racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

They say the next logical step in the evolution of operating systems (if there ever is such a process) is bringing it online. There have been various steps taken toward this end, such as companies coming out with online versions of common Desktop tools, such as word processors, spreadsheets and notepad applications.

ajaxWindows does more, by actually offering a desktop-like interface on your Web browser, consolidating most of today’s popular Web-based apps. It even a media player one can use online!

Ron Miller says the people behind this nifty site might actually get to market their “online OS” soon.

There’s a lot to like there, but conceptually it’s mind-boggling because if you can put the whole OS on the internet, it changes the whole way we interact with and use our computers. The likes of Microsoft (and its high prices) become, dare I say, irrelevant. Of course, there is the entire matter of a business model and it’s not clear what that is. According to the About page on the ajax13 web site they are in fact a software development company, which would suggest they hope to make money from this venture. How they do that isn’t completely clear to me.

Of course in this logical progression of things (i.e., then vs. now being desktop-based vs. online-based computing), the new battlefront would be on the browser arena. Let’s not talk thin clients for now, since I think that’s too drastic.

I don’t see Internet-based OSes as being too mainstream too soon, especially given bandwidth considerations (particularly in my country), and given the marketing and lobbying power of the software giants (this means you, Microsoft). However, apps like ajaxWindows look like small steps in the right direction.

Yesterday I put up a short commentary about the Boy Bastos (literally translates to lewd boy or rude boy, depending on context) issue. I just breezed through the links, and didn’t really read in-depth. I’ve decided to revisit this issue, with a more objective perspective.

Let me highlight the press release published in the Philippine Senate’s official website.

Sure, the press release itself is lacking, in terms of having a grasp of the actual concepts behind the sites and applications involved. For instance, the Boy Bastos site was referred to as providing “access to a YouTube,” (emphasis mine) as if YouTube were an object itself. However, the ratonale behind the whole thing is noble, I would think (if a bit misguided).

Senator Loren Legarda is known to be a staunch advocate of women’s rights. And it is for this reason, among others, I believe, that she is popular among her constituents (she topped in the Senate elections in 2001 and 2007). True enough I, for one, would definitely want to protect my wife and kids from the dangers that lurk around the corner. And I’m pretty sure other people would feel this way.

Legarda is author of Senate Bill 1375, the proposed Anti-Computer Pornography Act, which seeks to reinforce the war on electronic smut.

Under the bill, peddlers of online porn and other “indecent materials” would be punished with up to six years in prison or a fine of as much as P500,000, or both.

The bill provides that it would be illegal for any remote computer facility operator, electronic service provider or electronic bulletin board service provider to knowingly transmit, offer or attempt to send any communication that contains indecent material, to a person under 18 years of age.

It would also be unlawful for them “to allow access to transmit indecent material to a minor.”

However, in terms of proposing legislation, the Internet is a difficult thing to handle. It’s like a two-pronged tongue. It’s like beauty and the beast in the same person (or Jekyll and Hyde?).

The Internet is a powerful tool and medium that espouses and personifies freedom of information. This is freedom both as in free beer and freedom as in free speech. This means information is both free to get, and free for you to disseminate and distribute, as you please.

So with the Internet, the flow of information is largely unrestricted. People exchange ideas freely. People communicate faster. This is the very reason that some regimes try to curb, censor and even ban this medium—for the very reason that they fear dissent among their citizens. In most cases, the Internet still prevails.

However, along with the beauty of freedom comes the ugly side (which is also a profitable side, depending on your perspective). Pornography has been known to be a driver of technology, and along with the freedom of information that the Internet gives us is also the freedom to transmit less desirable content and information (again, desirability is subjective).

So the question now is how to combat the evils brought about by this new medium, like exploitation of women, children, and individuals in general, but still keeping in mind that the Internet is a different animal that cannot be contained by space.

