Copyright&Censorship

C
  • Here’s one thing that’s already changed post GE14
    In 2015, I was invited to a variety program on Astro to talk about cybersecurity. This was just after Malaysian Airlines (MAS) had their DNS hijacked, but I was specifically told by the producer that I could NOT talk about the MAS hack, because MAS was a government linked company, and they couldn’t talk bad about ...
  • #PotongSteam
    I haven’t blogged in a while because I’m busy studying (yes, studying) for my OSCP certification. But what happened over the week, was just to mind-blowingly stupid to ignore. Here’s what happened…. A Taiwanese company released a game titled Fight of Gods, which as the name implies, has Gods fighting among themselves. But the developers didn’t ‘just’ use ...
  • Facebook giving China a censorship tool?
    The New York Times reported this week that Facebook has ‘quitely developed’ a censorship tool, specifically for the Chinese government to suppress content on their platform. The piece writes: “the social network quietly developed software to suppress posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific geographic areas, according to three current and former Facebook employees, ...
  • Anonymity and IP addresses
    This week, I’ll put the final touches on my move from Malaysia to Singapore. So, I felt it would a good idea to read through some Singaporean tech articles to see how tech events played out on the little red dot, and offer some unsolicited  and completely useless advice on them. It wasn’t easy shifting through a boat-load ...
  • The Internet is slow because of illegal downloads
    Let’s start with the quote that set off the rage in my heart— “You can see today that our Internet is slow. Not because it itself is slow but because a lot of people are using it,” he said The government agency chief blamed this on illegal downloads hogging Internet bandwidth here, adding that this does not ...
  • Hate Speech is defined by private companies
    You don’t have a right to freedom of speech. Obviously true if you’re Malaysian, but even Americans only enjoy a liberty in freedom of speech and not an absolute right. The difference is clear, liberties are protections you have from the government, while rights are something you have from everyone. So if someone threatened your right to live, ...
  • Court rules Hacking Team documents still confidential
    Under the current hype of the FBI ordering Apple to ‘install backdoors’ on their iPhones, a bit of interesting news seems to have slid under the radar. A court in Singapore ruled that e-mails from the Hacking Team breach, published by the hacker Phineas Fisher via a torrent download, and available freely on Wikileaks–were still confidential ...
  • Keith’s on BFM Talking about spyware–again!!
    Today, I was on BFM talking about Hacking Team, the audio for which is below, and more comments and thoughts below that. Your browser does not support native audio, but you can download this MP3 to listen on your device.    This is my last ditch attempt to get a conversation started about the use of surveillance software by ...
  • Netflix is setting back Piracy and Security
    Malaysian rejoiced last month when Netflix announced that they would be coming to our shores. We were all salivating over the massive amount of content we would finally have access too…except that it wasn’t so massive. Malaysia would enjoy less than 20% of what was available to Netflix users in the US or even in the UK, ...
  • Medium blocked: Collateral Censorship vs. Collateral Freedom
    So the buzz around twitter is that Medium.com has been blocked by the Malaysian Authorities, and guess what? It’s true. It was expected, after all Medium is where the ‘infamous’ Clare Rewcastle Brown uploads her articles to circumvent censorship of her own site, the equally diabolical SarawakReport.org. Medium is like twitter without the character limits, and it’s ...
  • Block This!!
    A notice posted on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) Facebook page said the decision was made to block websites that “promote, spread information and encourage people to join the Bersih 4 demonstration“, on grounds that this will “threaten national stability”. I cannot then tell you to join Bersih and call for free and fair ...
  • Our Communication Minister must be mistaken
    Our newly appointed Communication Minister has come out all guns blazing in directing the The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to ask social media giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter soon to block “false information and rumours” on their platforms. That in itself is quite frustrating, but what really got me scratching my head was ...
