Internet cafés na may porn sites ipasasara

By: Marlon Purificacion - Journal online

NAIS ipasara ni Senador Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla ang mga Internet cafe na patuloy na nagbibigay ng ‘access’ sa mga ‘child pornography websites.

Ang planong ito ng senador ay bilang suporta sa National Day of Awareness and Unity against Child Pornography ngayon.

Ayon sa senador, pinalalaki ng Internet technology ang produksyon at distribusyon ng child pornography bunsod ng simpleng “upload-download” na sistema ng pagkopya ng mga materyales.

Binigyang-diin niyang hindi lang dapat atupagin ng mga may-ari ng mga internet café ang kumita kundi pati na rin ang pagtulong sa gobyerno na maisulong ang isang child-friendly na lipunan.

“Hindi dapat abusuhin ang pakinabang ng mga modern communications system sa punto kunsintihin pa ang child pornography para lang kumita ng pera. Walang karapatang mag-operate kahit saan sa bansa ang mga internet cafes na pu-mapayag ng access sa kiddie porn at iba pang pornographic websites,” ani Revilla. “Maraming magagamit na programs na madali at ka-yang harangin ang access sa mga porn sites.”

Ito ang pahayag ni Revilla bilang suporta sa pagdeklara ngayong araw (Biyernes, Setyembre 28) ng Anti-Child Pornography Alliance (ACPA), isang Church-based group, bilang National Day of Awareness and Unity against Child Pornography.

Taumbayan kailangan

Pinuri ng mambabatas ang ACPA gayundin ang Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) dahil sa mga hakbang nito na maiangat ang kamalayan at kooperasyon ng publiko laban sa child pornography.

Pinunto pa niyang kailangan ng mga law-enforcement agencies ang tulong ng taumbayan para masugpo ang paglipana ng child pornography sa bansa.

“Pagiging mapagmasid ang magpapakita na talagang nagmamalasakit tayo sa mga bata. Bawat batang Pilipino ay may karapatan na maprotektahan laban sa exploitation sa ilalim ng child and youth welfare code. Natural sa kanila ang maglaro, pero hindi dapat sila pinaglalaruan o itrato bilang sex toy,” sabi ni Revilla.

Umapela siya sa mga lokal na gobyerno na kanselahin ang operating license ng mga internet café na pumapayag sa mga customer nito na galugarin at mag-download ng mga child pornographic materials. “Ang mga nagkasalang may Internet café owners ay kailangang kasuhan at habambuhay na i-ban na mag-operate,” dagdag niya.

Cybersex cafés dumarami
Sinabi ng United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) na bagaman mayroong ilang datos hinggil sa child prostitution, maaring hindi ito sumasalamin sa posibleng mas malaking bilang ng mga batang nabibiktima ng child pornography.

Inulat naman ng organisasyong End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) na lumilitaw sa tala ng pulisya sa Pilipinas na tumataas ang paggamit ng mga phone ca-mera o tinatawag na “cyber-sex cafes” (kung saan pinapa-labas ang mga commercial sexual performances gamit ang web camera) para sa paglikha ng child porno-graphy.

Hanggang 20 taon kulong
Naunang inihain ni Revilla ng Senate Bill (SB) No. 12 o ang “Anti-Pornography Act” na layong magpataw ng mataas na parusa sa mga taong magpapalaganap at magpa-pakita ng kalaswaan sa pa-mamagitan ng mga tradisyunal na pamamaraan, ng Internet, ng “cyberspace”, at ng mga cellphone.

Telcos say 98% of RP population covered

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said there are now over 13,000 base stations nationwide operated by three mobile telecommunications giants.

This was based on a report the agency is preparing for the joint Senate hearing on the controversial $329 million national broadband network project of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC).

"We're preparing a list of the total [cellular network] base stations. So far, we have a total of about 13,000 nationwide," said NTC Deputy Commissioner Jorge Sarmiento.

During last week's hearing, Senator Rodolfo Biazon quizzed the DoTC about the number of base stations now installed by local mobile communications providers.

The agency was not able to provide figures and has referred the matter to the NTC.

In a separate interview, Ramon Isberto, spokesperson of Smart and PLDT, said that there are over 6,000 Smart cellular base stations covering about 98 percent of the population. These base stations, however, cover about 75 percent of the geographical areas in the country.

Globe Telecom spokesperson Jones Campos, on the other hand, said that the rival mobile provider has over 5,000 base stations also covering around 98 percent of the population.

The rest of the 13,000 base stations are operated by Sun Cellular, said NTC Deputy Commissioner Sarmiento.

‘$100 laptops' for world’s poor students to go on sale

Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON -- Inexpensive laptop computers designed for students in developing countries will be sold to the public in a buy-one, give-one scheme, a non-profit organization behind the project said Monday.

The "100 dollar laptops" -- which currently cost nearly twice that amount -- will go on sale for two weeks starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) said in a statement.

The non-profit group was organized by Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, who came up with the idea of providing low-cost computers for students in underdeveloped countries as key step to promote education.

The sales program is designed to give the overall OLPC project more publicity, and to encourage open-source software developers to write programs for the laptop's operating system, the non-profit said.

The program is "a terrific opportunity for the public to help eliminate poverty and make the world a better place by inoculating children against ignorance," said Negroponte in the statement.

The laptop -- dubbed the XO -- is a shock-and water-resistant device with a high-resolution screen that can be read in direct sunlight and in the dark, and has no moving parts aside from a rabbit ear antenna to connect to a wireless network.

