FREE MARKETS TEND TO GRAVITATE TOWARDS MONOPOLY

I'm really glad I decided to check up on Nicholas Carr's blog Rough Type, after many years.

http://www.roughtype.com/

Nicholas Carr is no tech-Luddite but a veteran writer on the information technology scene, mostly in the United States and he is noted for having published several books, including The Big Switch, which is about teh rise of Web-based computing, or what is called "cloud computing",which he features on his more professional website at http://www.nicholascarr.com/?page_id=21.

What I like about Nicholas Carr is that he is not afraid to be an IT-contrarian, and expresses himself more bluntly (or you could say "unplugged') on his Rough Type blog, much as I do on my IT.Scheiss blog at http://itsheiss.blogspot.com.

Two of his recent blog posts caught my eye on Rough Type today.

The first is "The digital-industrial complex" which describes how the consumer IT industry and the Internet has become dominated by a handful of giant corporations and how the Web has proven to be a centralising force, which has increasingly consolidated wealth and market power into the hands of a handful of large corporations, rather than a "decentralising force" which Cyberutopians in the 1990s claimed would "empower" a myriad of small players in a competitive free market online and enable them to "compete on a level playing field" with large corporations and even "undermine" them.

I don't know what these Cyberutopians were smoking but if they had bothered to look back at the other industries which came before IT and Internet-based industries, they would have seen how they all began comprised of a myriad of small players competing with each other and providing consumers with plenty of choices, but thanks to the very same free market forces at work within capitalist free markets which they so love and adore, the weaker players were gradually driven out of the market through bankruptcies, mergers, acquisitions and so forth, with the industry eventually consolidating down to a handful of corporate giants - i.e. an oligopoly, and the process continues until a giant monopoly player remains. Sometimes governments will break up the monopoly into smaller large players but they will eventually gravitate towards a monopoly again.

Today, Windows of all versions has 91.35% of the desktop operating system market, followed far behind by Mac OS X with 6.29% and Linux with 2.36% and that is despite there being a choice of 3,000 or more different Linux distributions, most of which are free of charge.

https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

Amongst desktop search engines, Google has 79.45% market share, Bing 7.31%, Baidu 7.06%, Yahoo! - Global 4.91%, Ask - Global 0.14%, AOL - Global 0.05%, Excite - Global 0.01% and others combined 1.06%.

https://www.netmarketshare.com/search-engine-market-share.aspx?qprid=4&qpcustomd=0

Simply put, it is a dialectical-materialist reality that if left on their own unregulated, free markets will tend towards monopoly. However, any form of market regulation is anathema to the Libertarian ethos of most Cyberutopians who hate monopolies but at the same time want minimal or zero government regulation of markets, even when regulation is required to forestall the formation of monopolies.

At the end of the day, a monopoly belonging to the people and democratically governed by and answerable to them would be better than  having even a myriad of options in which you have no say, just like the number of You Tubers whose suddenly found their videos being demonetised by You Tube because the "almighty" advertisers do not want their advertisements to be associated with some of their videos which are deemed controversial.

This move by Google (which owns You Tube), has resulted in some content creators who post their videos on You Tube, no longer being able to rely from advertising from You Tube for a living, and there's nothing they can do, not even sue Google, since they have no rights on You Tube, since Google has no contractual or legal obligations to them. So all they can do is to post a video either complaining about Google's stricter enforcement of its old You Tube policies, pleading with Google to be nice to them or lecturing Google that it would serve the company better to revert to the earlier situation.

Well, Google owns You Tube and there's nothing you can do buddy, so forget this entitlement mentality, which is also so anathema to the Libertarian ethos, and get a real job, however shitty, where you at least have some protection under whatever "uggh!!!" labour laws, which Libertarians have so much despised, ranted and raved against so much, however weak they may be in today's Neo-liberal economic environment, thanks to Von Hayekist, Chicago School, Von Misesist policies, which dominate today. 

In his other article "Big Internet", Nicholas Carr describes how some people are beginning to tire of Big Internet centred around giants like Google and Facebook and Twitter and Amazon and Apple and are returning to more personal platforms such as blogs.

Well, I'm glad to say that I gave up Facebook and Twitter, though I still use Google for e-mail and blogs and less frequently, WhatsApp.

Nicholas Carr's two articles follow below.

(If you cannot see the embedded images below, please enable viewing images in your e-mail program)

IT.Scheiss



The digital-industrial complex

Exactly fifty years after the hippies gathered in San Francisco, another summer of love seems set to blossom. This time it’s not the flower children who are holding hands and sharing beds. It’s the titans of Big Internet.

Just this week, at its Build conference, Microsoft gave a hug to former adversaries Apple and Alphabet. “Windows PCs heart iOS and Android devices” was one of the big themes of the event — yes, the heart symbol was on display — and Microsoft announced that Apple’s iTunes app is coming to the Windows Store. Microsoft also formed a partnership with Facebook to incorporate an ad-tracking tool into Excel. Meanwhile, Apple and Amazon were engaged in their own public display of affection. They let word leak out that Amazon’s Prime Video app would soon be available on Apple TV. The once fierce rivals appear to have “reached a truce,” reported Recode.

Thanks to their technical and marketing prowess, combined with the winner-take-all dynamics of the internet, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft have emerged as the dominant companies of the consumer net (Farhad Manjoo dubs them the “frightful five”), with a combined market cap of a zillion dollars, give or take. Each now operates something of a perpetual-motion money-printing machine powered by the dollars and data that flow in such massive quantities through the net. The companies still face threats, of course, but, even as they sow disruption in other industries, their own market positions now look pretty stable and secure. They’re the winners.

While the boundaryless nature of online business means that each of the five companies competes with each of the others on many fronts, there is also now a symbiosis among them — and that symbiosis is getting stronger. Each of the five makes its profits in different ways, with Apple focusing on hardware, Google on web ads, Facebook on social-media ads, Amazon on retailing, and Microsoft on software sales and subscriptions. Their businesses overlap, but they are also complementary. And, as is often true with complementary products and services, gains by one company often help rather than hurt the businesses of the others. Each of the five is focused on expanding consumers’ dependency on the net, and as the net pie expands so does each of the five slices. At this point, being friends rather than enemies makes sense.

When it comes to business, in other words, the net is a centralizing force, not a decentralizing one as once assumed. The frightful five together form a digital-industrial complex, a nascent oligopoly set to skim the lion’s share of the profits from the consumer web for the foreseeable future. Five big pieces, loosely joined.

On Monday, the venture capitalist Jeremy Philips wrote a column intended as a rejoinder to Manjoo’s warnings about the power of the titans. Philips argued against the idea that, as he put it, “the five leading tech behemoths have turned into dangerous monopolies that stifle innovation and harm consumers.” Their businesses, he wrote, are “all converging — therefore competing — with one another.” His timing was unfortunate, as immediately after the column appeared we got the news of the new partnerships among the companies.