  • TM blocking SarawakReport
    Sarawakreport, a website covering sensitive political topics in Malaysia was blocked today by the countries most prominent ISP, Telekom Malaysia (TM). Internet users using TM’s Domain Name Server (DNS) reported that the website was inaccessible, and I’ve confirmed that is an intentional block by TM. Here’s a quick primer on DNS. The internet works on this marvelous ...
  • Censorship and Freedom
    What’s the price of falling in love? What are the consequences of being head over heels, mindless crazy in love with someone? I would say the price of falling in love is the possibility of getting hurt. Sometimes the person you fall in love with doesn’t love you back–and that can cause significant emotional pain and grief. ...
  • The one reason you should oppose the TPP
    Today I attended an Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) event about the TPP. Among the panel members, included Michael Froman, the US trade representative and chief advisor to President Obama on issues of International Trade and Investment. (big shot!!) For those you don’t know, the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) agreement is a trade deal between 12 countries including ...
  • The Snowden Revelations
    It’s now almost two years on, since that fateful day at the Mira Hotel in Hong Kong when Edward Snowden divulged secret NSA documents detailing unlawful and on-going spying programs carried out in the name of security. Sure we knew the government had ‘a’ spying program, and we’ve all seen Hollywood movies with fictional technology that allowed governments ...
  • The day they censored me
    Last week was a pretty exciting week for me–it was my first time on TV. A TV show called VBuzz that was hosted on a Astro Channel 231 called me to be a guest to talk about Cyber Security, obviously I make it point to try new things and let’s be honest….how many of you would ...
  • Malaysian Government Hacked Environmental website?
    Environment News Service, an environmental focused news website this week accused Malaysian government hackers of attacking it after it ran a story implicating Sarawak governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud of corruption and graft. As a result, the site was down for 2-hours, before the site manage to re-gain control. “The attack on our site came from a Malaysian ...
  • Is illegal downloading considered stealing?
    There’s a general perception that illegal downloads of movies, music or books is akin to stealing the works of the artist, singers and authors. But downloads are more akin to trespassing than it is stealing–they’re nothing like stealing and if you take some time off to think about it, you’d figure this out too. When you ...
  • CheDet on Censorship
    Tun Dr. Mahathir now says he’s change his mind about internet censorship. To quote him “Not knowing the power of the Internet, I promised that we (speaking as the Prime Minister of Malaysia) would not censor it. But today I have changed my mind.” Of course, everyone has a right to change their mind–but in this ...
  • Youtube Video flagged as inappropriate
    Last week one of my most popular videos detailing how I hacked Unifi accounts was ‘flagged’ as inappropriate in YouTube–apparently it was in violation of their community guidelines. As such my video was made unavailable and essentially deleted from Youtube. I was upset. The email I received from YouTube, gave no indication as to what I did wrong, ...
  • 3 Ways to watch Netflix from Malaysia
    Netflix is awesome. I watch it everyday, and while the selection is dated–it’s still pretty good. If you needed proof for just how good it is–32% of all internet traffic in the US, belongs to Netflix. There’s two problems though. First, it isn’t free, and cost about Rm30 month. Not really and issue since Rm30 on Netflix ...
  • The right to be forgotten
    The truth is we all have something to hide–secrets we wished the world would never know. A political stance we once had, a video of ourselves after too many drinks, or even just a sentence we once uttered at a party somewhere. If you think you’ve got nothing to hide–you should think harder. So, when European Court ...
  • Kevin Spacey doesn’t like Indian Pirates: But are they really pirates?
    “House of Cards is really big in India, I discovered,” Spacey told reporters at the International Indian Film Academy Awards which took place in Tampa, Floria – the first time they’ve been held in America. “Except isn’t it funny that Netflix doesn’t exist there yet. Which means that you’re stealing it.” I’m gonna be honest ...
  • Internet Censorship is an invasion of privacy
    With the on-going debacle about the Kangkung saga dying down, I thought it would be a good opportunity to write specifically about internet censorship and its implications to ordinary Malaysian citizens. As you may well know, many Malaysia Netizens reported of difficulty accessing one particular post of the BBC website that dealt with the Kangkung ...