The XO consumes about one-tenth of the energy a regular laptop uses, its designers say, and can be powered by solar energy or manually by pulling cords and hand cranks. It comes with a built-in video camera, a word processor, music and art software, and can be used as an electronic book reader.

From November 12-26 US and Canadian customers can pay 399 dollars for two XOs on a first-come, first-served basis. One laptop goes to the buyer, the other to a needy student the non-profit group will determine.

OLPC said in May it hopes the price will come down to 100 dollars by 2009.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced earlier that it is putting its education content on all the laptops shipped

ZTE, Cyber Ed deals with China suspended

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, Veronica Uy
Agence France-Presse, INQUIRER.net, Associated Press, Reuters

The controversial $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal with the Chinese company, ZTE Corp., has been “indefinitely” suspended, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said Saturday.

In a broadcast interview with reporters, Favila said the suspension was on the instructions of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who personally called him. He said the review of the deal that has been marked by scandals of bribes and kickbacks will be discussed “quietly and appropriately” between himself and his Chinese counterpart.

“Utos ng Pangulong Arroyo (It was the President’s instruction),” he said without explaining why the deal to set up a network for exclusive use of the government was suspended.

Favila also announced a similar government action on the $460-million Cyber Education Project, another China-funded loan project which seeks to connect 90 percent of all public schools nationwide.

The announcement came after a week of allegations in the media and before a Senate inquiry of supposed government incompetence, corruption, and the involvement of Arroyo’s husband, businessman and lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, in the deal.

Howard Xue, ZTE's global marketing director, has denied allegations his company bribed Philippine officials to win the contract. ZTE "proposed the best price, financing and technical proposal ... There is absolutely no need to bribe anybody to get the project," he said.

“I think this is the best thing to do now,” Favila said in an emergency press conference he called at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel. He said the Chinese agreed to the suspension Friday night.

"Minister Bo Xilai said his government understands and respects the decision of President Arroyo and will continue to support her and her programs," presidential spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said in a statement on Saturday.

Favila said Arroyo did not give her reasons for the suspension, commenting “that is her executive privilege.”

But Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde said the President bowed to “public opinion” when she decided to suspend the deal.

Remonde said the deal has generated much controversy and that suspending it is one way of putting a rest to it.

The President’s decision came even after Palace officials claimed that they have successfully defended the deal and that they have shown the public that it was above-board at the Senate hearing on Thursday.

Remonde did not reply when asked if the President considered the pending cases before the Supreme Court and the Ombudsman in making the decision to suspend the project.

Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, who was in the same forum as Favila when the suspension of the deal was announced, said the deferment does not mean that the deal was anomalous.

Devanadera said Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza had done his homework. “He looked into the background of the nominated contractor,” she said, adding that “due diligence” was practiced.

In reaction, House Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr. said over DZMM he was “happy” over the temporary suspension.

“Masaya ako (I am happy) because I have been calling that the deal be reviewed, suspended, and eventually cancelled in its present form,” De Venecia said, adding that he hopes that the deal will be converted into a form, as in a build-operate-transfer (BOT), that would not cost the country a single centavo.

The House Speaker, who claims to be the “father of the BOT law,” said he supports his son’s formula for the NBN project.

The House Speaker’s son and namesake had told the Senate inquiry into the NBN deal that the agreement had been pushed by election chief Benjamin Abalos.

Jose De Venecia III, who has his own proposal on the NBN project, had also told the Senate that the President’s spouse told him to “back off” from the government project.

The Supreme Court earlier this month issued a temporary restraining order preventing the government from going ahead with the project.

Analysts have said a split between Arroyo and Speaker de Venecia could open the way for an impeachment motion in the lower house of Congress against the president, who has failed to shake allegations she cheated in the 2004 elections.

CICT to develop shared software services for government use

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) plans to develop shared software services for government use, starting with a real property tax system that was developed by the National Computer Center (NCC).

Through the NCC’s Center of Excellence project, the CICT is looking at developing shared software applications.

One of these government applications include the Real Property Tax System, which is an open source-based software, now used by 300 municipalities in the country, said CICT Commissioner Tim Diaz de Rivera in an interview.

"We've deployed the Real Property Tax System in 300 municipalities. But it really takes months to set up the database for this system," the government executive said.

The difficulties in deploying such a system, and issues involving the lack of open source experts to man the system has led the CICT to think of developing a shared software services system, Diaz de Rivera added.

The idea is to develop a shared application for fifth- and sixth-class municipalities. So the real property tax system can now be accessed via the web. The system will be set up in the provincial capital, which would translate to more cost savings and easier deployment, the government executive said.

The real property tax system was deployed in six municipalities in Cebu, he said.

"We will pilot this using the shared services of the application service provider (ASP) model so that several local government units (LGUs) can collaborate in improving the software and customizing it to their needs. We have identified the second district of Cebu as the pilot municipality," the CICT executive said.

Diaz de Rivera said there are more government applications that are available to other agencies. They include software system for financials, an electronic library (eLibrary) developed for the National Library, electronic governance system for local government units (eLGU) now used in NCC.

But CICT is looking at creating shared services for a national government accounting system, business permit and licenses system, real property taxes and treasury management.

During a conference of government executives, Diaz de Rivera said the CICT will also push the use of the Department of Budget and Management's Integrated Budgeting System in other agencies. The system has helped DBM in its budget execution process and eGovernance.

Meanwhile, the government executive said that the NCC is now conducting pilot test of collaboration software for back office productivity.