Globe introduce WIMAX broadband

By subictimes.com

SUBIC BAY Freeport: Globe Telecoms announced its newest wireless broadband technology in an effort to bring more and more Filipinos closer together.

To date, Globe has the largest Wimax network in South East Asia, and will be doubling its current footprint in the coming months, allowing Globe to reach more Filipino families.

WIMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is designed to enable the deployment of wireless broadband access as a cost-efficient alternative to existing services from cable and DSL.

One of the most useful qualities of WIMAX is its improved reach versus other wireless technologies; this means that WIMAX can cover distances greater than those covered by WI-FI, CDMA or even 3G and HSPA. When it commercially launched in Feb. 2009, Globe’s network was also the first 2.5 Ghz WIMAX (802.16 e) broadband network in South East Asia.

WIMAX is a self-install broadband kit, allowing the user to get an internet connection right away.

According to Globe officials the kit is plug and play, which would be easier for customers who buys the kit.

The modems come with interesting designs made by noted top fashion designers James Reyes and Puey Quinones, making the modems a good conversation talk piece.

Self-install Wimax is available in selected Globe stores in Metro Manila, Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Cebu, Bohol. Bacolod, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, and General Santos.

BATTLING INTERNET CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

(Fr. Shay's columns are published in The Manila Times,in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)

http://www.preda.org/archives/2009/r09100701.html

While the watery floods killed and damaged hundreds of people in the Philippines, many of them children, another kind of flood continuously destroying the innocent lives of children and youth .That’s the flood of child pornography coming into the Philippines and more of it made here with Filipino children being abused, videotaped and transmitted over the Internet. Even during the floods, the Preda children crises center was rescuing victims of child sexual abuse. Displaced children need extra special protection from traffickers and pedophiles during calamities. Our children's homes are full to overflowing with horrific cases. Child pornography is one of the most evil stimulators leading to child sexual abuse.

The internet server providers, telephone companies and broadband providers bear the greatest responsibility for allowing this filthy internet traffic to flood our computers and corrupt our people. It can be monitored, filtered and controlled. In 2004, The British Telecom Company (BT) developed and installed the first filtering software to block access of internet customers to child pornography sites.

A child protection UK industry body, the Internet Watch Foundation monitors child porn sites and feed the BT Cleanfeed software with every child pornography web site address (URL) it can find. The program has been authorized by the European Union and it will bring in similar blocking laws in the future. Germany has also moved to pass a law to block access

This made BT one of the most admired and ethical telephone companies in the world and many have followed their example. In the Philippines, Globe, Sun and Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and its sister company SMART have to give the good example and do this voluntarily because it is the right and good and ethical thing to do. Filtering and blocking child porn protects children from being abused and exploited in the real world in cyber porn shops and dens and then being victimized again and again virtually on the internet. These companies have enormous responsibility to act ethically on this issue.

The first to do it will reap great rewards and the gratitude of worried parents and every civil society organization, NGO, church agencies will promote the safe and Cleanfeed internet provider.

Why they don’t do it is answered by one simple word “profit”. The fear of losing customers if they introduce blocking software is in their minds. Yet if all the big internet provider companies led by PLDT-SMART agree to do it together then none would loose business. The chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Smart Communications Manuel Pangilinan and PLDT President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno are now challenged as never before to exercise corporate responsibility by giving the lead in protecting children on the internet by blocking child porn instead of blocking Skype, the free internet-based telephone service. If they can block Skype, they can block child porn.

This is what Internet server providers and telephone companies will have to do when the new Philippine anti-child pornography law is finally signed by President Gloria Arroyo, hopefully before the end of the year. Soon, under the new law it will be a serious crime to make, possess or distribute child pornography in the Philippines either over the internet or by any means whatsoever.

PLDT is the provider of DSL broadband in the Olongapo-Subic area and what an expensive DSL it is for a slow connection. We need fast broadband DSL to advocate children’s rights and protect them from abuse and exploitation. We at Preda and other child protection agencies should be getting the full support of PLDT for this important apostolate. What I surmise is that the numerous sex bars, clubs, and hotels, some of them using prostituted children, are downloading pornography and thus they are apparently getting the best connections speeds.

Why does PLDT need to make profits by selling connections to these sex-for-sale establishments? They are a massive monopoly and need to exercise more corporate responsibility. PLDT and all other phone companies should voluntarily block access to child pornography web sites and protect the vulnerable children. They can help turn this country, known for shameful child prostitution, to one admired for its corporate responsibility, virtue and protection of children. They can lead by good example. IF NOT, WHY NOT?

Visit www.preda.org for more related articles.

Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines.

e-mail: preda@info.com.ph

PREDA Information Office

PREDA Foundation, Inc.

www.preda.org

Smart begins nationwide WiMAX roll-out

Smart Communications Inc. (SMART) has taken its first steps to massively deploy WiMAX technology across the country.

The country’s leading wireless services provider has undertaken tests of the powerful wireless broadband platform with equipment manufacturer Motorola, paving the way for rapid rollout of the new network. Motorola is the principal contractor for Clearwire Communications, the leading provider of mobile WiMAX service worldwide.

WiMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless broadband access to a wide area spanning several kilometers.

Smart’s WiMAX deployment, through its subsidiary Smart Broadband, Inc (SBI), is part of the company’s efforts to replicate the success it achieved in cellular phones in the field of wireless broadband Internet.