  • 10 Things you need to know about kangkung censorship
    Internet users in Malaysia were reporting issues trying to access a specific page on the BBC UK website that was a hilarious post making fun of our ‘beloved’ Prime Ministers Kangkung remarks. Apparently the issue became so bad, that users took to social media –only to find that they were not alone. In fact, so ...
  • Open letter to Tun Dr. M on internet censorship
    Dear Tun, First and foremost, let me start by telling you that I truly admire and respect your contribution to Malaysia. I remember shaking your hand when you attended my Convocation quite some many years ago. It was quite odd to see that while you were present, you didn’t give a speech, simply because you attended ...
  • The quality of censorship: The God Delusion in Malaysia
    I try to keep this blog focused on technology, but every once in a while the urge to veer off topic gets the better of me. The recent state of Malaysia has been one of paranoia and hyper-sensitivity. It seems that not a day goes by without a report of someone somewhere or ‘challenging’ the ...
  • Mahathir censored on facebook
    Quick, try this. Head over to your facebook page, and try to share a link from Mahathirs website, www.chedet.cc. Can’t do it? You most probably got a warning that looked something like this: This has been going on for some time, but a couple of days ago, the Malaymail reported that not only is the website blocked, but ...
  • Why Dato’ Sri Shabery Really wants to censor the internet
    The social media in Malaysia is being monitored and existing laws are sufficient to weed out troublemakers trying to test the limits of free speech, Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said today… “The laws that we make are not to defend the party alone – that’s wrong,” Ahmad Shabery, who is also an ...
  • Internet Censorship won’t work in Malaysia
    Why shouldn’t Malaysia censor the internet? Of late, the recent cases involving a certain pair of ‘sex’ bloggers and their ilk have prompted certain parties to call for more stringent regulations of the internet, but I for one think that we need to ensure that the internet remain free and un-censored–now more than ever. So why ...
  • Using Captchas on cybertroopers and botnets
    Last week I wrote about the ‘rigged’ EDGE poll, that the EDGE had to eventually take down because they suspected someone was trying to bias the results. It was later revealed that a handful of IP addresses were responsible fro the bulk of the votes–presumably the fake ones. An IP address defines a unique internet ...
  • Maxis and TM Fair Usage Policies : Are they fair?
    Every six months, the great people over at Sandvine release their Global Internet Phenomenon report, which seeks to make sense of global internet traffic across the different regions of the world, and every six months I learn a lot from just gleaning through it. For instance most of the traffic in the US continues to ...
  • What is PRISM?
    There’s a controversy brewing in the land of the free, one that will have implications for Americans, but also Malaysians and nearly every citizen of the world. We may look back at the moment Mr. Snowden leaked controversial (and ugly) slides about a program called ‘PRISM’ as the start of a pivotal moment in internet ...
  • What the TPP says about copyright
    Great animation from the EFF on the draconian nature of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement with respect to Copyright laws: For more info on the TPP and why we focus primarily on the copyright sections, check out this summary from tppinfo.com
  • Can you out-tech the government?
    Over the past years we’ve seen a recurrent theme where Government agencies were attempting to curtail internet freedom in the name of ‘keeping the peace’. From Saudi telcos threatening security experts to help them hijack tweets to governments procuring tools like Finspy to spy on their citizens–usually without any warrant or legal oversight. We’ve seen ...
  • Should we learn from China?
    I’m truly anxious at the recent rhetoric about ‘regulating’ of the internet, and fear the worst. I grew up with the internet and like to think we made a journey together, from my high school days where dial-up internet was the norm, to the blazing fast broadband I have now–things have change a lot for ...
  • Maxis blocks Torrent traffic
    There’s a really cool tool called glasnost, that can easily detect if your ISP is throttling certain traffic through its servers. It works amazingly well at detecting if your ISP is blocking that most sacred of all internet traffic–BitTorrent. So running two test, one over my Unifi connection, and one more tethered over my Galaxy S3 ...