Here’s what I propose

• Educate your kids on the dangers of the Internet. Teach them not to share personal and private information online. Teach them not to haphazardly post photographs online. Teach them to only talk to trusted people online. Teach them to be responsible with what they read and watch online.
• Educate parents (most important!). Teach them how to use the Internet themselves; I’m aware most kids today are more tech-savvy than their folks. Teach parents about the benefits and the dangers of the online world. Teach them how to cope with the dangers, without necessarily having to curtail their children’s freedoms.
• Educate lawmakers, law enforcers and their staff. Teach them how to handle the Internet as an entity. It cannot be contained by space or geography. Unless data itself resides on servers within a country’s soil, it may be difficult to prosecute within one’s jurisdiction. Help them keep up to date with the trends and issues.
• Teach lawmakers and law enforcers how to handle the Internet as a medium. Can ISPs be held liable for serving access to pirated content? What about pornographic content? Can social media apps be held liable for questionable content that its users upload? Can blogs be liable for comments made by readers? It’s just like blaming the telephone company when you receive undesirable messages like death threats.
• Teach respect. Earn respect.
• Actively promote productive use of the Internet as a medium.

I would think the best way to keep people from engaging in illicit activities (crime, immorality, etc.) is to effect changes from within. Society’s ills cannot be solved by imposing expectations without first ensuring that the people’s attitudes are in tune with what society thinks is right. This would be unrealistic.

I think there are two ways by which you can make people follow you. One is if they fear you, and another is if they love you. Imposing a reign of fear will sure curb or minimize whatever undesirable acts, but this will only foster dissent (and deep down inside, people will want to disobey). Focus on the positive, and people will do what you think is right because they also think it is right.

If you try to impose filters on your home computer or network, so that your teenaged sons cannot access porn, they will only find workarounds and get access to these through other means. Perhaps they can tunnel through proxies. Perhaps they can turn off the filters themselves. Perhaps they can still gain access at a friend’s place, or a public terminal. Or maybe they can get hard copies of lewd magazines pretending to be men’s lifestyle mags). But if you help them learn about the sacredness of sex and the beauty of the human body (of course, in an interesting and non-boring way), I don’t think they will resort to pornography.

Same goes with your daughters. Teach them to be confident with themselves and to be smart, and they will be less likely taken advantage of (by the teenaged boys whose parents impose filters and restrictions ).

Why they need people like us

And so folks, here’s the reason why our country—and those in power—need people like us. We are well-versed with new media like social media, blogging, podcasting, Web 2.(insert number here). And we are well aware of the potentials of the Internet as a medium, both for good and for bad. It is our responsibility to use this medium for good, and to guide our fellow citizens in using this medium in a productive manner.

So whichever side of the issue you stand on, I think you would agree with me on this.

The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity. – John Dewey

There’s a cabinet reshuffling over at the Blog Herald. My fellow problogger Abe Olandres has recently stepped down as Editor of the Blog Herald, and will be exchanging positions with Tony Hung, erstwhile Assistant Editor. Abe cites personal problems that prevent him from giving the Herald more attention at this time.

My recent personal issues/problems have slowed me down tremendously. A death in the family, legal troubles and more- all have piled up on me so quickly that I have been barely able to focus on my work. So I am glad that Tony accepted this role willingly and on such short notice. I will still be around, sometimes writing, but more on the back-end of things and I will continue to help Tony run the site. There’s still so much to do around here, as you know. Amongst other things, we’re getting a few more people into the writing team.

Abe tells me that he’s already spent so much because of the legal problems that it’s taking a toll on his finances. I’m not really sure I can discuss details of the case here, but believe me—it’s really quite stupid. Here’s how Abe describes it.