“It has been our vision to provide Internet for all Filipinos – no matter where they are or what device they’re using,” said Orlando Vea, Smart's chief wireless advisor.

He added that Smart is set to build one of the most extensive WiMAX networks in South East Asia for fixed wireless broadband applications.

Smart’s WiMAX network will complement its high speed packet access (HSPA) network, which is based on the most advanced mobile broadband technology. Smart is one of the only 20 mobile carriers in the world and the only in the region to have deployed HSPA running on 850 MHz.

“With our HSPA, WiMAX, and Canopy networks blanketing the whole country, Smart will have a unique and by far superior combination of wireless broadband networks,” Vea said.

Smart’s WiMAX network will be a key component of its Internet For All initiative including its schools connectivity program. Under the Smart Schools program, the company has connected 250 public elementary and high schools to date.

In partnership with the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), Smart has connected an initial batch of 50 public high schools and is now working with the Department of Education in a program to provide connectivity to about 6,600 public high schools across the country. WiMAX uses the 802.16 standard developed by the WiMAX

Forum. It provides a maximum bandwidth speed of up to 70 megabits per second, which is apt for data hungry applications like streaming video.

Since WiMAX covers a wider distance and serves more users at any given time while allowing high speed data access, it can reach to ‘blackout areas’ that currently have no broadband Internet access. It can enable Internet penetration even to the most remote barrios and barangays.

“We will make sure no Filipino family is left behind in terms of Internet access. We have done it with the mobile phone, we will do it again with the Internet,” Vea said.

To date, the company has about 8,700 cell sites across the country, housing various network equipment, including antennae for GSM, HSPA and Canopy. Very soon, these same towers will play host to Smart’s extensive WiMAX network.

For the trial, Smart and Motorola installed the latter’s WAP 450 WiMAX Access Points equipment to a number of cell site towers across the country. The WAP 450 utilizes tower top power amplifiers that can be housed in a small cabinet, allowing for a compact cell site configuration.

Building a case for WiMAX

WiMAX is in the news. Globe Telecom recently launched a WiMAX service, boasting of a 2.5Ghz WiMAX (802.16e) broadband network, which is said to be the biggest in Southeast Asia.

This came four years after Intel Corp. and Innove Communications led the testing of a WiMAX site at Intel Corp.’s General Trias, Cavite plant.

In August last year, the Taguig City government announced that it would adopt WiMAX technology to help facilitate the delivery of basic services in the city. In 2007, a Taiwanese operator was reported to be eyeing a $10-million investment for a wireless Internet network in Subic, and was then looking at WiMAX as the network platform.

WiMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a telecommunications technology that provides broadband connectivity to wireless networks and makes possible the public’s aspiration for a fully mobile Internet access.

WiMAX is here. In a press forum hosted by Intel recently, Kevin Lim, Intel Corp.’s managing director of WiMAX for Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, announced that the WiMAX spectrum is indeed already available nationwide in the Philippines, beginning in the second half of 2008 on the 2.5Ghz band. This has allowed some operators to introduce the service.

Lim clarified that there is really no demand for WiMAX per se but what the computing public is clamoring for is Internet broadband capability, both fixed and mobile. WiMAX will simply enable users to access the Internet at true broadband speeds wirelessly. This means that the speed of current wired broadband Internet connection will now be available on mobile Internet devices (MIDs) such as smartphones and cellphones, netbooks and notebooks anytime, anywhere.

The wireless world has been greatly changed once by Wi-Fi. When it was launched in 2002, wireless LAN was a niche technology, said Lim. Today, almost all notebooks, netbooks and MIDs are Wi-Fi-capable.

“WiMAX aims to extend the open, full Internet experience of Wi-Fi with mobile devices capable of replicating the home or work Internet experience on the go,” explained Lim.

The need for WiMAX

It is a fact: the Internet is big and growing even bigger. Lim cited figures: 1.4 billion Internet users, 150 million websites, 1.5 billion Web searches every day. Moreover, there are approximately one billion users of Instant Messengers (IMs), while 10 hours of new video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Around 10,000 blogs are created daily.

This robust online activity is pushing the demand for broadband and the current network is quite unable to keep up with the demand. In the Philippines alone, the number of Internet users is 14 million, which makes it among Asia’s top 10 Internet countries.

However, in a country with approximately 14 million Internet users, only 1.3 million households are subscribed to broadband Internet. WiMAX could close the gap, as a fully mobile Internet is made available.

“Fixed broadband installations exhibit geographic limitations for countries with rural populations, and because of this, there is a growing demand toward mobile broadband services,” said Intel Technology Philippines Inc. country manager Ricky Banaag.

“Next-generation technology such as WiMAX can be the more cost-effective, back-haul solution to help build out this infrastructure to help drive growth,” he added.

Not a competitor of 3G

With the push for WiMAX gaining momentum not just in the Philippines but worldwide, Lim emphasized that it is not a competitor or an alternative to 3G.

“Its purpose is to create a new market category, which is mobile broadband Internet,” he said.

3G, he said, is a voice network and is really for voice but WiMAX is a 4G wireless broadband network suited well for data services.

Mobile WiMAX will continue to evolve, said Lim. At present, mobile broadband is available at 60+ Mbps through Mobile WiMAX 1.0 at 802.16e. However, in 2009 and beyond it will be available to achieve mobile broadband speed of 125+ Mbps (for Mobile WiMAX 1.5 on 802.16e Rev 2), and even 300+ Mbps (for Mobile WiMAX 2.0 on 802.16m).