  • The Malaysian cybertrooper phenomenon or is it Botnet?
    The Edge recently held a political poll on whether Anwar Ibrahim should quit as the Opposition leader–But when the editor begun to see that the one-week survey attracted 12,736 responses and the responses were overwhelmingly one-sided, she smelt something fishy. Upon further checking with the IT team, they found that 6,354 of the responses came from one ...
  • DAP lodges report with MCMC over blocked sites
    Two days ago, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) lodge a report to the MCMC on an ‘internet blockade’ targeting DAP related political websites that was allegedly being carried out by Telekom Malaysia (TM). As you may know TM is the largest ISP in Malaysia, and if TM suddenly blocks a website–a large chunk of the Malaysian public ...
  • Microsoft is eavesdropping on your skype conversations
    The guys over at H-online reported recently that they have some pretty good evidence that good ol’ Microsoft is eavesdropping onto your Skype conversations, and the results are pretty damning. The method for detecting those sneaky little eavesdroppers was pretty ingenious though. The researchers sent two urls in their skype messages to each other. The urls ...
  • Freedom vs. Security : Papagomo arrested
    Bruce Schneier, whom I respect tremendously, points out that freedom and security are opposing ends of the same spectrum, people balance out freedom and security based on what they perceive. In other words, people would sacrifice their freedoms if they thought they needed more security. A way to think about this, is the amount of Gated and ...
  • Top 4 ways to access blocked sites
    Here’s some quick tips on how to access blocked sites in Malaysia that is blocked by the ISP (Telekom, Maxis, Time..etc etc). Currently the ISPs in Malaysia are throttling and filtering specific traffic to websites like Malaysiakini, Facebook and even Youtube. Just in case, things get nasty post-election day, I thought I’d quickly put together ...
  • Censoring and spying–Malaysian Style
    In 2 days time, the South-East Asian nation of Malaysia will go through its 13th General Election since 1955. Some might look negatively on the number 13, but for the vast majority of Malaysians the coming few days will either raise our hopes or shatter them. Malaysia has had only 1 party in power since it’s ...
  • What is Finfisher capable of
    Heard about the latest allegation accusing the Malaysian BN government of using Finfisher on its own Citizens? Well that allegation is true–to me at least, and here’s a taste of what Finfisher can do in the hands of the government.
  • Kerajaan Malaysian Mengintip Rakyat Malaysia sendiri
    Beberapa minggu lalu, saya telah menulis tentang sekeping artikel yang ‘tidak bertanggungjawab’ oleh Malaysian Insider apabila ‘mendakwa’ kerajaan Malaysia mengintip rakyat Malaysia – tanpa sebarang bukti. Saya amat kecewa bahawa wartawan tersebut membuat kenyataan tersebut tanpa apa-apa bukti–apabila menulis blog tersebut saya kecewa dan saya marah! Tetapi yang lebih penting–saya silap! Mengikut laporan dari Citizenlab semalam–sekarang timbulnya ...
  • I’m Sorry, the Malaysian Government IS spying on you
    A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about an ‘irresponsible’ piece of journalism by the Malaysian Insider when the ‘claimed’ the Malaysian government was spying on Malaysian citizens–but they didn’t have any proof. I was very upset that a reporter would make such a bold statement and not back it up with any proof –so ...
  • Telekom Malaysia is censoring the internet prior to GE13
    I’m not a usual fearmonger, or a person who panics easily–yet you friendly local tech evangelist has a warning for Malaysian users out there. Unifi is censoring the internet in the run up to the hotly contested GE1–and that’s what the data suggest. You heard that right folks, some of you suspected all along, and I ...
  • Government Network used to download porn : Privacy is dead
    Just how private are your searches…turns out they aren’t private at all. The wonderful people at Torrentfreak did an amazing piece of investigative journalism today. Upset over the passing of CISPA, they decided to do an internet check on how active the House of Representatives were–on bit torrent. It turns out with a couple of IP ...