I run a fairly small start-up web hosting here in the Philippines. One of our former clients runs a forum that we used to host. Several members of that forum were throwing vindictives against a their former employer. That employer sent us a demand letter thru their law firm demanding that we terminate the site or be charged with libel as well. The client moved out from us the following day. However, the employer/complainant has now filed several libel law suits against us claiming that we are the owner of the domain and the operator of the site. The site is still up and running though hosted somewhere else, the domain was also transferred away from us. Still, the complainant is alleging we should have enforced some sort of regulations or control over the content when it was still with us.

Apparently, all they wanted is money and this case is just of one of their many business gigs.

If you ask me, I’d say that’s plain harassment. But you know how it is here in the Philippines. Corruption and inefficiency can be found in many parts of government (I should know, I was with government for quite some time). And the judicial system is probably not too prepared in handling such high tech cases yet. Court cases can take years to finish and in the end having to pay lawyers’ retainers, appearance fees and other miscellany (including suhol perhaps?) will be the real killer.

In line with this, some regular readers of the Herald suggested that we help out Abe with his expenses by setting up a legal fund. After all, this is a case where online publications are involved. And this could happen to any blogger (I’ve heard of bloggers in other countries being sued because of comments that readers have posted).

We’ve set up a Xoom link where you can send in funds: https://www.xoom.com/pay/26999757 . Xoom accepts any amount from $25 to $2,500. For smaller amounts, you can send paypal to theblogherald (at) gmail (dot) com.

Mark of Splashpress Media has also given an incentive to contributing:

Let’s try this: for the first 10 x $100 contributions made via the paypal that Angelo mentioned – theblogherald (at) gmail (dot) com – you’ll get a link in “friends” for the rest of 2007. Just specify the link & text you want with the payment.

It’s like an über-discounted advertising rate. But it’s better since you get to help out someone in the process.

We should show our support for Abe, and express outrage at how people can take advantage of individuals like this. In the end, it’s not just about the money. It’s about principle.

One of the benefits of blogging for advocacy is the attention one gets from the movers and shakers. My being part of the PayPal for the Philippines campaign has caught the attention of execs in the electronic payments industry, as well as business owners who are into e-commerce (either planning to start selling online, or already have ongoing e-commerce setups). In fact, whenever I attend EBs and blogger get-togethers I’m usually referred to as the PayPal guy. It’s good to be identified with something.

I had dinner—and a few beers—with the top honchos of YES Payments last night to discuss the possibility of their offering P2P e-payment facilities in the country. This is my second meeting with them, so far, and it was great that we were able to exchange ideas freely. I related the needs of the freelance/problogger/developer community in the country, and they told us about the issues that e-payment providers continually face in the line of their doing business.

It’s All About Risk!

The foremost concerns of any business doing e-payments are security and fraud. When money is involved, there is always the chance of one party defrauding another party, or one party defrauding the system itself. So there is always risk. And the issue is determining which party bears the risk, for the system to work. In some cases, it’s the seller that bears the risk. In some, it’s the operator of the e-payment facility.

Fraud can be perpetrated a number of ways.

• Buyer uses stolen card/card details. Card owner disputes. Chargeback is paid (paid back by seller). If the seller has already sent the goods, it’s his loss.
• Seller does not send the goods or goes under. Card owner disputes. Chargeback is paid by the facility. It’s the facility’s loss.
• Buyer uses legitimate card to pay for transaction. Seller sends the goods. Buyer receives the goods, but claims otherwise. Buyer files a dispute. Seller pays chargeback thru the facility. It’s the seller’s loss.

There are even more ways—don’t get any ideas from me! The point is that there are loopholes that can be exploited. So there the system has to consider the trust factor.

For the most part, dealing with the risk is a big headache to the e-payment facility because of regulatory requirements. I never realized that the banking system asks so much of these companies—there are big guarantees, there are limitations, and there are requirements for compliance with several laws, both local and international. And even the card companies like Mastercard and Visa require a lot, such as security of transactions, regular auditing and subscription costs—something in the range of $15,000 per year (or is it monthly?), which, while affordable to big companies, can be a steep amount for small players.

