Internet Trends and IT Industry News and Development

[Manila-X]

Arrest sparks row over cybercrime law
Palace: Libel charge based on penal code
By Melvin Gascon, Gil C. Cabacungan
Inquirer Northern Luzon, Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:01 am | Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Environmentalists and Internet users have rallied behind Esperlita “Perling” Garcia, an antimining advocate who was arrested on Thursday on libel charges for a purported critical post on Facebook in spite of the Supreme Court’s suspension of the cybercrime law.

In Manila, however, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the arrest of the 62-year-old Garcia, who was detained overnight and released on Friday after posting a P10,000 bail, was prompted by a violation of the Revised Penal Code.
Lacierda denied the claim of the militant youth group Anakbayan that Garcia was arrested for violation of the harsher electronic, or e-, libel law.

“This is not a case of e-libel,” Lacierda told reporters, dismissing suggestions that the Garcia case smacked of an “e-martial law” clampdown on social networking sites.
It was the second known case of an alleged cybercrime since 16 nurses were sacked in August for having “liked” criticism on Facebook against the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital.

Since Saturday, netizens have been visiting “Cyber-Perling,” the Facebook page set up to mobilize support for Garcia, president of the Gonzaga Alliance for Environmental Protection and Preservation.

The alliance is leading the opposition to small-scale mining operations for magnetite sand by Chinese and Taiwanese companies in Gonzaga, Cagayan province. The activity has been authorized by the Cagayan provincial government.

“Let’s continue to protect our environment with prayers, and let’s support people like Ma’am Perling. Saving people like [her] is saving our lives,” said Martin Francisco, president of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society Inc., a nongovernment organization.

Barely two days after her arrest and overnight detention, “Cyber-Perling” has become the face of the netizens’ fight against Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Early this month, however, the Supreme Court issued a 120-day temporary restraining order on the law’s implementation while it decided at least 15 petitions to declare the law unconstitutional.

Cyber-Perling

In comments on the “Cyber-Perling” page, Facebook users have expressed alarm that even before its effectivity, the cybercrime law is already being used to stifle the citizens’ right to expose alleged abusive acts of public officials.

Garcia was charged with libel by Gonzaga Mayor Carlito Pentecostes Jr. for the note she posted on Facebook in April 2011, or 18 months before the enactment of RA 10175, which punishes online libel with up to 12 years imprisonment.

The post assailed Pentecostes’ role in the harsh dispersal of people who were meeting inside a school compound for a planned antimining rally on April 30.

Pentecostes denied Garcia’s allegations. He also stood pat on his decision to pursue libel charges against Garcia to “teach her a lesson for her arrogance.”

“[Garcia] portrayed me as a very bad person on Facebook. She has been making up stories about the supposed opposition of the people of Gonzaga against mining when in truth, there is no such resistance here now,” he said.

Freedom of expression

Support from friends and allies, Garcia said, strengthened her resolve to fight for the people’s right to free speech.

She described the libel charges, including the manner of her arrest by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), as harassment.

“I find it interesting that no less than the regional director of the NBI (Hector Eduard Geologo), who had to travel for more than five hours, personally carried out my arrest,” Garcia said by telephone Monday.

Green Convergence, a network of 10 environment NGOs, assailed the arrest of Garcia, noting the Supreme Court’s action on RA 10175.

“[Garcia’s] arrest is clearly illegal and should not be tolerated by the Department of Justice [or] by any freedom-loving Filipino,” it said in a statement.

In a press conference in Malacañang Monday, Lacierda twitted Anakbayan, a rival of the administration-allied Akbayan of Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas.

“The claim of Anakbayan is that this is based on the Cybercrime Protection Act. We verified it with the NBI who effected the arrest. The basis for the arrest was not the Cybercrime Protection Act, which we all know has been restrained by the Supreme Court,” Lacierda said.

Not e-libel

He said that the arrest order against Garcia was based on a libel suit under Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code.

“If you notice, the bail posted was P10,000. The penalty for online libel is prision mayor, which is higher than the penalty imposed under the Revised Penal Code. So this is not a case of e-libel,” Lacierda said.

“Let me be clear, let me also inform our good friends from Anakbayan and I hope they don’t ride on this issue but apparently they already rode on it, but they’re claiming that this is the start of e-martial law. Let me tell Anakbayan, please don’t be ignorant of the issues. First, you’re entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to your facts,” Lacierda said.