  • Malaysiakini goes free from 17th April for GE13
    Got a note from Malaysiakini today, for all you stingy-porkers out there who read all the malaysiakini news reposted by various parties, but never really paid for the subscription–here’s some good news. Malaysiakini will go free from 17th April onwards, to pave the way for MORE adverts (like we didn’t have enough) but also to allow ...
  • Malaysian government using spyware against citizens? No, not really.
    I’ve been pretty busy the past few months, and my post count has been pretty low, and although I just returned from a 2 week trip abroad and am now flushed full of work, I decided to burn a bit of the midnight oil today because the Malaysian Insider completely pissed me off. It all started ...
  • MCMC looking to ‘control’ social media at GE13: A worrying trend
    Bernama (an official government news channel) yesterday reported that the MCMC is “looking at suitable methods to monitor and control the use of social media in the 13th General Election (GE13)“. Deputy Information Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Maglin Dennis D’Cruz said this was “to ensure that the social media would not be abused by irresponsible ...
  • LGBT Movies Ban in Malaysia
    This is a bit of old and stale news, but in April of 2012, the Information Ministry released a ‘directive’ to ban all movies or films that featured gay characters. In their defence, the Ministry did later clarify that their facebook post wasn’t a directive, but a topic for debate. Of course, there can’t be ...
  • Does the government have a right to shut down telecommunications services?
    Press.Tv reports that Pakistan has suspended mobile phone services in several major cities to prevent terror attacks on minority Shia groups as they celebrate the holy month of Muharram. The rationale behind the suspension is that the terrorist use mobile phone services to detonate bombs and as a result the suspension of mobile phone services ...
  • Anonymous downs Israeli web sites to protest web embargo
    In what can be described as a great battle for the freedom of the internet, Anonymous — those self-proclaimed hacktivist — have launched a series of attacks on Israeli websites owned by the Israeli Military or Government. The attacks come in the midst of a huge Israeli offensive on Gaza, but contrary to what ...
  • Evidence Act: Anonymity before the internet
    I read a brilliant article on the Evidence act by Zul Rafique and Partners that I think everyone should read. In it, the author compares the newly amended Evidence Act (supposedly amended to combat the evils of the internet) to a sub-section of the original act meant to look into telegraphs. Now I must admit, ...
  • Auditor-General report 2011 : When can Malaysians expect Transparency in IT spend
    As a tech blog in Malaysia, I thought it’d be interesting to see the latest Auditor-General’s report faired in terms of IT spend from the government. IT spend is a tricky thing, and most don’t understand just how tricky it is, particularly around big IT spend by governments–they often fail. In fact, one of my ...
  • Sumptuous Erotica and Barisan Nasional
    In case you’ve been under a rock for the past week let me fill you on some details: Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee–both Malaysians started a little porn blog called Sumptuous Erotica attracted headlines both in Malaysia and across the causeway. However, unlike other couples who’ve been caught with their pants down before, both Alvin and Vivian ...
  • Software piracy in China : Can the Yankees really complain?
    Did you know the term ‘Yankee’ is thought to be derived from the Dutch name Janke, which means “little Jan” or “little John,” a nickname that can be traced back to the 1680s, when it was used as a slang term for pirates. Yes, you heard that right, the Americans were regarded by the Europeans as ...
  • Apple’s new Slide-To-Unlock patent : Why it doesn’t matter
    Apple was just awarded a 3rd patent for it’s Slide-to-Unlock feature, and while the internet is still abuzz with it, I just fail to see any reason to get excited. Yes, Apple looks to be greedy and is apparently more than happy competing with HTC and Samsung in courtrooms rather than the open market–but we all ...
  • Why Apple is really suing Samsung
    I’m not the biggest fan of Apple, I consistently compare my Galaxy S3 (which is great) to my wifes Iphone 4 (which is not so great). So when I first heard the news that Apple was suing Samsung for a ridiculous amount of money because of things like ‘slide to unlock’, ‘pinch to zoom’  and ...