Lim said even the basic Mobile WiMAX 802.16e could deliver fixed (at home or the office or any fixed location) or nomadic (outdoors or in non-fixed locations) access and full mobility (while on the move — in buses, trains, cars) to users depending on the packages to be rolled out by operators.

Spectrum policies are also aligning and efforts are underway to harmonize spectrum profiles in the region.

According to the WiMAX Forum, an industry-led, non-profit organization, WiMAX service providers now cover 430 million people in 135 countries. Locally, the push for WiMAX is being driven by collaboration among telecommunication service providers, policymakers and Intel.

Last year, Intel announced WiMAX-ready chipsets built on its Montevina platform, which means that devices running on these chipsets should be able to use WiMAX technology once it is deployed.

Lim bared that they are working with most PC manufacturers for the rollout of devices that are WiMAX-ready within the year.
By Eden Estopace - Phil Star

An Internet era ends as technology icons exit

Steve Jobs exiting the Apple stage, perhaps not to return, signals a close to an Internet Age era with roots stretching back to the radical hippie movement of the 1960s.

His departure for health reasons comes some seven months after his renowned rival Bill Gates retired from Microsoft to devote himself to philanthropic work.

The two culture-changing men were seen as leaders of rival camps: personal computer lovers versus the cult of Macintosh computers.

Technology allegiances were the stuff of fierce debates in coffee houses and other Silicon Valley social settings, with vitriol spewed by all sides.

Macintosh devotees were passionate underdogs standing up to PC faithful whose confidence was cemented by the fact more than 90 percent of the computers in the world are PCs running on Microsoft operating systems.

The dueling technologies had faces at which people aimed praise of scorn. Gates was the PC. Jobs is the Macintosh.

Jerry Yang, the very public face of Internet pioneer Yahoo!, was replaced as chief executive this week by Carol Bartz and it seems he has already faded into the purple and gold woodwork at the firm’s California headquarters.

“In many ways we are stepping out of the age where the people are defining the company,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.

“We talk about the Google kids, but are the founders truly icons. I argue not. We seem to be moving away from the age where there is a face behind the company; a larger-than-life human component.”

Ironically, while Google and other modern Internet superstars use private data about their millions of users to target ads, their founders tend to vigilantly protect their privacy.

“In many ways, Internet companies are losing their personalities,” Enderle said. “Ever-changing brands in a constant sea of surging names.”

Jobs and Gates, both born in 1955, grew up during the socially rebellious 1960s and bear its mark, according to Peter Friess, a historian who is president of The Tech Museum of Innovation in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Gates and Jobs both dropped out of college to pursue dreams of building computers for people.

Before Jobs and his friend Steve Wozniak made the first Apple computer, they crafted a “blue box” to get around paying for long-distance telephone calls.

“They came out of a time when culture meant a lot to all of us,” Friess said.

“It was a revolutionary time. It is always a time that creates people. Now, Google, Facebook and others align much more with the system. Social networks don’t change the world like Jobs and Gates did.”

Bringing personal computers to the masses fulfilled a hippie mantra of “Power to the people,” according to Friess.

While the first PCs and “Macs” were sold by Gates and Jobs before there was a Web to surf, the men led their respective companies to glory in the Internet Age.

“In time, I suppose we might look back at the leaders of big search companies in a similar way, but it really feels like a thin comparison,” said University of California, Berkeley, information school assistant professor Coye Cheshire.

“If only because all these fantastic information services only became practical and truly useful once we had the PCs, Macs, iPods, Xboxes, Zunes, iPhones, etc. in our lives.”

Crises with climate change and wars fought for control of oil have set the stage for new iconic visionaries in the molds of Gates or Jobs to rise in the area of renewable energy, says Friess.

“Putting personal computers in the hands was really giving power to the people,” Friess said.

“I’m waiting for someone in the renewable energy world with the same vision Jobs had in the computer world.”

In a rare joint appearance, Jobs and Gates reminisced on stage at an All Things Digital conference in California two years ago. The men joked that their rivalry was misunderstood.

“We’ve kept our marriage secret for over a decade now,” Jobs quipped, eliciting raucous laughter from the audience.

While Jobs and Gates “personified the dispute” between Apple and Microsoft, the two companies are unlikely to change their ways without their iconic founders, according to analyst Michael Cherry of Directions On Microsoft.

“No one wants to die . . . and yet death is the destination we all share,” Jobs told a stadium packed with students during a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

“Death is possibly the single best invention in life. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” -- AFP

Smart tests RP waters for all-in-one messaging service

Wireless service provider Smart Communications has started beta testing an all-in-one messaging service that intends to attract Internet-savvy users.

The new messaging service, Uzzap, will use Internet Protocol (IP) passing through mobile networks to let users zap instant or e-mail messages to other users.

Users can also join chat rooms, set up chat conferences and use so-called "extended messaging" to connect with other Uzzap users, Smart said.

"This will work well with those used to social networking," said Ramon Isberto, Smart head of public affairs, in an interview, as he explained that the service will require users to download a software application onto their handsets.

Uzzap requires handsets that run the Symbian operating system and those that support Java mobile applications, the company said.