De Lima assurance

Also on Monday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima vowed her office would uphold constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms in the event the Supreme Court upheld the anticybercrime law.

Speaking at the 2nd Philippine Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit at Edsa Shangrila Hotel, De Lima said while the gathering was about intellectual property rights protection she cannot help but touch on “one of the hottest topics of today,” the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

“The provisions of the (law) are now submitted for scrutiny of their constitutionality before the Supreme Court but, regardless of how that case will be eventually resolved, it is a concrete sign that we, in government, take intellectual property rights protection very seriously, whether infringement is committed in the physical world or in cyberspace,” she said.

[InformaticIAN]

www.klik.ph





ang bagong aabangan...

Proudly SSC Forumer Made

[Monchhichi]

LRT guard 'just doing her job' gets a tongue-lashing in video gone viral - and ends up apologizing
[/QUOTE]

MANILA, Philippines - The lady security guard who earned the ire of a commuter at one of the Light Rail Transit stations apologized for any offense she committed, even as the LRT management maintained the guard was only implementing security measures within the station.

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), in a statement on Wednesday, said security guard Sharon Mae Casinas "apologizes for whatever action that she had committed deemed offensive by the passenger concerned."

The LRTA issued the statement after a video showing a female commuter shouting at Casinas at the LRT 2 Santolan station went viral on social networking sites.

The female passenger was caught on video shouting at LRT Santolan security guard Casinas after the commuter was accosted supposedly for failing to place her bag on the conveyor of the x-ray machine.

Despite the apology, the LRTA said it remains firm in implementing its "no inspection, no entry policy."

Engr. Emerson Benitez, LRTA Officer-in-Charge, said that security personnel are instructed to strictly implement the policy to ensure the safety and security of passengers, and asked for the riding public's understanding and patience.

"It is inevitable that during the implementation of security measures, passengers encounter inconveniences. They should understand that the Authority cannot compromise the safety and security of the riding public," Benitez said in the LRTA statement. "It is one of our policies that station and security personnel refrain from making side comments and facial expressions that may be offensive to our passengers. Ms. Casinas displayed the right attitude expected of a security guard, that is, to be courteous and tolerant in spite of the embarrassment she got from the irate passenger."

All LRT security personnel have undergone a seminar on Quality Customer Service Delivery before their deployment and are given refresher courses semi-annually.

LRTA said it requests and needs passengers' cooperation and support for their own safety and welfare.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/4...up-apologizing

[wolfram74]

Myanmar leaps ahead of the Philippines in creation of ICT ministry
November 16, 2012


MACTAN, Cebu — And now it’s down to three.

Myanmar recently became the latest ASEAN member country to install its own ICT department as announced by its ICT Minister during the 12th ASEAN Telecommunications Minister (TelMin) Conference here on Thursday, leaving only Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines as the remaining three countries without a cabinet-level ICT agency.

The formal announcement was made by Myanmar’s U Thein Tun during his speech as the outgoing ASEAN TelMin chair.

“Effective November 9, Myanmar’s ICT agency’s name has been changed from Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraph to Ministry of Communications and Information Technology,” Tun told an audience composed of ICT and telecommunications leaders from various ASEAN nations.

The announcement was met with hushed surprise from some of the delegates, with one Philippine executive even exclaiming: “Napag-iwanan na tayo ng Myanmar!” (The Philippines is already trailing behind Myanmar!)

Once isolated by decades of military rule, Myanmar is slowly transitioning into a burgeoning democracy, marked by the gradual opening of the country to global trade and the recent release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in 2010.

Newly reelected US President Barack Obama is also scheduled to visit Myanmar this week as part of a three-country ASEAN tour, the first ever US head of state to do so.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, representing President Benigno Aquino III during the conference, said as of the moment the administration sees no need to establish a separate Department of ICT since the Department of Science and Technology is capable of handling the country’s ICT affair.

“Kapag nagtatag ka kasi ng bagong departamento (When we create a new department), it means new budget, new employees, new offices. But in the mean time, where we are, kaya pa naman ng present department iyong (the current department is still able [to provide]) demands ng ICT,” Binay told reporters at the sidelines of the meet.

The vice president, however, added that eventually the country may need to have its own central ICT agency: “Bukas makalawa siguro, kapag ang pangangailangan ay dumating ay magtatayo din tayo ng sariling Department of ICT.”