Philips’s argument would have sounded compelling just a few years ago. Back then, the five’s positions were not as well-established as they are now, and their relationships were defined by their skirmishes. That’s no longer the case. Yes, the businesses of the five have converged, but it’s now becoming clear that their interests have converged as well. For Big Internet, this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

Image: Actors portraying hippies in “Hair.”

http://www.roughtype.com/?p=7866

Nicholas Carr posted a picture of hippies (actually actors portraying hippies) at the top of his blog. I suppose this is because, like me, he too believes that this Cyberutopian nonsense is influenced by some of the social and countercultural ideals of the hippies in the late 1960s.

They were noble ideals of peace, love, mutual understanding between different races, personal liberty, alternative modes of living, environmentally sustainable living and so forth - which some believed would being about a peaceful world, in which all people are family, but alas, it was just that - a nice ideal which did not come to pass nor bring about a better world 40 or so years later, as is pretty evident from the state of our world today , with growing hatreds, intolerance and wars.

He also mentioned "the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" at the end of his post. Well, below is a video clip of the song "Aquarius" performed in the movie version of the Broadway musical "Hair", released in 1979, though "Hair" was first performed on Broadway, New York in the late 1960s or the early 1970s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhbxI5eVnM4

Well today the big Internet corporations dominate global Cyberspace, less than 30 years after the Internet went mass market, thanks to the legions of content creators who supplied the content which attracted the eyeballs, hence the advertisements which made these companies so fabulously rich.


Also, many publications, both print and online worldwide are being crushed by the Internet giants, which are drawing away the advertising which enabled these publications to survive and thrive, and provide decent employment opportunities for many. (Graphic courtesy of Carpe Diem blog, with figures courtesy the Newspaper Association of America)

I would never recommend a school leaver venture into journalism today, since they could be out of work in their 40s, as the trend which is happening in the US as shown in the graph above, is gradually making its way around the world, especially in countries where broadband penetration is high enough for enough people to forsake print media and even their online or digital versions. Already, Malaysian media is suffering from the competition for advertisements from these non publication media giants, whilst in the U.S. combined print, online and digital newspaper revenue in 2014 was below what it was way back in in 1950. Well, that is the cruel reality.

Whilst each physical village can support only a handful of small businesses, at least the 3.9 million villages worldwide (according to an unofficial estimate) each provide dispersed business opportunities which together add up to a lot.

However, the one global village in Cyberspace provides only a handful of opportunities, which the Internet giants have come to dominate. They have already cornered their market respective spaces and it will be nearly impossible for a newcomer to challenge them in their market space.

In 2011, a venture capital provider advised Internet startups not to develop an application, platform or service already provided by three or more players in Cyberspace, since it will be almost impossible to challenge the incumbents and for the startup to grow.

As Nicholas Carr pointed out, each of the "frightful five" provide different applications and services which can complement each other, and as we saw from the Netmarketshare figures above, the dominant player is usually far ahead of the nearest competitor in their respective product sector.  

Next, Nicholas Carr's post on Big Internet follows below.

Big Internet

We talk about Big Oil and Big Pharma and Big Ag. Maybe it’s time we started talking about Big Internet.

That thought crossed my mind after reading a couple of recent posts. One was Scott Rosenberg’s piece about a renaissance in the ancient art of blogging. I hadn’t even realized that blogs were a thing again, but Rosenberg delivers the evidence. Jason Kottke, too, says that blogging is once again the geist in our zeit. Welcome back, world.

The other piece was Alan Jacobs’s goodbye to Twitter. Jacobs writes of a growing sense of disillusionment and disappointment with the ubiquitous microblogging platform:

As long as I’ve been on Twitter (I started in March 2007) people have been complaining about Twitter. But recently things have changed. The complaints have increased in frequency and intensity, and now are coming more often from especially thoughtful and constructive users of the platform. There is an air of defeat about these complaints now, an almost palpable giving-up. For many of the really smart people on Twitter, it’s over. Not in the sense that they’ll quit using it altogether; but some of what was best about Twitter — primarily the experience of discovery — is now pretty clearly a thing of the past.

“Big Twitter was great — for a while,” says Jacobs. “But now it’s over, and it’s time to move on.”

These trends, if they are actually trends, seem related. I sense that they both stem from a sense of exhaustion with what I’m calling Big Internet. By Big Internet, I mean the platform- and plantation-based internet, the one centered around giants like Google and Facebook and Twitter and Amazon and Apple. Maybe these companies were insurgents at one point, but now they’re fat and bland and obsessed with expanding or defending their empires. They’ve become the Henry VIIIs of the web. And it’s starting to feel a little gross to be in their presence.

So, yeah, I’m down with this retro movement. Bring back personal blogs. Bring back RSS. Bring back the fun. Screw Big Internet.

But, please, don’t bring back the term “blogosphere.”

Image: still from Lost.

http://www.roughtype.com/?p=5010

TYRANNY IN CYBERSPACE - "IF YOU ARE NOT WITH US, YOU ARE AGAINST US"

Back when the Internet became available to the public in a significant way back in the mid-1990s, Cyberutopians touted it as a platform which enabled unfettered freedom of speech and expression which would "liberate" mankind.

But now that the majority of people have access to Cyberspace, especially through Web 2.0 platforms such as social media sites, those with independent opinions are either bullied into submission or silence and if they hold out, are ostracised, as the article below, translated from the Chinese language newspaper the Oriental Daily points out.



malaysianchinesenews.com

Social Media is the populists’ paradise

Facebook and other social media is a social platform used by many people in this modern era. However, its popularity does not really reflects speech freedom. It is in fact a place easily infested with lies and the worst kind of populism.

If you only post at Facebook or other social media about food, pets, highlights of your life, or selfie, you would not know of any problem with the social media. But if you post some controversial topics such as political, social or religious   issues, you will face with the worst kind of populist bullies trying to silence all opposition voices.

In Malaysia, if you post any complaints against certain political parties, their members or blind supporters would swarm you with attack trying to force the suspension or closure of your Facebook account. If the Facebook management is unfair or dealt with it technically, which means they depend on the number of people reporting the complaint and thus directly suspend the user’s account, denying any opportunity for the user to make his or her defence. Or they just delete the post straightaway. Isn’t this an encroachment of freedom of speech?

In religion, there are people who accuse certain outsiders of interference into their religious affairs and want to stop such interference from encroaching into the interest of their followers. However, even how solid the evidence presented by others proving otherwise, their view, even how righteous it may be, would be silenced when they face the collective sanction of an organized group like this. This then allows absurdities to rule and people continue their bullying way on the social media to poison the ordinary people.