Social Engineering

On top of these risks, there is one difficulty faced by e-payment businesses particularly in countries like the Philippines without a strong judicial system. Fraud is not so difficult to detect. YES cites cases where fraudulent transactions were flagged, but allowed to push through so the perpetrators can be caught in the act. The problem is once the criminals were caught, the inefficient and corrupt judicial system was not capable of warranting adequate punishment.

Hence, perpetrators can expect be let go with just a slap on the wrist. I can also imagine cases where either the judges or the police personnel could be bribed.

We come back to the issue of risk. E-payment facilities may not be so keen on setting up shop here because they know the risk of fraud is high. Even worse, the risk of fraud not being properly addressed by the law is even a bigger threat. Fraud can be minimized if the legal system is good enough to be a deterrent to people planning to commit crime. But if one knows the system can be gamed, then people will go lie, cheat and steal their way to getting a fast buck.

A Problem of Circularity

So which came first? The chicken or the egg? (Sorry for using a cliché—it sucks, I know.)

I earlier made a bold claim that having good e-payment facilities here in the country—particularly PayPal—would be beneficial to the Philippine economy. However, it turns out that most players (probably PayPal included) would only be open to servicing the country if they can be mitigate or minimize the risks of fraud.

Perhaps for large players like PayPal it’s a bit easier. For small players, it could be a challenge.

Facilities for SMEs and Individuals

YES is considering opening a facility for P2P transactions for the purpose of business and commerce. While they don’t have such a system in place right now, they do have YES Payments for SMEs and YES Pinoy for remittance. None of these services can be used by individuals like myself for receiving payments for goods or services rendered, though. YES Payments works for businesses (well, this does not preclude individuals or groups of individuals from registering as a business). YES Pinoy, meanwhile works for P2P transactions between people with existing relationships—you have to prove you’re related to the person sending money, whether he/she is a family member, relative or friend.

I had been mentioning existing services that could do P2P, like Xoom, which fellow problogger Abe has been recommending, and which I’ve also been using. YES is positioning itself as a strong player in the country because of its presence and support. They actually do have an office here, and they do accept support calls. I think that’s an advantage. I actually tried calling Xoom support once thru their 1-800 number, but since they’re based in California, their office hours are quite off when calling from the Philippines.

What’s Next

If—and once—YES gets their planned P2P service up and running anytime soon, would there be people willing to be part of a test group? Just tell me, so we can make the necessary arrangements.

As for PayPal for the Philippines, it’s a continuing advocacy. PayPal may have already set up here, but it’s still very limited. We can only use the service to pay or send money online, and not receive (not even to load up the account). We’re still pushing for full functionality. If you have not yet signed up, please do so. We would also appreciate any support (such as linking to us and/or displaying our banners).

I’ve been offline since the morning of Thursday, September 28th, 2006 due to the typhoon Milenyo. Our power was cut off 7:00 a.m. and the phone line came down a few hours after that. I just heard this evening that the power and DSL connection are already up, so I can hopefully be able to get online later this evening. I’m just checking up my email inbox to see if I missed anything important.

Isulong SEOPH

I’m at Ortigas, by the way, having some coffee and dessert in the aftermath of the Isulong SEOPH contest awarding. Our entry placed fifth!

Too bad we didn’t get to win the iPod Nano raffled off, though.

The crowd at the awarding wasn’t the usual blog meetup crowd. Well, okay, it was about 50% of the bloggers’ crowd, and the other half comprised the SEO people who were (likely) not really into blogging.

I’ll write about this later on, with some pics to boot. Right now, I’ll be enjoying a cup of coffee and some cake with my lovely wife.

(Just had to get online after three days’ being off the grid.)

Update: No power again!

Looks like I spoke (or wrote) too soon. Only a few hours after power was restored, it’s down again in our area. Must be some transformer that overloaded. Am now on battery connecting via dialup (trying to get in touch with Meralco via their website, but to no avail!). Sigh.