A PC-based software can also be downloaded by users to their computers to allow them to send instant messages to users on their mobile handsets.

"This is a convergence of the mobile and the web world," said Isberto, adding that the company has been testing this service internally for a year.

Acknowledging the growing number of people sending e-mail and instant messages through their mobile handsets, it was logical for Smart to develop its own service, the executive said.

The beta phase will run from July 6 to 20, Smart said.

"SMART Buddy Uzzap is another service that will further enrich the mobile Internet experience of our subscribers. Through Uzzap, Smart has taken another step toward taking web-based applications such as instant messaging, file sharing, and social networking and making these accessible and easy to use on their mobile handsets," added Danilo Mojica, wireless consumer division head of Smart, in a statement.

Isberto said users can still use the service for free or until the beta phase ends.

Eventually, the company will be charging a flat-rate, the executive said. He declined to disclose the rates until the commercial launch. By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

CICT proposes incentives for early IPv6 adoption

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

Hoping to encourage local telecommunications networks and Internet service providers to move to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) is proposing incentives to early adopters, an official said Thursday.

"As the development champion of the Cyber Corridor Super region, I am committed to encouraging the adoption of next-generation networks or NGNs and IPv6 by telecom operators and ISPs. The CICT, in coordination with other government agencies and other stakeholders, would like to see that appropriate policies, rules and regulations on NGN and IPv6 are put in place, including the possibility of providing incentives for early IPv6 adoption," said CICT director Philip Varilla, reading the speech of CICT chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III during the second day of the IPv6 Summit here.

Varilla said the CICT was "in a good position" to lead and participate in drafting a Philippine IPv6 policy with the National Telecommunications Commission and other stakeholders in the local industry.

CICT also wants to look into the country's "preparedness, and technical capabilities," as well as to determine the implications to businesses with the inevitable migration to IPv6.

The current Internet address spaces using the Internet Protocol version 4 or IPv4, is running out, experts said during the IPv6 Summit here. This spells problems for future Internet users. IPv6 is the next "language" of the Internet. The world has been using IP version 4 since the 1980s. But Internet experts are now saying that the IP addresses using this older version are almost depleted.

The Advance Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) and the Philippine Network Operators Group have set up the Philippine Open Internet Exchange to encourage more local industry and networks to move to IPv6. There are currently five local networks that have joined the Philippine Open Internet Exchange, which is the first Internet exchange in the country that supports both IPv4 and IPv6.

These local networks include Globe Telecom, Bitstop, Philcom, International Rice Research Institute and Bell Telecoms. The ASTI-run Philippine Research, Education and Government Information Network also operate on IPv6.

Varilla said ASTI has been leading the local research on IPv6 adoption in the country.

"ASTI has successfully encouraged PLDT to forge separate agreements with the organization and the University of the Philippines related to projects on rural telecommunications, mobile telecommunications, IPv6, broadband networking, toll online billing system and wireless communications," he said.

Varilla said that local telecommunications providers "have [also] started to position themselves in the path to IPV6 migration."

He cited Internet service providers and telecommunication companies like Mozcom, Globetel, Globenet and PLDT have registered with IPv6 address assignments to the Asia-Pacific Network Information Center, the country's regional Internet registry.

"We also need to pay attention to the challenges associated with this next-generation protocol. A lot of preparation needs to be done, including assessment of the Philippines' readiness to shift to this new protocol, identification of the most practical national strategy on the timing of the migration and an in-depth cost-benefit analysis," Varilla said.

More than 200 people attended the IPv6 Summit in Manila. The IPv6 Summit was organized by the IPv6 Forum of the Philippines, Department of Science and Technology-ASTI, and the Philippine Network Operators Group.

WWW inventor says web only in infancy

The World Wide Web is still only in its infancy, its British inventor said Wednesday, on the 15th anniversary of the Web's effective launch.

Tim Berners-Lee told the BBC that the Web, which started life in the CERN physics laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border in the early 1990s, could develop in unimaginable directions but above all should be a force for good.

"What's exciting is that people are building new social systems, new systems of review, new systems of governance," he said.

"My hope is that those will produce... new ways of working together effectively and fairly which we can use globally to manage ourselves as a planet."

The comments came on the anniversary of the announcement by CERN on April 30, 1993 that the World Wide Web could be used by everyone, after Berners-Lee and a colleague persuaded their bosses to provide the program code for free.

The Web is now the ubiquitous network via which information is shared on the Internet. An estimated 165 million websites now exist, the BBC reported.

"The web has been a tremendous tool for people to do a lot of good even though you can find bad stuff out there," said Berners-Lee, adding that one day the web will put "all the data in the world" at the fingertips of every user.

But "we have only started to explore the possibilities of (the web)," he said, adding that it was "still in its infancy."

Robert Cailliau, who worked with Berners-Lee to open up the web, stressed that not all the bosses at CERN were in favour of making the web universally accessible.

"We had to convince them that this was going to take off and it was a really big thing. And therefore CERN couldn't hold on to it and the best thing to do was to give it away," he said.

Competing technologies -- such as Gopher developed at the University of Minnesota in the United States -- were also offering a way of connecting documents on the Internet, he said.

"If we had put a price on it like the University of Minnesota had done with Gopher then it would not have expanded into what it is now.

"We would have had some sort of market share alongside services like AOL and Compuserve, but we would not have flattened the world." Agence France-Presse

House bill filed vs ‘identity theft’ from Internet

Publishing a person's personal data retrieved from the Internet might soon be a crime, if a bill filed Thursday at the House of Representatives would be passed.