The social media helps the bullying power. It is a manifestation of human nature and it happens everywhere. In Taiwan political arena, some made criticism on Tsai Ing-wen and Democratic Progressive Party leaders. Because they hold a different view, they have been overwhelmingly sanctioned by organized groups and eventually caused their accounts to be suspended.

Debate will uncover the truth. But direct sanction takes no exception whether the targets are political or social activists or even media people. The Facebook sanctioning mechanism requires no proof. As long as you have enough people, you can turn a non-issue into an issue and use it as an excuse to suspend an account. They can even trace back record of old postings to find someone guilty.

No constraints on Admin

At the social media platform and forum, why is populist easily appears and suppress the views of the minority, or for a minority to silence the views of the majority?

President James Madison, father of the US Constitution, said in the “Federalist Papers” that without external constraints, any individual or group would tend to bully others. May I ask who supervise the Admin of the social media? And who restraints him? The answer is none! Any unfair action to silence others will not be dealt with fairly. Furthermore, the Admins tend to protect each other.

Although there is speech freedom in social media, it may not be a place that represents fairness. Even speech freedom can be treated differently. For sure, the emergence of a massive sanctioning group is due to the existence of malcontents with malice. They could not tolerate people with different views.

On the other hand, those with positive mindset will not press for sanction even if they had been humiliated. Or maybe they do not have resources to organize a sanction. Therefore, when the social media management system is faulty, it would result in the emergence of a fools’ paradise for the populists and eventually the good would be shooed off by the bad elements.

http://www.malaysianchinesenews.com/2017/07/social-media-is-the-populists-paradise/

So much for the hype, hoohah, bullshit and ballyhoo of Cyberutopians.

IT.SCHEISS

UP TO 640,000 IT AND BPO SERVICES JOBS COULD LOST IN INDIA OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS.

Following on from my blog post - RETRENCHMENTS ARE BEGINNING TO HIT INDIA'S IT AND BPO INDUSTRY, it looks like the future could be even worse for India's information technology (IT) and business services outsourcing (BPO) services workers in India, with predictions that over 600.000 workers in these areas would lose their jobs in the next three years.

A Press Trust of India report carried by India's Economic Times of 14 May 2017 quoted executive search form Head Hunters India founder-chairman and managing director K Lakshmikanth saying that up to 600,000 of India's IT and BPO workers could lose their job over the next three years.

According to McKinsey & Company, up to half (50%) of the workforce of India's IT services firms will become "irrelevant" in the next three to four years, whilst McKinsey India managing director Noshir Kaka said that the bigger challenge facing India's IT industry is to retrain between 50 to 60% of their workforce as there will be significant shifts in technology. India currently has 3.9 million IT workers and the majority of them will need to be retrained in these new technologies but between 30 to 40% will not be able to be retrained. Assuming that half of them will be able to continue working with their old skills, the other half will become redundant.

Meanwhile Lakshmikanth pointed out that with the growth in new digital technologies such as cloud computing happening at a much faster pace, the worst affected IT workers will be those aged 35 or above who cannot find new jobs.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE

Meanwhile You Tuber Abhiroop B says more or less the same things in his video entitled Soon There will not be any New IT industry jobs anymore in India, well actually slightly worse, in that up to 640,000 IT workers could lose their jobs over the next three years.

He mentions new technologies which IT workers will have to retrain in to continue to be employable the IT industry but the skills required by these technologies are radically different from IT and BPO services skills. Abhiroop B said he has cautioned many not to go into the IT and BPO services industries, since he knew that their days are numbered.

Readers who have been following my posts on IT.Scheiss for long enough will know that have been very sceptical with the much touted mantra that Malaysian workers must reskill themselves to "move up the value chain" to remain employable, as jobs "lower down the value chain" move out of Malaysia to neighbouring countries where wages are lower, whilst Malaysia heads towards becoming a "high income, knowledge based, developed economy by the year 2020". Well, that's now been pushed farther back to 2050 when those of my generation won't be around to witness.

Anyway, it's interesting that those countries to which these "sunset" industries have moved to are experiencing a sunrise, whilst those countries where "sunrise" industries remain are experiencing a sunset.

The forecast by McKinsey confirm what I have long believed that many will be unable to successfully reskill themselves several times throughout their working years, especially when they are burdened by family and other commitments especially in their 40s.

Some of the new skills required are as radically different from the old skills; as the chemistry skills required in the making of photo-sensitive silver iodide emulsion film are from the electronic engineering skills required in the making of photo-sensitive charge-coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal-oxide silicon (CMOS) most commonly used in digital cameras today. Most of those chemists who lost their jobs would not have been able to reskill themselves to become electronic engineers. Besides that, with the exception of the  respective cameras optics, other technologies and skills required in the design and manufacture of film and digital cameras are radically different. 

Also, as I have previously said, even if most can successfully reskill themselves and "move up the value chain" to perform higher skilled levels of work, will there be enough work opportunities the higher one rises up that value chain. I have often likened this to there being less living space for people the higher one goes up a mountain.

As is shown by the McKinsey report and Abhiroop B's video, the IT industry is replacing lower skilled IT and BPO jobs with automation. For example, when you activate your copy of Windows by phone, you now will be interacting with an interactive voice response (IVR) system, rather than a human help desk agent, just as most banking today is conducted either online or through self-service machines such as ATM, cash and cheque deposit machines, whilst there are much fewer human bank tellers and customer service staff in banking halls today.

Unlike with distributed computing power, as in the 1980s, 90s and perhaps also the early 2000s, the greater use of cloud computing today, with computing power highly centralised on physical or virtual servers in data centres, which are accessed remotely over the Internet; has reduced the industry's demand for computing professionals required to develop, operate and maintain the system.

For example, anyone with a Gmail account can now use the cloud based services Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides over the Internet  to create and edit Word documents, Excel Spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, without having to install Microsoft Office on their PC, which for most large offices, would have required one or more IT employees to maintain and manage.

All this raises questions as to whether it is worth pursuing a qualification in IT when, one's skills acquired will likely become obsolete by the time one is in their late 30s or 40s, much like the career span of a fashion model, whose good looks, fine skin, slender and sleek bodies of youth fades by middle age, or a sports professional whose youthful strength, speed and agility decline with age.

Younger IT workers may be able to reskill themselves a couple of times earlier in their career to remain relevant, like hamsters running on a treadmill, but for how long can they keep on running just to stay in one place before they tire and fall back, get off or are thrown off?

Is it no surprise then that many Malaysian parents now discourage their children from pursuing courses in IT?

Just as King Canute could not command the sea tide not to come in, IT continues to evolve at an unrelenting pace.