In past interviews, Malacañang has reiterated that a DICT will only “bloat bureaucracy,” with the DOST formally withdrawing support for the agency’s creation after supporting it a few years back.

In earlier reports, sources at the ICTO have noted that the usual backers of the DICT in the industry have turned lukewarm following the promise of funding from the newly created ICT office.

“They don’t want to risk losing that support,” the source said. “Sure, the DICT is a bigger name and could possibly get bigger appropriations, but it would still boil down to who would eventually be sitting at the helm of the DICT.”

Earlier, House Committee on ICT Chairman Sigfrido Tinga, one of the key proponents of the DICT bill that had already passed in both houses of Congress, noted how Malacañang sees the DICT as an “unnecessary bureaucracy” whose functions can already be performed by the ICTO.

“We are at a point in time when people see it’s important but don’t think it’s the end all and be all,” Tinga said, underscoring the wide gulf separating the legislative and executive branches of government in terms of their respective ICT goals for the country.

For the Information and Communications Technology Office, however, everything is business as usual, as they prepare to promote the next-wave cities of the Philippines, a project pioneered by the now-defunct CICT.

While the Congress bill seeking to create the DICT has already been passed by both chambers, bicameral conferences to consolidate both versions of the bill is still at a standstill, presumably due to Aquino’s lukewarm perception toward its creation.

[whatuwan]

Meanwhile at Malacanang Palace:
Noy: "Si Gloria ang may kasalanan diyan!!!"

Noynoying as usual.

[amigo32]

Alam ko si Nyoy nagsabi hindi natin kailangan ang ICT dept kaya scrapped nya ang plano ng duwende

[DeepSleep]

The word #Tumuklas is being promoted by twitter and trending not just Worldwide but in every city and every country listed on twitter. And I don't know why.

Do any of you know why #Tumuklas which means "to discover" is being promoted globally?

[tj_brewed]

http://www.malaya.com.ph/

The Malaya Business News site had been hacked!

I wonder if this is related to this: http://technology.inquirer.net/22047...-of-sc-hearing

‘Hacktivists’ strike on eve of SC hearing

[nayki]

Yuck! iw!

[indianpresley_0028]

Originally Posted by whatuwan

Meanwhile at Malacanang Palace:
Noy: "Si Gloria ang may kasalanan diyan!!!"

Noynoying as usual.

laging sinisisi ang previous president? bakit kaya hindi siya gumawa ng kanyang strategy rather than blaming GMA....

[hakz2007]

Google formally announces Philippine office and yes, they’re hiring!

MANILA, Philippines — After years of speculation and rumors, Google officially announced on Wednesday the opening of its Philippine representative office, also naming former Friendster executive Narciso Reyes as its first country manager.

Google Philippines will be the search giant’s fifth representative office in the Southeast Asian region, following consecutive establishment of bases in Malaysia, Thailand, and most recently Indonesia over the past several years, aside from its regional Singapore office. The Philippine office will reportedly be located in Makati.

With its local presence here now official, executives said Filipinos can expect Google to play a more significant role in the everyday lives of Filipinos, as well as in the development of local communities.

Read more

[Monchhichi]

Google chairman calls China 'a menace' to Internet and global order
SAN FRANCISCO - The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that in his coming book, Google chairman Eric Schmidt brands China an Internet menace that sanctions cyber crime for economic and political gain.

"The New Digital Age" authored by Schmidt in collaboration with Jared Cohen, a former US State Department adviser who now heads a Google Ideas think tank, is due for release by Random House in April.

The book looks at how the Internet impacts culture, commerce, politics and other aspects of life, while depicting China as a powerful and dangerous force in this new world, according to the Journal.

The authors called China the most prolific hacker of foreign companies and the most enthusiastic filterer of information.

"The disparity between American and Chinese firms and their tactics will put both the government and the companies of the United States at a distinct disadvantage," the newspaper quoted the authors as saying in the book.

"The United States will not take the same path of digital corporate espionage" due to stricter laws and the American "sense of fair play," it added.

The book reportedly also points to US flaws, such as Washington's suspected role in a Stuxnet virus that targeted nuclear facilities in Iran and private companies here that sell surveillance technology to oppressive regimes.

Schmidt and his co-author verge on suggesting that Western governments emulate China when it comes to building tight relationships between government interests and moves by technology companies, according to the Journal.