Under HB 3828, a stiff penalty will be imposed against "identity theft" and the "malicious" disclosure of personal information by the media without the consent of the subject.

In a statement, Camarines Norte Representative Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, who authored the bill, said the "increasing sophistication" of information technology has eased the access to other people's personal information.

"Computers linked together by high-speed networks with advance processing systems can create comprehensive dossiers on any person without the need for a single central computer system," she said.

If enacted into law, the reporter, editor-in-chief, publisher, manager, and president of a newspaper found guilty shall face a penalty of two years imprisonment and pay a fine of not more than P500,000.

People who reveal false information -- either obtained from a data controller or unknowingly transferred to them -- shall be jailed for six months and be fined for not more than P500,000.

Meanwhile, people who process the data without the consent of the persons concerned shall be charged with a 12-year imprisonment and a fine of not more than P3 million.

She also cited a survey that showed the call to enforce penalties for violating data privacy rights.

The bill includes the creation of National Data Protection Commission (NDPC) that shall register data controllers and processors and monitor the country's compliance with international standards on data protection.

Among the functions of the NDPC are: overseeing and monitoring the processing of personal data, stopping any breach in the data protection, ensuring that the rights of the data subject are upheld, and monitoring the compliance of other government agencies with security and encryption measures.

Rachel Hermosura - INQUIRER.net

Radio, ‘older’ tech remain relevant in ICT for education

Unless universal broadband Internet access becomes available to all Filipinos, traditional technologies such as radio will remain a relevant tool in the delivery of education in remote areas in the country. This was the finding of a foundation helping local communities harness information and communications technology for education and learning.

Ten years after it was established, the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (Fit-ED) has also learned that providing Internet connectivity to schools is not always the appropriate option when it comes to implementing ICT for education programs, said Victoria Tinio, executive director of Fit-ED, in an interview.

Fit-ED has been running a project dubbed "Education for All Thru Radio (EFAR)" which has proven to be an effective way of delivering science training to primary school teachers, as well as to communities in remote areas where there is no electricity.

Fit-ED launched this project August 2007 with the Department of Education and Coca-Cola Co. through broadcast networks in the country, added Liezl Formilleza-Dunuan, senior program manager at Fit-ED.

A 16-part science literacy program was developed by the University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development for the project. So far, the project has reached 400 schools in 11 school divisions across the country, thanks to the power of radio.

"We really don't want to neglect the older technologies that are still available," said Tinio, as she explained that Fit-ED's philosophy revolves around the idea that any successful ICT for education programs start with an "appropriate choice."

In the case of using technology to deliver training to teachers, radio was the unbeatable choice in offering science training to teachers in remote areas in the country.

"Unless we see universal broadband access in the Philippines, or even universal power, we'll continue to use radio and other traditional technologies," Tinio said.

Tinio stressed that ICT for education programs should focus more on the "educational goals" and not just technology. Technology, she pointed out, is one of many ways to deliver educational goals. In the case of the EFAR, radio proved to be the most cost-effective means.

For years, efforts in ICT for education have been focused on providing connectivity to schools, said Tinio. While this is also necessary, Fit-ED has stopped doing this in 2002 to deal with other projects that aim to deliver more impact on improving learning and education in the country, Tinio said.

"We need to be very clear why we want to bring technology into a learning environment. Educational goals don't change. Technology is just one resource to reach this goal," she said. By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

Japan to strip Internet for illegal downloaders--report

Agence France-Presse

TOKYO -- Japanese companies plan to cut off the Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one of the world's toughest measures against online piracy, a report said Saturday.

Faced with mounting complaints from the music, movie and video-game industries, four associations representing Japan's Internet service providers have agreed to take drastic action, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said service providers would send e-mails to people who repeatedly made illegal copies and terminate their connections if they did not stop.

The Internet companies will set up a panel next month involving groups representing copyright holders to draft the new guidelines, the report said.

Company and government officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report Saturday.

The actions would be among the strictest in fighting online piracy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy late last year outlined similar measures to disconnect Internet users who flagrantly violated copyright laws.

But for the most part, illegal downloading is being addressed through litigation against individuals.

The music industry won a first-of-a-kind victory in a US court in October when a single mother in Minnesota was ordered to pay more than $220,000 for sharing 24 songs online.

The Yomiuri Shimbun estimated that 1.75 million people in Japan use file-sharing software, mostly to swap illegal copies.

One Internet service provider considered two years ago a plan to disconnect people who swap illegal files but dropped the plan after the government said it may violate the right to privacy, the Yomiuri said.

The best-known Japanese file-sharing software is called Winny, which allows users to swap games, movies and music online. It was developed by Isamu Kaneko, a young research assistant at the prestigious University of Tokyo who has become an Internet icon.

But in 2006 he was fined 1.5 million yen ($15,000), although he was spared jail.

Farmers in 12 communities now Internet addicts

By Anselmo Roque - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk


SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ -- Confronted with a pest attack on his rice field, Marcelino Dizon, a 60-year-old farmer from Barangay Rang-ayan here, went straight to the barangay hall to search for answers.

With the flick of a callused finger, Dizon turned on a computer and started surfing the Net. In no time at all, he had the information he needed.

In Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, Bienvenido Mariano, 62, faced a similar problem. He got the answer from the Internet—stem borers were attacking his plants—and learned what he should do to solve the problem.

Dizon and Mariano are among the hundreds of farmers in 12 cyber communities around the country who have become adept at using the Internet as a tool for improving rice-farming techniques.

“I never expected that I would be able to learn to use the computer, much less the Internet,” said Dizon.

“I am able to get answers right away to my queries on rice farming,” he said.

Dizon’s village, which is 9 kilometers from the city proper, has no landline telephone connection. But through the wonders of information and communications technology (ICT), Barangay Rang-ayan is now connected to the Internet and its residents are able to make phone calls using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

VoIP is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet instead of the traditional telephone networks. The technology turns telephony signals to digital audio which pass as compressed data over the Internet, which is a worldwide interconnection of computer networks.

Mariano’s village is 21 km from the provincial capital of Digos where the Internet backbone has been installed and beamed to their cyber community by wireless technology.

The cyber community project is being undertaken by the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (Opapa), an alliance of two international organizations (the International Rice Research Institute and the India-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics), six state colleges and universities, and nine agencies of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Science and Technology.

Established in July 2003, the Opapa focuses on content development and management of information on rice farming and the growing of other crops and even livestock.

The Muñoz-based Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) has been chosen to host the Opapa. An interagency advisory council, chaired by the PhilRice executive director, governs the academy.

The Opapa has established 12 cyber communities as test-beds for linking knowledge centers, local government units, farmers’ cooperatives or groups and markets through ICT.

Aside from Barangay Rang-ayan here and Magsaysay town in Davao del Sur, the other cyber communities are in Batac, Ilocos Norte; San Mateo, Isabela; Magalang, Pampanga; Victoria, Laguna; Bago City, Negros Occidental; Midsayap and Kabacan in North Cotabato; Banaybanay, Davao Oriental; Dujali, Davao del Norte, and Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.

Farmers were first trained on the use of a computer. Later, they were taught how to get into the Internet and use it as a tool for getting information.

Opapa staff have compiled amusing stories of these beginner sessions on basic computer and Internet operations in the different cyber communities.

“Some of the trainees were even afraid to switch on the computer. They were afraid it would explode,” said one trainer.

“It was very amusing. We really spent time teaching them how to use the mouse and even how to correctly place their fingers on the keyboard,” said another.

In San Mateo, Isabela, about 300 farmers underwent hands-on training for several Saturdays last year until they became “addicted” to the use of the computer and the Internet.

“Before, I could only go to nearby towns, but now I can travel around the world because I’ve learned how to use the Internet,” said Nemesio Garon, a farmer from Puypuy, Laguna.

He said more information about rice farming is now available to him because of the facilities for connecting to the Internet right in his village.

Nemesio Macabale, the city agriculturist here, said he and his staff were themselves forced to learn and master the use of the Internet because it was his job to “preach” to the farmers in his cyber community here.

“Now, I know how to chat, e-mail, and search the Web for the latest in agricultural information,” he said.

Some agriculture extension workers said they have learned about the latest technologies in rice production with the establishment of the cyber communities.

Opapa also offers other services like the mobile classroom for Internet technology and the texting center.

The mobile classroom, equipped with computers and an audio-video system, introduces the use of the computers and the Internet in remote areas.

In 2005, the mobile classroom traveled on a road show from Aparri to Davao, reaching more than 3,000 extension workers, agricultural officers, cooperative leaders, mayors, farmers and governors.

The Opapa was able to show the farmers that it is now quite easy for them to get updated on agriculture developments, particularly in rice farming, consult with experts online, and other services that the Web can provide.

The academy has also put up a Web portal for various rice farming technologies and several modules for the production of other crops.

The texting center, on the other hand, provides opportunities for farmers and technicians to get answers to their problems in rice production through text messaging.

“There is no intention to replace the existing system of extension service to the farmers,” Sebastian said.

“These services of the academy are just meant to complement the existing extension service in agriculture through the wonders of the information and communication technology,” he said.

DOJ nixes Internet ‘horseracing’

THE Department of Justice has thumbed down the application of a local subsidiary of a United Kingdom-based firm for a license to operate virtual horseracing in the internet.

In a four-page opinion, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez stressed that the Philippine Racing Commission is not authorized to sanction the operation of an online horseracing under PD 420, the law which created the commission.

Gonzalez issued the legal opinion upon the request of PRC chairman Jose Ferdinand Rojas who has received an application from Turfmaster Philippines, a private subsidiary corporation of Turfmaster UK, for the issuance of a permit to be able to legally operate an online horseracing in the country.

The firm sought the PRC’s issuance of a license to operate upon the advice of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.

Gonzalez said that PRC’s power covers only the holding of races involving actual horses.

“Indubitably, while the Philracom has jurisdiction and power over every aspect of the conduct of horse-racing’ including the issuance of licenses and/or permits in the conduct thereof, it appears clear that the said power/jurisdiction covers only the holding of races involving actual, live horses which, apparently, must also be registered with the Philracom as race horses before they can take part in horse races,” Gonzalez said.

“A reading of the provisions of the Philracom charter does not show any iota of evidence that is authorized, directly or otherwise, to sanction the operation of virtual horseracing in the internet,” he further said.

He added that the proposed online horseracing can be considered as “gambling in the internet” as the game intended would involve betting.