And, whilst the required skills, tools, technologies and techniques used in all trades and professions inevitably change, however, some change incrementally and slowly enough for one to remain relevant throughout one's working years, much like accountants, medical doctors,pharmacists, lawyers, , civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, chemical engineers, architects architects, chefs, writers, economists and so forth, so is it no wonder then that parents would prefer that children pursue qualifications in these trades and professions than IT, especially now with news of expected loss of over 15% of jobs in India's IT industry over the next three years.

Yours trully

IT.Scheiss

http://itsheiss.blogspot.my/

NEW YORK TIMES RETRENCHING STAFF - WELCOME TO THE INFORMATION AND SERVICES ECONOMY

It was not too long ago that we were bombarded with visions of a "glorious future" for journalists and content creators in cyberspace,  as readership and viewership transition from print and broadcast to online, but now we can see the real world results of  the transition and they are not pretty; where like the Titanic, long established media organisations or perhaps even media "institutions", are gradually taking in water and are gradually settling lower and lower in the water, conscious that they are heading into the twilight, whilst unsuccessfully struggling to turn around, grasping at straws along the way.

Sure, there are many sources of free news and opinion online on sites such as You Tube and so forth but many of these content creators have had to turn for financial support from readers through e-begging sites such as Patreon and others, especially since You Tube had begun demonetising certain videos posted by some of those content creators on You Tube, so it is pretty obvious that having personal media channels on You Tube or other social media platforms does not provide enough remuneration for many to cover their living expenses.

For example, a You Tuber who calls himself "Jason Unruhe" and who has had a You Tube channel called "Maoist Rebel News" now complains about You Tube's recent demonetisation policy. He also has an account on e-begging site Patreon. Just beware some the expletives he comes out with at times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhi0kpk317E

Whilst I agree with Jason that capitalist profit motives generally reward producers of trash content which goes down well with dumbed down consumers who comprise the majority in capitalist society; over producers of quality and intellectually stimulating content; still it amazes me that Jason seems to expect that capitalist-owned You Tube would have been different.

On the right-libertarian side of the political spectrum is an author who goes by the name "Styxhexenhammer666" and here he explains quite frankly why he has set up an account on the e-begging site Patreon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMQR7_zBhXk

In this more recent video, Styx speaks about the problems of video demonetisation by You Tube and how Patreon pays more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6TLSsEr9SU

However, Styx also writes books on the occult, so he has other income streams to rely on, whilst he lives rather economically in what I believe is the Vermont countryside.

You Tube describes its demonetisation policy of certain videos or conversely, its monetisation policy related to putting advertisements on some videos as follows:-.

Advertiser-friendly content guidelines YouTube is where the world chooses to watch video. With the most current, comprehensive, and compelling video library on the web uploaded by a diverse set of creators from around the world, YouTube is also where thousands of brands come to connect with their audiences.

All videos uploaded to YouTube must comply with YouTube’s Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. To be eligible for advertising, videos must comply with the AdSense Program Policies. YouTube also reserves the right, at its discretion, to not show ads on videos and watch pages—including ads from certain advertisers or certain formats. This article provides some guidance about our policies and best practices to ensure your videos are eligible for advertising.

We aren’t telling you what to create—each and every creator on YouTube is unique and contributes to the vibrancy of YouTube. However, advertisers also have a choice about where to show their ads. As with everything related to YouTube, use your common sense, don’t abuse the site, and be respectful of others.

Content not eligible for advertising

YouTube uses technology and policy enforcement processes to determine if a video is eligible for advertising. We continually work hard to make our algorithms as accurate as possible and to understand nuances, including for categories like music, gaming, and news. Our intention is to treat each video based on context, including content that is clearly comedic, educational, or satirical in nature.

If the following describes any portion of your video or video metadata, including the title, thumbnail or tags, then the video may not be eligible for advertising under the AdSense Program Policies. In some cases, YouTube may also choose not to show ads from all advertisers or all ad formats.

• Controversial issues and sensitive events: Video content that features or focuses on sensitive topics or events including, but not limited to, war, political conflicts, terrorism or extremism, death and tragedies, sexual abuse, even if graphic imagery is not shown, is generally not eligible for ads. For example, videos about recent tragedies, even if presented for news or documentary purposes, may not be eligible for advertising given the subject matter.
• Drugs and dangerous products or substances: Video content that promotes or features the sale, use, or abuse of illegal drugs, regulated drugs or substances, or other dangerous products is not eligible for advertising. Videos discussing drugs or dangerous substances for educational, documentary, and artistic purposes are generally eligible for advertising, so long as drug use or substance abuse is not graphic or glorified.
• Harmful or dangerous acts: Video content that promotes harmful or dangerous acts that result in serious physical, emotional, or psychological injury is not eligible for advertising. Some examples include videos depicting painful or invasive surgical or cosmetic procedures, or pranks involving sexual harassment or humiliation.
• Hateful content: Video content that promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual’s or group’s race, ethnicity or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization is not eligible for advertising. Content that is satire or comedy may be exempt; however, simply stating your comedic intent is not sufficient and that content may still not be eligible for advertising.
• Inappropriate language: Video content that contains frequent uses of strong profanity or vulgarity throughout the video may not be eligible for advertising. Occasional use of profanity won’t necessarily result in your video being ineligible for advertising, but context matters.
• Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters: Videos depicting family entertainment characters or content, whether animated or live action, engaged in violent, sexual, vile, or otherwise inappropriate behavior, even if done for comedic or satirical purposes, are not eligible for advertising.
• Incendiary and demeaning: Video content that is gratuitously incendiary, inflammatory, or demeaning may not be eligible for advertising. For example, video content that shames or insults an individual or group may not be eligible for advertising.
• Sexually suggestive content: Video content that features highly sexualized content, such as video content where the focal point is nudity, body parts, or sexual simulations, is not eligible for advertising. Content that features sex toys, sexual devices, or explicit conversation about sex may also not be eligible for advertising, with limited exceptions for non-graphic sexual education videos.
• Violence: Video content where the focal point is on blood, violence, or injury, when presented without additional context, is not eligible for advertising. Violence in the normal course of video gameplay is generally acceptable for advertising, but montages where gratuitous violence is the focal point is not. If you're showing violent content in a news, educational, artistic, or documentary context, that additional context is important.

We  also offer a number of content and audience targeting tools that advertisers can use to control where their ads appear on YouTube.

If you think we've disabled ads on your video in error, learn how to appeal videos marked “not advertiser friendly.”

Best practices for creating advertiser-friendly content

In addition to the policies and guidelines above, here are some tips to help ensure that your content is appropriate for advertising:

• Do be respectful of others, including your viewers and the people or groups that you may feature in your video. 
• Do use accurate thumbnails and metadata. Regardless of the content of your video, if the title or thumbnail does not comply with these guidelines, the video may not be eligible for advertising.
• Don't embed your own ads in your video since it violates our ad policies. Learn more about paid product placement policy.

