Posts Tagged with “Malaysia”

Sensationalist Headline of the Year – Berita Mingguan: Blogger Earns RM1 Million

Berita Minggu 23 Jan 2011

The weekend pullout of Berita Harian called Berita Minggu ran a huge headline titled “Blogger untung RM1 juta” which loosely translates as “Blogger earns RM1 million”. Fiona has kindly reproduced the article on her blog.

Pish pash! No mention that blogging is hard work (and not just writing too). No earnings breakdown like Darren Rowse – watch out Darren, I’m gunning for you.

To make money online, you can’t just blog. You need a plan. A business plan. Because a blog that makes money isn’t a hobby, it’s an online business. This is what I’m blogging about at The ClickStarter (it’s stalled for the moment while I’m working on my secret launch..)

Well anyway, that’s the state of blogging in Malaysia – it’s all about the money. Quick, easy money that doesn’t exist.

P.S. Bloggers can’t escape taxes too. See the accompanying story in the sidebar, LOL

Say NO to Malaysia's three strikes law (ISP Liability Act)

The Star star reports that the Recording Industry of Malaysia is pushing for the ISP Liability Act to be tabled in Parliament. This law is the local version of the graduated response approach that recording industry groups, most notably the infamous Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)  has been lobbying for in other parts of the world.

In summary the law would hold Internet Service Providers (ISPs) responsible for acts of copyright infringement or piracy committed by their subscribers. The law is also known as the “three strikes law” because ISPs must issue 2 warnings before cutting off internet access to their subscribers, i.e. three strikes and you’re out.

This is a bad development

I am strongly against this move by the recording industry for the following reasons:

1) Policing copyright infringement is not the job of ISPs. They should be focusing on providing the best internet connectivity so that Malaysians can compete in the internet economy. Malaysian ISPs already have a tough time providing decent internet connection, now you expect them to be the piracy police?

2) Systems that monitor ISP networks for copyright infringement are not foolproof, and generally track users on a per-IP basis. DSLReports highlights a story from the UK about how an ISP highlighted the absurdity of such a system by driving around a city and downloading / pirating copyrighted songs from unprotected WiFi hotspots. They are also expensive and will increase the price of internet access for Malaysians. ISPs in New Zealand who also have a similar law are not happy about it.

3) The consumer’s rights are eroded because of a lack of due process. Because the ISP want to avoid getting fined, they may tend to be a little too trigger happy when disconnecting their users. In other countries e.g. France where similar laws have been enacted, consumers have been falsely labeled as music pirates and disconnected. After being cut off by their ISP, they face a difficult battle to subscribe to a new ISP because they have been blacklisted.

4) There are no good alternatives for consumers to download music legally in Malaysia. The truth is that the Malaysian recording industry doesn’t want you to download. In today’s day and age where almost every mobile phone can play music, they would rather you buy old-fashioned CDs. What online music download service is supported by the Malaysian recording industry? I don’t believe there are any. Please let me know in the comments if you do. With a lack of choice of legal alternatives, is it a surprise that many opt for the simple way to get music online?

The ISP Liability Act isn’t about preventing piracy, it’s about maintaining old business models for the recording industry

There are other, more effective ways to prevent piracy. Reduce the price of music. Offer affordable, legal alternatives. Put the consumer’s interest before the recording industry. Don’t cripple the digital files that you do offer with DRM. These are just some suggestions off the top of my head.

And stepping even further back, there has been no hard evidence that proves “illegal online downloads have been cannibalising the legitimate sales of music, worldwide”.

I DO NOT condone piracy

My intention is not to promote piracy and illegal copyright infringement. I am merely highlighting the flaws of this proposed law and advocate consumer rights.

I feel that Malaysian internet users should do something to express our dissatisfaction and make our views heard about this proposed law before it goes into effect. Any ideas? Do let me know in the comments.

Related reading

See the comments on No more illegal downloads? at Daily Chilli

New Straits Times: Pirated DVD buyers let off

Niki Cheong: Will the real pirates please stand up?