Such activity, according to Gonzalez, cannot be allowed without the consent of Congress. By: Hector Lawas - Journal online

2008 US home-based IT spending valued at $52B

2008 US home-based IT spending valued at $52B


By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- Who says small can’t spend big?

America’s home-based businesses are forecasted to spend as much as $52 billion in IT and telecom services, according to a study by AMI-Partners.

“The home-based business is rapidly becoming a significant sector that vendors need to pay attention to,” said Antara Jaitly, senior analyst at AMI. “More people may look to operating a home-based business as a means to supplement their income or fulfill personal aspirations.”

Home-based businesses (HBBs) can be considered a subset of the larger SMB market.

According to AMI estimates, HBBs account for about 15 million PCs. IT spending alone this year is expected to reach more than $32 billion.

These HBBs plan to spend on a wide array of hardware, software and telecom-related products and services ranging from PDAs and smart phones to PCs, printers, software applications, security and storage products and high-speed broadband services.

Vendors such as HP, Microsoft and Dell resonate well with these HBB owners, AMI's study shows. Google, meanwhile, scored high marks in online services.

The HBB market in the US has exploded with service-oriented businesses.

The Internet has played a pivotal role, spurring an increase in the use of websites and Internet-based electronic marketplaces such as eBay, which have enabled small service-focused businesses -- as varied as consulting, staffing, travel and catering -- to flourish.

“With median HBB annual revenues equaling $62,000, HBB revenues are 30 percent more affluent than the median US household income of $48,200,” Jaitly said.

He added there is a distinct HBB psyche, which is a synthesis of the owner profile, buying power and formation drivers.

“For marketers, understanding this psyche is critical to effectively targeting this segment,” he said.

Microsoft, Google, Yahoo pay fines for Internet gambling

Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON--Microsoft, Yahoo and Google agreed to pay a total of $31.5 million to settle a government probe into their role in promoting online gambling dating back to 1997, officials said Wednesday.

The settlements marked the latest development in a US crackdown on Internet gambling, which has attracted a large number of Americans using offshore gaming websites.

The Microsoft settlement totals $21 million, including 4.5 million to the United States and a $7.5 million contribution to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Microsoft also agreed to provide a $9 million campaign aimed at showing young Web users that online gambling is illegal under US law. Microsoft did not admit wrongdoing in settling the allegations that the software and Internet giant received payments from online gambling businesses for advertising.

Google agreed to pay $3 million dollars to settle similar charges and Yahoo 7.5 million and to fund an online public service campaign discouraging online gambling.

Neither company admitted the allegations.

The three companies could have been prosecuted under the Federal Wire Wager Act, federal wagering excise tax laws, and various state statutes and municipal laws prohibiting gambling.

"These sums add to the over $40 million in forfeitures and back taxes this office has already recovered in recent years from operators of these remote-control illegal gambling enterprises," said US Attorney Catherine Hanaway.

"Honest taxpayers and gambling industry personnel who do follow the law suffer from those who promote illegal online behavior."

Online bullying a growing part of teen Internet life

US researchers warn that bullies are taking their hurtful ways from real-world schoolyards to the "cyber" world by targeting teens with nasty e-mail, text messaging, and online chat.

The number of children ages 10 to 17 that say they were abused by "cyber bullies" climbed 50 percent, from six percent in 2000 to nine percent in 2005, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"One thing that stands out is that aggression perpetuated with technology goes far beyond cyber bullying," said Corrine Ferdon, one of the authors of the CDC report on "electronic aggression and youth violence."

"Technology is constantly evolving and if we focus on the Internet we will miss the show."

Instant messaging, including text messages sent to mobile telephones, is the most common way to send taunts, teases, threats, insults or other bullying messages, according to report co-author Marci Hertz.

Unlike in schoolyards where bullies have to face victims, the Internet lets abusers remain anonymous, Hertz said.

The majority of the self-described victims in the study said they didn't know who the "cyber bullies" were, Hertz told AFP.

"In the schoolyard you could defend yourself by speaking back but it is a completely different dynamic online," Hertz said.

"Some kids might be able to shrug it off, turn off the computer and move on. But some kids are more fragile."

A 13-year-old Missouri girl hanged herself with a belt in November after exchanging insults via her profile page at MySpace.com with a person she was tricked into thinking was a 16-year-old boy named "Josh."

The final message sent by Josh, who flirted with the girl for weeks online, was reportedly "The world would be a better place without you."

It turned out Josh was an online persona created by the mother of a former friend of the girl. The woman told investigators she played the charade to find out what the girl really thought of her daughter, who was the jilted friend.

After finding out the mother's behavior didn't break the law, local politicians made it illegal to harass people on the Internet.

Police in Tennessee say that one teenage girl stabbed another over a comment posted at the Facebook social networking website.

School officials in some US cities restrict access to the Internet or mobile telephones on campuses.

"Some of this hysteria about bullying is just a way to try to regulate and survey kids," said Nan Stein, a scientist at the Wellesley College's center for women, where she directs research on sexual harassment.

"We need to encourage kids to be citizens of the world. Being nice helps too, but we shouldn't be regulating."

The CDC performed its study of electronic aggression because it receives calls from "a lot of US schools" asking for advice regarding how to handle cyber bullying, Hertz said.

The report found that 64 percent of youths that said they were bullied on line contended they were not bullied at school. A separate US study concludes children bullied online are more likely to take guns to school.