Context is key. If your video contains potentially controversial or offensive content, give your viewers enough information to help them understand what they're seeing. You can also help us understand if your content is suitable for advertising by providing additional context.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6162278?hl=en

Well Google owns You Tube, which is going mainstream, and it can call the shots at any time or even implement them arbitrarily, and there is nothing which content creators hosted on You Tube for free can do if You Tube decides to not to place advertisements to their videos or perhaps in the future, even to dump those content creators not bringing in the moolah, to save on storage space and Internet capacity ("bandwidth") demands.

On the other hand, other You Tubers criticise their fellows who have complained or who thought that they could make a career out of of posting videos on You Tube.

This young You Tuber who goes by the humble name of "Mediocre Editor" rants against such You Tubers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbygb3RqDMA

You Tuber "Alanah Pearce" describes how You Tube cut her income by 75% and how she has turned to e-begging site Patreon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7gmHmaF-fU

The YouTuber by the name of "TheSillyOldDude" slams big You Tubers who have complained about You Tube enforcing its policies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc0Ym8NZ6zM

You Tuber Futon Squad tells You Tubers to stop complaining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gQ3Bj9uOLA

In a more sober tone, You Tuber Damien who apparently also has a day job tells You Tubers not to count on You Tube for a career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUqnk8lWaFI

This You Tuber with the "Buzz Worthy TV" provides a more sober and balanced perspective on the issue. She sees You Tube as a stepping stone to a more stable career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVDJHsifGg

I have never donated any money to content creators through Patreon, not even solo music composers whose work I greatly appreciate, though I have occasionally bought their music online through sites like Bandcamp, to support them instead.

Two such solo music composers of epic and new age style music whose work I greatly appreciate are:-

Adrian von Ziegler - Switzerland - https://www.youtube.com/user/AdrianvonZiegler

Brunuhville - Portugal - https://www.youtube.com/user/BrunuhVille

Both Adrian and Brunuhville sell their music via Bandcamp, Apple iTunes store and on physical CDs.

My friend's son Yusef Kifah - Bandar Sri Damansara, Malaysia, produces mostly techno music https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRxtqaKPuoNYCiv7S0b0Dmw and sells his music through the Apple iTunes store. He's also a disk jockey (DJ) at realspace ((not virtualspace) venues.

Another friend's son who goes by the nickname "J-Boi" is a guitarist in the band Shadow Puppet Theatre - Kuala Lumpur - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiPwvMoGLJsrv31x2HPrQng and whilst they have produced a CD, they don't appear to have either a Bandcamp or iTunes presence just yet. However, these guys have day jobs and music is like kind of a hobby.

I've haven't read, seen or heard much from those new media boosters or self-styled new media CON-sultants for a while now; and it kind of looks like they have vanished into the woodwork, now that the proverbial scheiss (shit) has hit the fan.

The Telesur TV article on the retrenchments at the New Your Times follows below.



telesurtv.net

Angry New York Times' Staffers Walk Out over Planned Layoffs | News

---

Hundreds of journalists — many of them copy editors at the New York Times — walked out from their offices Thursday and staged a protest in front of the newspaper's office in response to management talk of cutting the copy editing department in half.

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"Top managers sat stone-faced at desks as staffers gathered about them and then walked out via the stairways," Poynter, a journalism training website, reported.

"New York Times editors, reporters, and staff will come together to leave the newsroom and their offices in protest of management’s elimination of copy editors," said a statement by the NewsGuild of New York.

Calling the expected layoffs a "humiliating process," NewsGuild President Grant Glickson, wrote in an open letter, "Cutting us down to 50 to 55 editors from more than 100, and expecting the same level of quality in the report, is dumbfoundingly unrealistic."

On Wednesday afternoon, nearly two dozen editors also wrote a letter to Executive Editor Dean Baquet and Managing Editor Joe Kahn expressing their outrage over the cuts and demanding they reconsider the move.

Banquet said in a statement, that the newspaper has a higher ratio of editors to reporters than its competitors.

"After a year and a half of uncertainty about their futures, New York Times editors and staff have expressed feelings of betrayal by management. The staff has been offered buyouts and if a certain number of buyouts is not reached, layoffs will ensue for the editorial staff and potentially reporters as well," Glickson wrote.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Angry-New-York-Times-Staffers-Walk-Out-over-Planned-Layoffs-20170629-0033.html

Welcome to the Information and services economy, where your future is certain to be uncertain.

Don't be surprised if the Internet industry hires spin doctors and compliant media to promote the "hip, hype and happening" notion - "Insecure jobs - COOL!, secure jobs UNCOOL!"

Yours trully



IT.SCHEISS
http://itsheiss.blogspot.my

RETRENCHMENTS ARE BEGINNING TO HIT INDIA'S IT AND BPO INDUSTRIES

India's information technology (IT) industry and business process outsourcing (BPO) service providers were once hailed by the media as a miracle of sorts, the pride of India and the industry was India's largest employer or at least India's largest private sector employer, which employed millions of people and it was rather glamorous to be an IT workers in India.

Indian IT workers have also been a rather fortunate lot compared to their counterparts elsewhere in that Indian IT companies once maintained up to 20% or more of them on standby on full pay to be immediately deployed on projects as and when needed, but this practice is coming to an end in favour of short term contracts, as India's IT companies increasingly come under rising cost pressures.

However of late, India's IT and BPO services  industry have been retrenching workers by the thousands, with the "big boys" of Indian IT planning to retrench as many as 200,000 staff.

The commentator in the first video below gives a good analysis of the financial factors affecting India's IT industry in terms of the strengthening exchange rate of the Indian Rupee versus the US dollar. Since most IT or BPO contracts are quoted in US dollars to customers in the US and also in most other countries, a stronger Rupee vs the US dollar means that the company in India earns fewer Rupees in numerical terms, once those US dollars are repatriated to India and converted to Rupees. 

He also mentioned that with India's IT multinationals being compelled to hire more American workers at their facilities in the US at American pay levels, India's IT multinationals end up having to pay more in salaries than if they imported IT workers from India to work on H1-B visas, so to contain costs, they have to retrench their workers in India.

Why Indian Software Companies Laying off staff? complete analysis into current situation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50d4vuC6w50

However the solutions he gave are very much echo the often-heard cliched phrase "upskill oneself to move up the value chain", but in reality, how many IT workers have successfully managed to upskill themselves and have "moved up the value chain"?

Secondly, assuming they all can, will there be as many jobs "up the value chain" to absorb all that many upskilled IT workers, plus new IT workers coming out of the universities and colleges armed with the newer IT skills?

As real world experience has shown, in most cases IT companies will cast their old employees on the scrapheap and hire new ones at lower pay.

