When The Endless Must End

When it’s time to sit down and begin writing my blog entry, I often find myself stumped – not because there’s nothing to write about, but more really because there are just too many things and issues worth noting and have actually been left in the open for anyone’s two cents’ worth.

So, I was surfing the web today for anything that might catch my fancy. And then it dawned on me. I can type one word into a search engine and get hundreds, thousands, even millions of hits. It seems that the web is not only worldwide, but it’s more endless, an infinite interconnection of ideas, thoughts, knowledge and information.

At the end of the day, however, must we, those privileged enough to be technologically adept, be content with enjoying the fruits of this endless and infinite web when we find a good majority of our country’s population technologically challenged or even illiterate?

The challenge is upon us now. We must not only recognize it, but we must face it head on. And the time to do so is not tomorrow, not someday, but now, when the isolated are at, possibly but not necessarily, still at the minimum.

Alien Nation

The matter of Internet governance evokes a myriad of issues that span policy, the law, business and socio-economic concerns affecting not only individuals but state or non-state actors whose actions inevitably affect activity and regulation of the Internet.

Internet governance is as much a question of social, political and economic realities for state or non-state actors whose activities affect or is affected by matters relating to the internet.

Take for instance the reality that developing or less developed countries are not as active in shaping policy or in raising concerns as developed countries are. It all pretty much boils down to, as usual, economics. They who have more resources at their disposal have the bigger say and therefore wield more power.

Indeed, despite the caveat that some things should be left as it is, the efforts of the United Nations and other international bodies seeking to firm up internet governance reflect good intentions. However, the direction of such efforts need to be equally geared for the benefit of other nations as well as those of developed ones. Otherwise, it will lead to oppression and will only subvert its objectives.

Convergence PART II

Before anything else, I stand corrected about the 2 Senate Bills on Convergence Policy, there are more. The ones I found are as follows: House Bill No. 3940 (2001 – Imee Marcos), Senate Bill No. 433 (30 June 2004 – Sergio Osmena III), Senate Bill No. 1796 (21 September 2004 – Ramon Magsaysay, Jr.), Senate Bill No. 608 (3 July 2007 – Jinggoy Estrada), and Senate Bill No. 2145 (26 March 2008 – Antonio Trillanes IV). There might be more out there though. As far as I can tell, none of them have been passed. Let me know if I’m wrong.

Anyway, back to business. Convergence is the merging of currently separate streams of data (video, audio, data info) into a single stream. So what, right? Well, since Convergence has developed into this neat information superhighway, it’s only natural that people would want to take this route. Demands for convergence are said to arise due to 1) the expected savings from integrating information systems into a single communications network, and 2) the Internet as an efficient medium of transfer. However, existing government policies in the country have built-in barricades that prevent maximum use of the superhighway. Find out about these barriers next week.

e-mastication

The band Cathedral’s last album came as a scratch-and-sniff package, where by rubbing the disc, it emits the smell of apples. This fascinated me to no end. I know scratch-and-sniff is a fairly primitive technology that enthralls none but the slowest kindergartner, but what floored me was the fact that music generally involves the auditory sense, but in this instance, the olfactory sense joined the party. We need more of these twofer deals. I know there’s 3G and web-cams and whatnot, but I’m looking for more interesting sense combinations. Just the other night, for instance, I was really hungry, and I cursed the dearth of edibles that could be sent digitally, or through the medium of teleportation. I remembered Nikola Tesla/David Bowie’s voodoo in The Prestige, where electricity was applied to various objects and they were “teleported” somewhere else. What actually happened was a duplication of the object, which might potentially end world hunger. Not only could one zap a burger and duplicate it, but that burger could be instantly sent where it’s needed most. Like my room. When it’s late. And I‘m hungry. Seriously. All I had there was water and stale jerky. So please, eggheads, work on it.

Wifi ready

My siblings and I went to Greenhills to spend our Christmas money. Of course, the day wouldn't be complete if we didn't pass by the long line of stalls with cellphones. As I was not interested in getting anything that time, I was able to observe the other things they sold in that area. They had PSPs, Nintendo DS, iphones, and laptops too. They come in all colors, kinds, "brand new" and "pre-loved".

Their common feature: internet access. Wifi ready. These gadgets have attached the best excuse for parents to buy you one. They will let you access the internet. I noticed how my aunts and uncles have been persuaded by this argument. My parents are no exception. My brother got a PSP because it could connect to wifi. Internet access seems to be so necessary, we attach it to every other gadget we invent.

How this helps people? I don't know.

But its wifi ready.

- Giulia Francesca D. Pineda
2001-64304

Off-shoring

Over the vacation, I got to visit some friends in the US. A couple of them recently lost their jobs as programmers in a software company. They blame the economy and off-shoring - the practice of moving business processes overseas, to reduce costs. The current momentum in the US is in the outsourcing of their core competency.

Now, they're active in a labor group pushing for Congress to to do something. They argue, that proponents of globalization claim benefits which are misleading. Off-shoring is costlier than it seems because the agency overhead, communication links, not to mention the delays caused by different business practices, and the decline in the quality of work because of young and inexperienced programmers.

Some experts think that businesses will grow due to off-shoring, which in turn, will increase investments in these businesses. My friends think that the jobs created by these new investments will likely be off-shored too.

This just goes to show that there is balance in the world. As jobs flow into the Philippines, jobs get drained from the US. I wonder though if these new opportunities are testament to our growing competitiveness, or, if my friends' arguments are true, just an illustration of how we can get away with poorly paying and training our people.

Cyberstalking

The use of technology to stalk victims is known as cyberstalking. Considering that it shares certain characteristics with real-life stalking, it is a misconception that this has less harmful effects on its victims. On the contrary, it’s just as pervasive and intrusive as real-life stalking considering that the unsolicited attention may escalate to threatening messages. Even more disturbing is the fact that its use for surveillance and pursuit provides the perfect means of disguising the stalkers identity. Technologically savvy stalkers may use spyware to access private information of their victims or use the internet may be used to impersonate them.

In the Philippines, there is no law punishing stalking as a crime despite its deleterious effects on its victims. While we have statutes punishing certain behavior similar to stalking (i.e. unjust vexation, VAWC), they contain particular requirements that do not apply to the more common cases of stalking. What more when the stalking is done through the use of technology which makes everyone more accessible to others? With the constant progress in the field of technology, it becomes more important for governments to provide legislation that will protect its citizens from those who choose to misuse and abuse such advancements.