It is vital for parents to be aware of their children's online experiences because electronic bullying is most likely to take place at homes or other places where teachers can't be alerted, researchers said.

As youth lifestyles increasingly involve the Internet and new ways to communicate it is understandable that bullying migrates from the real-world to the cyber arena, said University of California, Berkeley, researcher and sociologist C.J. Pascoe.

"It is the online manifestation of what they are doing in the schoolyard," said Pascoe, the author of a book on bullying titled "Dude, You're a Fag."

"The issue is being overblown. We should be concerned with bullying and harassment in general, no matter where it takes place."

The popularity of social networking websites where people post profile pages packed with personal information and rosters of friends provide rich fodder for bullies, says Pascoe.

In contrast, online messaging and social networking can also be safe havens for shy children that have trouble making friends in the real world or get bullied in real life situations, according to Pascoe.

"We highlight in our article the benefit of technology," Hertz said of the published report.

"Kids are better able to make friends, maintain social connections and get accurate information. We really encourage more talking rather than blocking or prohibiting access to technology."
--AFP

DepEd rolls out second mobile school

By Alexander Villafania - INQUIRER.net

The Department of Education (DepEd) has teamed up with technology school STI Colleges and Education Centers to roll out a second mobile school in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the mobile education program aims to widen access to remote public schools using the Internet technology.

“The launch of the second Mobile School speaks of the department’s thrust to integrate information technology in public education,” he said.

The Mobile School is a 50-seater bus carrying 27 computers with wireless Internet connection. It costs at least P5 million to build.

The mobile program is under DepEd’s Adopt-a-School Program, which also aims to enhance computer literacy among public school teachers.

Its launch coincides with STI Foundation’s IT literacy advocacy for the disadvantaged sectors, particularly out-of-school youths.

The first DepEd Mobile School launched in January reached out to at least 6,000 students in about 70 sites in Luzon.

Wikipedia wins landmark privacy lawsuit in France

Agence France-Presse

A French court has ruled that Wikipedia could not be held responsible for content posted by its users in a landmark ruling for the Internet giant, officials said Friday.

Three plaintiffs were each seeking 69,000 euros ($100,000) in damages for invasion of their privacy after their homosexuality was revealed on the website, which is written and edited by thousands of anonymous contributors.

But a judge rejected their demands in a ruling reached on Monday, arguing that "the Wikimedia Foundation's responsibility ... has not been clearly established," a decision welcomed by the foundation.

"The decision is very clear and we appreciate the fact the court acknowledges our role as an Internet host, rather than an editor," said Florence Devouard, chair of the Wikimedia Foundation's board.

Founded in 2001, Wikipedia is an "open-source" Internet encyclopedia, which is to say anyone with access to a computer can edit it. The Foundation's task is to work out ground rules and editorial policy and raise funds to pay for IT investments and development projects.

Devouard said the contested information was added anonymously to a Wikipedia article before being "quickly withdrawn, even if it remained accessible for a while through the site's records."

One of the plaintiffs "sent an e-mail which we never received before turning to his lawyer," she said.

"When we are informed of this type of mistake we always try to react in the following hours to withdraw such information," said Devouard, who is based near the central French city of Clermont-Ferrand.

With eight million articles and counting, in 250 languages from English and Arabic to Tagalog or Wolof, Wikipedia says it is used each month by more than 100 million people.

Although its accuracy is reportedly on a par with the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia has also faced a mounting battle against misinformation and information vandalism.

New Zealander to head Internet oversight board

Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES--A New Zealand lawyer has been selected as the new chairman of the international Internet oversight agency ICANN, replacing American Vinton Cerf who has lead the agency since its creation in 1998, the organization said on Friday.

Peter Dengate Thrush "has been elected unanimously as the new Chairman of the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers," ICANN said in a statement.

"I am delighted that my colleagues have placed their confidence in me for this challenging and important role," Dengate Thrush, who specializes in intellectual property law and helped draft bylaws for the group, said in the statement.

Cerf, sometimes called the father of the Internet, said the selection of the new chair showed the organization was maturing.

"ICANN has moved from a foundation state to a steady state. Peter understands that and the Board's role and is a great choice to keep the organization strong and focused," said Cerf, who helped invent the core protocols of the Internet.

ICANN, a non-profit organization based in Marina del Rey in Southern California, oversees the assignment of domain names (such as .org or .edu) and Internet protocol addresses that help computers communicate.

Governments shouldn't cut Internet--UN telecoms chief

Agence France-Presse GENEVA--UN telecommunications agency chief Hamadoun Toure said Friday that no government had the right to cut their citizens off from the Internet, following recent incidents in Myanmar.

Toure, who heads the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), underlined that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had recently described safe access to the Internet as a basic human right.

"Yes, I believe no government has a right to cut off its citizens from cyberspace," Toure told journalists in response to a question about a temporary cut in Internet services in Myanmar during recent unrest there.

"The right to communication is a basic freedom and a basic human right that needs to be preserved, no matter what," the ITU Secretary General added.

An Internet blockage in Myanmar late last week severely reduced the flow of video, photos and first-hand reports of the violence there that had helped galvanise an outcry against the ruling generals.

The cut was widely blamed on security forces there. A telecom official in Myanmar confirmed that the nation's main link to the Internet was down, but blamed the problem on a damaged undersea cable.