The rest of the videos below highlight the situation for IT workers in India and their collective efforts to fight back through tribunals, courts and on the picket line.

WION Special: Tougher times ahead for Indian IT industry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBM8fQFZ76I

IT Sector Layoffs - Senthil from FITE explains the other side of the story!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_QUMpkZaqI

Massive layoffs in IT companies – The Urban Debate (May 19)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnDvXt5I_n4

Infosys, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra lay off news left IT employees in panic mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEv7fiOlXR4

Job crisis plagues IT sector – The Urban Debate (May 30)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvgQzTQZu0

IT Layoff 2017 India

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMD2hgXZ1fs

The Big Picture- Layoffs in IT firms: reasons and gravity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8jBtRI9rM

Donald Trump Effect - Be Careful About Your IT Career

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE25m4wWPU4

IT jobs no longer secure - 30 Minutes - TV9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFLfNXtpS84

Bloomberg on Trump's impact on Indian IT industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JyAhjJC4iA

IT Employees Seeks Action Against Cognizant For Massive Layoffs In Chennai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T759n8DtHk

Protest against layoff of TCS employees (22-01-2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFVfZO_Qhpc

Sudha Thiagu speaks about TCS Layoff issue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UZI_AcSoZc

TCS Mass Firing - Chennai Court says No to the Firing - First victim Got a first victory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unv3a72HMms

Madras High Court Say No to firing in TCS - Victims Hope other Courts & Govt will be with them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YV-jBmeoqQ

The bottom line simply is that IT skills acquired in college or university mostly do not remain relevant and marketable throughout one's working life, unlike more traditional trades such as plumbing, carpentry, welding and so forth, and traditional professions such as medicine, dentistry, law, architecture, engineering, botany, zoology, agriculture, chemistry and so forth.

With the rapidly evolving nature of computing and information technology and its rapid rate of obsolescence, the skills of IT workers become similarly obsolete just as fast, forcing IT workers to constantly keep themselves updated with the latest IT skills, like hamsters running on a treadmill, faster and faster just to stay in the same place, and quite frankly few can keep up with the pace, given the responsibilities of married and family life as they grow older.

Whilst all the above is happening in India's IT industry, one wonders what the future bodes for Malaysian IT and BPO workers.

In 2015, I met a Malaysian who used to head his own company which operated a data centre. He told me that his company was no more as the data centre business is too fiercely competitive and he now works for a foreign-owned data centre operator.

Data centres are purpose built facilities, usually a purpose built building which houses servers - i.e. computers which host websites, e-commerce sites, cloud-based applications hosts and so forth, in temperature and humidity controlled environments, often served by redundant electricity supply, redundant data connections and adequate standby power generation capacity to guarantee up to 99.995% or more availability.

Data centres was the sexy industry in Malaysia to be in back around 2012 and 2013 and probably still is to an extent today, but the latest sexy industry to be in today are Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) but I wonder for how long, before the next "gee whiz" industry comes along.

Meanwhile, property development seems to have taken off in Cyberjaya, with tall buildings sprouting all over the place, just like in the major cities and towns of Malaysia.

When Cyberjaya, the heart of Malaysia's IT and multimedia industry was originally conceived and built freshly form the ground up in the mid-1990s, it was supposed to comprise only of low density development, with low rise buildings of not more than four storeys high, with much greenery between them, supposedly to provide a calming and soothing ambience for thinking and creative minds to flourish but that's no longer the case, as Cyberjaya gradually transforms into a concrete jungle, like the cities and major towns in the rest of Malaysia.

Yours trully

IT.SCHEISS

http://itsheiss.blogspot.my

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

An article dated 30 November 2016 bearing the  headlined "The Heat M'sia turns one and is no more" caught my eye.

I clicked on the link and amongst 10 paragraphs of fluff written by Staff Writer was one paragraph which announced the demise of this opposition-leaning online news portal.

"The staff of The Heat Malaysia has been informed that the portal will cease operation on Dec 1. It is a business decision, we were told."

http://www.theheatmalaysia.com/Main/The-Heat-M-sia-turns-one-and-is-no-more

Hopefully, those journalists and other staff who have lost their jobs as a result will find new employment elsewhere.

A business decision! Just like the business decision to closed down The Malaysian Insider in March 2016.

http://itsheiss.blogspot.my/2016/03/so-thats-it-malaysian-insider-finally.html

It also was a business to close down both the online and print editions of the business publication Kinibiz on 1 February 2016.

Veteran pro-opposition online political news portal Malaysiakini reported:-

"KINIBIZ Independent business news publication KINIBIZ will close on Feb 1, 2016, nearly three years after it started, after an unfruitful search for new investors.

"The search began in mid-2015, shortly after the subscription-based business news portal launched its fortnightly print magazine in April. It culminated in an equity crowdfunding campaign announced in December, although this has since been called off due to the lukewarm response owing to uncertain economic conditions."

“We had a good run and covered a lot of breaking issues,” said founding editor and publisher P Gunasegaram. “Unfortunately, we are a niche product and the funding just wasn’t forthcoming for us to stay long enough in the business for a turnaround."

“ Malaysiakini believed that an independent business news site would be a great complement to our current affairs news,” said Premesh Chandran, CEO of Malaysiakini and KINIBIZ director. “The team did really well these past three years with some great business stories. It’s sad that we could not get sufficient subscribers to make it profitable.”

"According to Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan, who is also a KINIBIZ director, both partners in the joint venture have limited funds and without new investors, it would be impossible for KINIBIZ to continue its operations."

Read more: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/328327#ixzz4RqUWxRbn

And it was a business decision to close The Rakyat Post. On 29 February 2016 The Star reported "The Rakyat Post closes shop".

"The company, owned by Wespacom Sdn Bhd, told its staff of the decision to cease operations at a meeting with several representatives of its 60 employees at Menara MBSB here on Monday."
"It told its employees that they would have to lodge a complaint with the Labour Department or seek industrial action in order to get their two months’ unpaid salaries."

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/02/29/the-rakyat-post-closes-shop/

Then on 10 March 2016, Astro Awani reported that the Rakyat Post had rether mysteriously sprung back to life:-

"The Rakyat Post resurfaced after shutdown, ex-staff in the dark"

"KUALA LUMPUR: After it was announced that The Rakyat Post would be shutting down their operations beginning March, the online news portal today resurfaced, much to the surprise of its ex-staff.

"The news portal's former editorial team claimed to be in the dark over this new development, as there had been no communication between them and the management since the shutdown announcement last Feb 29."

http://english.astroawani.com/malaysia-news/rakyat-post-resurfaced-after-shutdown-ex-staff-dark-98141

So that's four media portals shut down so far in 2016 minus one which came back to life under rather mysterious circumstances and continues publishing until today.