Maybank puts its users squarely in the driver's seat with M2U 2.0

One of the projects I’ve had the opportunity to work on in AGENDA is the launch of the new Maybank2u.com, dubbed M2U 2.0.

M2U 2.0 homepage. You like?

M2U 2.0 homepage. You like? And works in Safari too!

These past couple of weeks I had been helping to organise an Exclusive Preview of the new site for selected bloggers. The Exclusive Preview took place this past Monday at Delicious @ Marc Residence in KL.

Despite running around like a headless chicken for most of the night–I was so busy!–I had lots of fun. I managed to finally meet a lot of bloggers and friends that I’ve gotten to know through their blogs and Twitter like LiewCF, David Lian and Erna.

Maybank is my company’s client, but I’m a Maybank2u user and so here’s my take on M2U 2.0. Read More »

Advertlets, you are fired

Advertlets keeps on getting bad press. 

iPhone 3G on Maxis..?

hmm..? link

SocialRank: The Discovery Engine for the Blogosphere

Powered by SocialRankIn a few hours, a host of portals powered by will be unleashed on to the blogosphere. SocialRank is an algorithm that monitors millions of blogs of a topic and determining the hottest posts of the day by monitoring the attention of the blogosphere. Basically, its Digg + del.icio.us + Technorati all rolled into one, happening automatically and democratically via an advanced mathematical algorithm. SocialRank has the potential to be one of the greatest technologies of the internet since Google’s PageRank.

To see an example portal powered by SocialRank, check out Malaysia DailyVoices which aggregates blog posts from across Malaysia and picks out the most attention grabbing ones. For a full list of the 30 portals launching on 1 Oct, check out the SocialRank website.

SocialRank is the product of MindValley, an internet startup based in Malaysia. Yep, SocialRank is a made-in-Malaysia product. A few months ago I had the opportunity to visit MindValley and meet up with their founders who shared with me some of their plans for SocialRank. I wish them all the best because while I love sites like Digg that help us find interesting news online, I think there’s lots of evidence to suggest that it can be gamed easily. I like MindValley’s approach because they make use of a super smart algorithm, and we all loved the algorithm-powered Google don’t we?

Edited 1 Oct for accuracy. 

Congratulations Exabytes!

Here’s a quick shout out to my web host Exabytes who won a prize in the Emerging SME category for the 2007 Golden Bull Awards. 

I’ve found Exabytes to provide great value and good service. Definitely one of the better web hosts in Malaysia. Keep up the great work and keep my sites up and running smoothly please!

e-KL: please get certified

The Star featured a pull-out today on e-KL, the Malaysian Government’s attempt at an e-Government initiative. The initiative is being spearheaded by MAMPU, the Malaysian Administrative, Modernisation and Management Planning Unit.

“The public will now only need their mouse to navigate through government websites to run their daily official needs,” proclaimed The Star.

Wow, I thought. Maybe Malaysia would really be able to pull off its “no wrong door” policy after all. And since there was some official business I was planning to conduct at a government agency soon, I thought I would give this e-KL a try.

Here’s what I got:

egov-cert.jpg

Same thing on IE.

egov-cert-ie.jpg

Try again, MAMPU. If you can’t even get the proper security certificates for your servers I’m not going to have the confidence to conduct my official needs online.

Exabytes Photo Gallery Contest

blogjunkie.net’s webhost, Exabytes, is holding 2 contests in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th Independence. They’re looking for the Best Photo and Best Photo Gallery of Malaysia’s tourist destinations. Check out more details on the contest page.

TM revenue target

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) is aiming to achieve a revenue of RM18.1 billion this year, up 10.36% from RM16.4 billion last year. It said in a statement that revenue growth was expected to be largely driven by its international operations in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and its domestic mobile operations. (Source: The Edge).

This follows a partnership agreement with Verizon Business last week to build an IP hub in Cyberjaya, which will hopefully improve TM Streamyx’s performance.

I’m waiting to see how you do, TM.