Countries stand to have an advantage if the gear and software they use to get online is made by companies they can trust, the book reportedly argues.

"Where Huawei gains market share, the influence and reach of China grow as well," the Journal quoted the authors as writing.

Despite unscrupulously using Internet technology to its advantage, China will see "some kind of revolution in the coming decades" as citizens armed with digital age gadgets are pitted against tight government controls, the book is said to predict.
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/...d-global-order

[chanlatorre]

The Philippines: IT outsourcing earmarked for growth
Asia | 12 Feb 2013

Although India has long dominated information technology outsourcing (ITO), the Philippines is fast making up ground by carving itself a place as an alternative destination for offshore IT service providers.

Data issued by the Industry Development of the Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology shows that the Philippines has the third-largest pool for IT work in the Asia-Pacific region, while its ITO costs rank among the lowest in the world.

However, while the Philippines is well placed to tap into growing global demand for ITO, analysts say the government will need to increase its support for the sector by improving infrastructure and shifting more focus on to education, if momentum is to be maintained.

Under the government’s IT-Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) roadmap 2011–16 issued in November 2011, the combined sector is forecast to earn up to $25bn in 2016, providing jobs for around 1.3m Filipinos. While BPO will remain the largest contributor in terms of revenue and job creation, ITO is expected to increase its role, with some estimates suggesting it could double its current earnings of around $2bn by 2016.

The progress that the Philippines has made in strengthening its position as a leading ITO destination was evident in a report issued by IT and outsourcing consultancy Tholons, which lists the world’s top 100 ITO hubs each year.

Manila moved up to third place behind Bangalore and Mumbai on the list, replacing Delhi and thus breaking India’s monopoly on the top three spots. The Philippine hub of Cebu City also rose one place to eighth in the rankings, while five of the country’s other centres made it into the top 100.

Joel Mari Yu, managing director of the Cebu Investment Promotions Centre, said on January 16, he believed the city’s strong performance was due in part to its large pool of skilled workers. “Labour availability, especially quality, are among the criteria in selecting these top destinations,” he added. “Tholons believes that one of the best value propositions of an outsourcing destination is its people. Since Cebu is an IT and academic hub in the southern Philippines, Cebuano workers are appealing because many of them can perform complex business tasks.”

While Tholons’ findings suggest that the Philippines is edging towards the targets laid out for the industry in the government’s roadmap, Gregg Victor Gabison, president of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for IT, said more needs to be done if the country is to continue moving upwards in the ITO global rankings.

He said more graduates were required. “We also need an open-minded industry extending its resources to academia and third, we need a government that is facilitative and investment friendly,” Gabison told local media in late January.

Analysts have called for the government to increase spending on infrastructure such as power supplies and communications links, which they say will facilitate and attract further investment in ITO. They have also highlighted the importance of offering more incentives to companies operating in the sector, such as lower income tax rates.

One of the advantages the Philippines ITO sector enjoys over its rivals is its easy access to the US market, bolstered by shared languages and historical and cultural ties. The Philippines’ ITO sector also offers a strong financial incentive for US trade, with costs estimated to be up to 70% lower than those incurred by American firms not outsourcing, according to Salil Dani, practice director at outsourcing advisory and research firm Everest Group.

Dani also highlighted the growth potential that ITO held. “The Philippines’ current IT/IT-enabled service market is $14bn, of which IT is only $2bn. But remember, a few years ago the total market was barely $7bn. Look at the way it’s catching up,” he told the Times of India on January 22.

With continued support, Manila and Cebu are well placed to keep up the pressure on the Philippines’ ITO rivals in the medium term. Their rising status also indicates that while business processing and other outsourcing segments have dominated the sector to date, ITO is fast becoming a major contributor to the economy.

Source: http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/e...rmarked-growth

[spearhead]

[skyscraper2012]

PLDT increases bandwidth capacity
http://www.philstar.com/business/201...width-capacity

Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has boosted its international bandwidth capacity to Hong Kong by more than half with the completion of the fiber optic cable extension project in the $400-million undersea Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE) system.

PLDT president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno said the ASE undersea cable network extension project would increase PLDT’s bandwidth capacity by 67 percent to 250Gbps (gigabits per second) from 150 Gbps of seamless connection to Hong Kong.

He added that the technology could also be upgraded as the demand for bandwidth increases or as needed.

