial piratebay.org, warez forum Warez-BB as well as file-sharing site Megaupload.

What I found interesting was the reaction of Malaysians I know on Twitter and other social networking sites; most said they had already known about censorship attempts and/or were unsurprised at MCMC’s actions.

In other words, they placed little store in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement that the government was committed to not censoring the Internet.

Cakap tak serupa bikin (Words belying actions), as the saying goes in Bahasa Malaysia. Continue reading “MCMC: Forced to play bad cop in censorship game?”

Posted on

Mimos – 25 years and going strong

By KJ John
Jun 7, 11 | MalaysiaKini

This series of three columns I will call the 25th anniversary series. Three organisations I have been connected with have celebrated their 25th anniversary this year. First, let me congratulate Mimos Berhad for its 25th anniversary celebrations.

I hear it was a genuine occasion for celebration given the Mimos 2.0 version and their “outputs” in terms of the idea productisation vide patents and IPs registered were on public display. I was not there. I was with the National IT Council (NITC) and Mimos for only eight years between 1996 and 2004, whereas those who were publicly recognised were the original founders; all who go back from the very beginning of Mimos in 1985. Continue reading “Mimos – 25 years and going strong”

Posted on

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.” Continue reading “The 100 apologies that immortalised Blu Inc”

Posted on

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: Continue reading “RM450m Tambatuon dam controversy – Why MP Kota Belud never visited kampong? (2)”

Posted on

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.”) Continue reading “Can They Win, One Tweet at a Time?”

Posted on

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.
Continue reading “News portal Merdeka Review sends SOS for funds”

Posted on

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.
Continue reading “Of online privacy, PR snafus, and self-righteousness”

Posted on

Existing systems better, cheaper than myemail service

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.
Continue reading “Existing systems better, cheaper than myemail service”

Posted on

1 Malaysia Email Advertorial: Truth or Lies?

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”
Continue reading “1 Malaysia Email Advertorial: Truth or Lies?”

Posted on

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? Continue reading “10 questions about 1Malaysia Email”

Posted on

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. Continue reading “1 Malaysia email page changed on Pemandu website”