What! journalists and staff working for free? Hmmm. I wonder.

Now back to The Heat. Earlier it was called The Heat Online and owned by HCK Media, the same publisher which publishes the Focus Malaysia print and online business publication. However, on 29 November 2015, The Heat Online reported that it would be under new ownership and that it would henceforth be known as The Heat Malaysia.

"The Heat Malaysia under new management"
"By Eddie Hoo

"From Dec 1, 2015, The Heat Online will be renamed The Heat Malaysia and it will come under a new management and ownership. HCK Media will hand over the portal to Regal Edition Sdn Bhd, following a decision by the former to strategically realign its business and exit the news portal business to focus on developing its social media websites." 

"The new owner takes over full financial and editorial responsibility for the website following the sale. The Heat Malaysia, like its predecessor, will be a patriot first and foremost. It owes its allegiance to the King and country, and is not beholden to any political party."

"Our credo: We believe in playing our role as a vanguard of truth and justice. We will do our part in helping to uphold the Federal Constitution as the supreme law of the land. We believe in the rule of law, maintaining a secular state and showing respect for all religions. The Heat Malaysia will speak out against bigotry in any form."

http://www.theheatmalaysia.com/Main/The-Heat-Malaysia-under-new-management

Below is The Heat's closure announcement in full:-

"The Heat M'sia turns one and is no more"
"By Staff Writer

"Journalists are not the only ones subscribing to ideals. Along with other pursuers of justice, fair play and equality from other circles, we plod on and rage against a system that has strayed from the right path.

"Reformists abound in our society. And like them, we tried to be the vanguards of truth without a hidden agenda.

"We are not cowed by the bullies. Nor do we fear the bigots or the crooks that mask themselves as patriots and champions of race and religion.

"We sought to highlight the wrongs, and be the voice of those who are unable to speak for themselves. That voice is no more.

"The Heat Malaysia is not the first, nor will it be the last to lose that voice.

"The staff of The Heat Malaysia has been informed that the portal will cease operation on Dec 1. It is a business decision, we were told.

"We “have done well to push back the boundaries of political and societal correctness”, according to an intellectual in our society. And that is the biggest compliment a news website could get. 

"As it is, there is a paucity of rational and creative thinking. We are seeing intellectual life getting drained out of our society. To suggest we don’t ask tough questions and meekly submit to prescribed thinking is akin to making society dumb."

"We will take a step backward if we close the forum for intelligent exchanges among our citizens, discourage positive dissension and applaud the parroting of government views. The fear of self-examination by the authorities dilutes the intellectual substance of our nation. Society can never grow without proper introspection."

"As one of our columnists has said — keep reading the news, keep forming an opinion, and keep sharing your thoughts. Goodbye."

http://www.theheatmalaysia.com/Main/The-Heat-M-sia-turns-one-and-is-no-more

So The Heat portal was not viable financially under HCK Media' nor Regal Edition's ownership.

In common between The Heat, The Malaysian Insider and The Rakyat Post is that they all primarily featured political news and opinion, with some non-political articles on lifestyle, community, consumer affairs and so forth which may interest readers and whilst Kinibiz was a business publication, it however was very closely associated to the Malaysiakini portal.

So English language portals left standing are:-

Malaysiakini
http://www.malaysiakini.com/

Free Malaysia Today
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/

Malay Mail Online
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/

Malaysia Chronicle (the access to which is blocked within Malaysia)
http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/

I guess that would also include the U.K. based Sarawak Report (also access blocked within Malaysia).
http://www.sarawakreport.org/


Meanwhile, more pro-establishment or neutral, English-language news portals still standing include:-

The Mole.
http://mole.my/

Malaysian Digest
http://www.malaysiandigest.com/

Launched on 8 July 2016 is Malaysia Outlook.
http://www.malaysiaoutlook.com/

And more recently Tanjak
http://www.tanjak.my/

Malaysian Chinese News (in English)
http://www.malaysianchinesenews.com/

The bottom line is that without a sugar daddy with deep pockets propping up such such portals financially, most of the above portals would have to close shop, unless they are financially viable enough from subscriptions, advertisements and so forth to be able to support themselves independently, and few of them are.

Most of these sugar daddies remain anonymous behind the scenes but if they feel that their portal is not providing enough political or commercial returns for their investment or no longer serves their political or commercial purpose, they will sooner or later pull the plug on them.

The Future of Journalism

As I have oftentimes said - unless online advertising rates and revenue match current advertising rates and revenue of print media, I foresee that journalism may no longer be a viable paying career on which one can rely on for a decent, stable and liveable income in 10 or 20 years time. Instead, journalists will have to be like bloggers, most of whom have a daytime career, profession or business which earns them a living, whilst they write for free in their spare time.

In fact, right now, many media offer what I call "journo-prostitution" services - i.e. paid articles in order to earn revenue.

Thus compromised are those journalistic ideals and ethics or being a neutral observer reporting or commenting on one's independent observations on the ground. Of course, no journalist or publication is free of personal or political biases in their reporting and neither am I who would rather describe myself as a polemicist, rather than a journalist.

However, when one practices journo-prostitution and writes paid articles which positively hypes up a client's products, services or viewpoints, when readers expect a journalist's independent perspective, then one's journalistic integrity is compromised. The right thing to do here is to clearly identify the paid article as an advertorial (advertisement-editorial) but many publications in Malaysia no longer do that

Yours trully

IT.SCHEISS
http://itsheiss.blogspot.my/

PRESSURE BUILDS ON MUHYIDDIN OVER 1BESTARINET FIASCO

I haven't posted an IT.Scheiss commentary for almost four months now and my last IT.Scheiss post on the Ministry of Education's 1Bestarinet online learning system for close to 10,000 schools in Malaysia was almost a year ago in October 2015 - hmmm! how time flies.

http://itsheiss.blogspot.my/2015/10/teachers-union-says-1bestarinet-useless.html

Whilst my criticisms of the effectiveness of the project mainly involve socio-economic and infrastructural issues, on 4 October 2016, pro-government political blogger who goes by the name "Seademon" ("John F. Seademon") revisits a question raised by the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), alleging corruption on the part of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin, the then Minister of Education and former Deputy Prime Minister in awarding of the project to YTL.

For those who may be unaware, "John F. Seademon" actually is Captain Abdul Rahmat Omar, formerly of the Royal Malaysian Air Force and son of a former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Hanif Omar.

Earlier in March 2015, Free Malaysia Today carries an article by Zairil Khir Johari, Democratic Action Party MP for Bukit Bendera, Penang about how the government had cut the budget on teacher training by RM350 million and instead allocated RM200 million for spending on information technology (IT) facilities in schools, which are used by as few as 1% (one percent) of students, according to Auditor-General’s 2013 Report and Zaril argues that such spending only benefits IT companies.