“This extension project further strengthens our network link to Hong Kong, which follows the US as the next most important international point for enterprise, IP networking and Internet traffic. The project also gives our subscribers the fastest and most reliable connections to their loved ones in Hong Kong,” he said.

PLDT’s share in the ASE investment amounts to approximately $55 million while other partners include Japan’s NTTCom, Malaysia’s Telekom Malaysia, and Singapore’s StarHub.

“Our partnership in the ASE cable system also significantly increases our network’s capacity in meeting the growing demand for bandwidth capacity with the increase of data-capable devices,” Nazareno stressed.

Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
The addition of Hong Kong - a major international link for data traffic to and from the Philippines - completes the 7,800-kilometer ASE system. It spans across Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and links the Philippines through PLDT’s new third landing station in Daet, Camarines Norte.

PLDT vice president and international network group head Genaro Sanchez said the ASE system could still be expanded to and is positioned to connect other Asian countries like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Sanchez said the system also provides interconnection to other major cable systems connecting Europe, the Middle East, and the US.

[dc88]

whats the fastest internet in the phils as of now? avail na ba ung fiber optics?

[amigo32]

fibr to home ng PLDT sa piling lugar at 100mbps

[Monchhichi]

Globe completes submarine fiber optic cable in Palawan

MANILA - Globe Telecom on Thursday said it has completed the construction of a 400-kilometer submarine fiber optic cable in Palawan to boost bandwidth for broadband services.

In a statement, Emmanuel Estrada, chief of Globe Network Architect, said the fiber optic inter-island connectivity will bring about a richer mobile experience for Palawan residents, as well as boost travel and tourism, among other businesses.

“The fiber optic cables will ensure that the network in the area is future-proofed, able to serve heavy stream of mobile traffic and on a larger scale, the entire telecommunication services of the area,” he said.

The connection will be equipped with ultra-long haul dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM), designed to transmit 40 wavelengths at 40-gigabits per second (Gbps) capacity per fiber pair, scalable to 100 Gbps per fiber pair.

This translates to 19.2 Terabits per second of capacity, providing more than enough bandwidth to serve transmission requirements at high-speed packet access (HSPA+) and long term evolution (LTE) for high-speed internet surfing, seamless video streaming, fast uploads of photos and videos to social media sites, and a more reliable network for text and voice calls.

The new fiber optic is part of Globe's $700 million nationwide modernization initiative, which will replace existing SDH microwave equipment with fiber optic technology and DWDM system as the main transport backbone.

The cable rollout forms part of Globe's fiber optic footprint, now at 27,000 kilometers spanning the archipelago — from Aparri to the Zamboanga region.

This landing was simultaneously rolled out with the Southeast Asia-Japan international submarine cable system in Nasugbu, Batangas.

In late November 2012, a similar fiber cable facility was installed in Boracay, connecting the island resort with the rest of the archipelago.

InterAksyon.com is the online news portal of TV5, a member of the PLDT group, Globe's main rival in the telco space.
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/...ble-in-palawan

[Monchhichi]

Twitter debuts 'Twttr' premium service

Starting Monday, tweeps may now have to fork over $5 a month if they want to continue using their favorite micro-blogging service with those pesky vowels.

In a blog post, Twitter product for revenue director Kevin Weil said this is part of a new two-tiered system where messages will remain free if they have no a, e, i, o, or u.

"We’re doing this because we believe that by eliminating vowels, we’ll encourage a more efficient and 'dense' form of communication. We also see an opportunity to diversify our revenue stream," he said (http://blog.twitter.com/2013/03/annncng-twttr.html).

The only exception would be the vowels in URLs, which he said "will remain free for everyone, forever."

Also, he said tweeting in non-Latin characters based languages, like Japanese, Chinese, Arabic or Korean remain free.

Weil also said they are offering a single-character extension that will expand a tweet's length to 141 characters —with the price of that one extra character based on a bidding system.

The new service, dubbed "Twttr," will roll out slowly over the next few days, he said.

"We recommend that you practice using only consonants (and 'y') with the hashtag #nvwls (or if you have paid for our premium service, use #icanhasvowels)," he said, adding tweeps can go to Twttr.com to automatically turn tweets into a "Twttr-friendly format."

Of course, tweeps would also do well to check when the announcement came out: Aprl Fl's Dy!
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...remium-service

[-SNPKLSDMBLDR-]

that's an April Fools joke.









also the following from Google.