  • Ban Youtube in Malaysia?
    Rais Yatim a Member of Malaysian Parliament and a Minister in Government, has threatened Youtube with legal action over their refusal to remove the video of Innocence of Muslims. Nevermind the fact that Youtube have tried their level best to restrict access to the video from Malaysian users, and also failing to recognize the fact that ...
  • Censoring Innocence of Muslims in Malaysia
    The Malaysian government has requested that Google take down the video Innocence of Muslims, and Google has since complied. As of today, anyone trying to access the clip from a Malaysian IP address would see a screen that reads “This content is not available in your country due to a legal complaint. Sorry about that.” The ...
  • Evidence Act Technological Misconceptions: A response to Rocky and Fatimah
    The government has finally ‘relented’ and now wants to ‘discuss’ section 114A of the Evidence act 1950. Now it’s great because it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that: 1. The internet can be used for fantastic good. 2. The general Malaysian public can make a difference in the governance of the country. My website also had ...
  • Personal Data Protection Act 2010 Malaysia
    Data is the natural by-product of every computer mediated interaction.  It stays around forever, unless it’s disposed of.  It is valuable when reused, but it must be done carefully.  Otherwise, its after-effects are toxic. – Bruce Scheneier As society moves towards a ‘knowledge’ based society, data naturally becomes a by product. Every action you perform leaves a ...
  • Apple Launches iTunes Store in Malaysia
    Finally… it’s arrived!! It was a long wait since my first iPod, but finally the iTunes has landed in Malaysia. Apple made a rather quite launch of the iTunes Store in Malaysia, meaning the days of logging into iTunes with US accounts and gift card purchases are over. Malaysians now have access to an entire treasure ...
  • Is Dowloading a banned ebook illegal?
    Let’s get straight to the point, the latest case where the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) is prosecuting a store manager is both disgusting and without merit. Not only is she just a Manager carrying out here duties–thereby making the bookstore liable instead of her, but the raid on the bookstore was carried out ...
  • Internet Privacy with TOR: Should the internet be anonymous
    It’s an irony that while the internet was the first place you could create avatars and split personalities to impersonate others, it has now turned into a free for all buffet for private data. I previously shared on how the ads you see on facebook were inherently tied to the Google searches you perform, and ...
  • Watch Netflix, Hulu and even Euro2012 online from Malaysia
    Malaysians have always been deprived of real-time video content online. We’ve no access to Netflix or Hulu, we can’t watch the full episodes of the Jay Leno show online, we can’t watch the BBC replays of the football matches, we can’t even watch videos from TheOnion for crying out loud. Why? because NBC, FOX, Netflix, Hulu, BBC and even ...
  • Netflix accounts for 32% of internet traffic : What it means for pirated content in Malaysia
    Maternity leave has long been plaguing womens career, women would usually take an extended leave and risk falling behind their male counterparts. As an extension to this, employers were also hesitant to hire women (particularly pregnant women) since it meant a legally mandated leave of absence that their male colleagues would never take. Governments have tried to stem ...
  • Black Day for Malaysians : New Evidence Bill Takes effect today
    Today marks a crucial point in the crusade against freedom on the internet in Malaysia. We’ve had SOPA in the US, ACTA in Europe and the TPP has brought the fight closer to our borders. Today in a brilliant tactical move by the enemy of Freedom,  Malaysians will be subjected to an amended evidence act ...
  • Malaysians Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
    To visit the Malaysians against TPP Facebook Page, please click here P. Ramlee was arguably the most influential Malaysian Artist to ever lived. His musical talents and acting ability set him head and shoulders apart from most of his contemporaries, or any other Malaysian Artist from whatever generation. So it was unfortunate, that he left in ...
  • Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement : What is it?
    You may remember a previous post about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement that the Malaysian Government (our Government) is looking to sign under the pretense of protecting intellectual property to  “encourage investments, innovation, research and development.” Read up this article from the star to learn more. Like any other law regarding copyright, this one is complicated ...
  • Kindle in Malaysia : Buying and Using a Kindle in Malaysia
    My wife is an avid reader (just like me!), but she reads mostly fiction where as I read non-fiction. So to save on our book bills which often exceed the RM1000 a year each, I thought it’ll be great to get ourselves an ebook reader. This would not only save us money , because e-books ...
  • Tickets to Russell Peters Live in KL: Here’s how you can get them
    *update: there’s been an announcement that the organizers are setting up a second show due to the huge demand. I’d recommend waiting for that before you start buying 2nd hand tickets. Dissapointed you didn’t get your hands on Russell Peters tickets for the KL show? Upset because you spent the whole night waiting for it, only to ...
  • Russell Peters : A case for copyright
    Update 1: Russell Peters World Tour in Malaysia was sold out in hours. I failed to get a ticket online, couldn’t even log in. A friend of mine lining up in KLCC was told at around 10-ish in the morning that only platinum tickets were available.  Update 2: There are ‘strong’ rumors suggesting there will be ...
  • Lazada : The Amazon clone (and Samwer brothers) finally land in Malaysia
    This blog is about Technology, but in these past few years it’s become impossible to talk about technology without touching on the subjects of copyright and censorship. Very few people have a clear cut definition of what is acceptable copyright infringement and what isn’t. Not too long ago I wrote about how a wordpress theme ...
  • A TED talk to point out the stupidity of Copyright Mathematics
    A great talk by Rob Reid on how copyright numbers are fudged to the point that they stop making sense. From a job loss number that exceeds the total number of jobs the music & movie industry had in the 90’s, to the magical $150,000 number copyright owners claim to lose for every song copied. ...
  • Igor Presnyakov succeeds in getting kickstart-ed
    Now some say he lives in Amsterdam and lives only on cheese,that may be fiction but damnit this guy is the best guitarist I’ve seen. Check out Igor’s rendition of Canon from the youtube embed above and you’ll know what I’m talking about, or just head on over to youtube and check out the countless ...
  • Bypass Unifi blocking and censoring using a DNS switch or VPN connection
    If you’re on Unifi you might have noticed that some sites are blocked and it’s due to government directives to block these sites.  Now that goes against what the Government of Malaysia promised it’s stakeholders during the advent of the MsC, in which it promised to not censor the internet. If you remember, somewhere in August ...
  • More reasons Copyright sucks
    Now for an artist to copyright a song or a piece of work, for that artist to then legally make a living of is fine. It’s not fine if you need to pay royalties to use Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream speech”, because his family own the copyright to a speech that is ...
  • Copyright laws get dumber: Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement
    A recent article from the Star noted that Malaysia was about to sign a new Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that would make subject local copyright laws to those imposed by the US. Now according to the article from the star the purpose of us looking into a stricter Intellectual property law was to “encourage investments, innovation, research and ...
  • Censorship in Malaysia: SOPA told through Malaysian Eyes
    There’s been a recent surge of Anti-SOPA and Anti-PIPA sentiment over in the Unites States, Wikipedia blacked out it’s entire webpage and Google, Twitter and Facebook all joined in the fray. I’ve even received multiple emails from the Mozilla foundation on how to combat SOPA and recent a congratulatory cum Thank you note from Mozilla ...
  • Wikipedia Blacks out for SOPA and How to workaround it
    I’ve posted a couple of post around SOPA and PIPA, and today there was a protest from one of the most web-traffic websites of all — WIKIPEDIA. Wikipedia, today was blacked out to protest SOPA and now you know. Every college student looking to do a term paper, every high school student looking for information on ...
  • SOPA: What Trey Ratcliff and Uri Geller have to say
    Trey Ratcliff is a professional photographer who photographs ooze with talent, he also blogs at stuckincustoms.com. It’s an amazing blog, but what’s even more amazing is that Trey chooses to release his works of art under the creative commons non-commercial license, which has it’s restrictions but allows free usage of the photos as long as ...

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