Zaril is the son of Tan Sri Mohd Khir Johari, a former Malaysian Minister of Education during the time of Malaysia's first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

As a matter of interest, Muhyiddin is no longer with UMNO, having gone over to the Tun Dr. Mahathir camp, hence the opposition, after having been sacked from UMNO in June 2016, over a year after Zaril's article  criticising 1Bestarinet.

Sure, there are complaints about the quality and dedication of teachers in Malaysia's schools today compared to the 1950s and 60s and this human problem needs to be solved, not throw IT at the problem and expect it to work magic.

Well, that my friends is the "IT.Scheiss" (IT shit), which this blog is all about.

Besides about 20 years of writing about the IT industry in Malaysia, I earlier worked in the IT industry in a technical and executive capacity for about 10 years, so they cannot bull-scheiss me with their marketing hype, hoohah, bull-scheiss and ballyhoo about how IT can be an effective substitute for good human teachers.


Articles follow below.

Read on

IT.Scheiss


===============

1BestariNet: When Will Muhyiddin Be Investigated?

by: seademon

Muhyiddin recently appeared on a PAS platform in Kuala Terengganu to speak about 1MDB etc.  He was invited on the capacity of a former Deputy Prime Minister before the formation of Parti Pribumi which he is a pro-tem President.  Not once did he address the long-standing question from especially the PAS members – how much did he make from the 1BestariNet scandal?

PAS first asked this question back in April 2012. Mahfuz Omar of PAS asked then why was the project not given to known telecommunications players such as Telekom Malaysia, Celcom or TimeDotCom who would be able to provide better Internet backbone to support the project.

The 1BestariNet project is a RM4.077 billion project over 15 years to provide 4G Internet connectivity as well as virtual learning environment for 9,924 schools nationwide.  YTL, a known favourite of Parti Pribumi’s founder Mahathir, secured a RM663 million package signed by Muhyiddin when he was the Minister of Education.  The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2015 concluded that the implementation of the First Phase of the project is a failure. Not even a project steering committee and project technical committee were established at ministry-level to ensure its smooth implementation.

Responding to the PAC report, Economic Advisor to the Concerned Social-Minded Association (Persatuan Minda Sosial Prihatin) Suud Ridzuan called for Muhyiddin, the then Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Education to step down to facilitate the investigation into the scandal.

“According to the PAC, this project is a failure. Why was there a need to spend so much for this program?” he asked. “I urge the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission to investigate.”

The BN-friendly portal www.pru14.tv also raised a few doubts about the project.  They are among others:

1. the installation of 1BestariNet Receiver Integrated System (1BRIS) communication towers that are supposed to transmit and receive high-speed wireless data in schools that do not have the appropriate LAN (Local Access Network) structure,

2. the refusal by YTL to pay RM1,200 per month to the Ministry of Education (MoE) as recommended by the Property Valuation and Service Department for each 1BRIS site. The MoE has thus far bowed down to YTL by allowing them to pay RM1,000 for each 1BRIS site instead;

3. the installation of the 1BRIS towers increased the electricity bill for each school by RM120 to RM150 monthly.  With YTL’s refusal to pay the RM500 for each 1BRIS tower site, the MoE would have to fork out between RM5.77 million to RM6.92 million each year until the expiration of the contract.

The portal also alleged Muhyiddin’s son-in-law’s involvement in the project, an allegation that has gone unanswered by Muhyiddin.

Perhaps the MACC should seriously look into this issue as it has gone almost forgotten.  Nabbing errant GLC office-holders may be a good thing, but letting a former senior Minister go free after hunderds of millions tangible rakyat‘s funds have been spent without tangible good results will not go down well with the majority.

https://seademon.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/1bestarinet-when-will-muhyiddin-be-investigated/

Zairil: Spend money on teachers, not machines
FMT Reporters

Huge IT projects only produce profit for companies, not better educations, says MP.

Zairil Khir Johari, copyGEORGE TOWN: Pointing out that good teachers make for good students, an MP has criticised the Education Ministry for wasting the “huge funds being pumped into the education sector” on machines instead of people.

Zairil Khir Johari, MP for Bukit Bendera, said the government had cut the budget for teachers training and wasted billions on computer hardware and software, only to see it collecting dust.

“If the government thinks that better computers will make up for the weakness of our teachers, then it has not learned its lesson from the PPSMI fiasco,” he said, referring to the now-defunct programme for teaching science and mathematics in English.

He pointed out that expenditure on teachers was cut by RM350 million in this years’ Budget, but the allocation on IT rose by RM200 million. Government spending would not produce better performance if the money went on unnecessary big-ticket IT projects that were rarely used. Instead, the government should invest in teachers and students.

“What is truly shocking is the government’s denial syndrome and misplaced sense of priorities as they continue to channel billions of taxpayers’ funds into non-productive areas such as big-ticket infrastructure projects that only benefit private technology suppliers at the expense of the people that really matter – our teachers and students,” Zairil said in a statement.

He was responding to remarks by education minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Thursday, when Muhyiddin had said he was “shocked” by Malaysia’s poor performance in international assessment tests, which had shown that Malaysia’s “education standards, although said to be good, is not good enough”.

Malaysia placed 52nd out of 65 countries ranked by OECD in its Pisa international assessment, while 38 per cent of Malaysian students had failed to achieve the minimum benchmark in the TIMSS internatonal mathematics and science assessment.

Zairil pointed out that the government invested more than RM3 billion on computer hardware and software meant for the Mathematics and Science in English programme, but “most of this investment ended up collecting dust in school storerooms” as the programme had been discontinued.

“The same fate appears to be awaiting the RM4.1 billion 1BestariNet project; the Auditor-General’s 2013 Report revealed that less than one per cent of students actually used the system even though close to 9,000 schools throughout the country had already been equipped with it.”

By contrast, the budget for 2015 had cut spending on professional development of teachers from RM1.54 billion to only RM961 million.

Funds for “in-service training” of teachers was drastically slashed from RM410 million last year to RM48 million, “leadership training” slashed by two-thirds from RM181 million to RM62 million; and “pre-service training” were trimmed from RM948 million to RM851 million.

New expenditure of RM250 million was earmarked for “transformation of education service officers,” but even so, total spending on teachers was only RM1.21 billion, a drop of RM350 million compared to the 2014 budget. However, funds for IT expenditure were increased by about RM200 million for this year.

It was truly shocking, he said, that the government continued to channel billions into non-productive projects that would only benefit technology companies at the expense of the people that really mattered – the teachers and students.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/03/14/zairil-spend-money-on-teachers-not-machines/

CHINESE DAILY SIN CHEW HAMMERS THE OPPOSITION KAU KAU (PROPERLY)

The opposition in Malaysia has been hammered left, right and centre by many quarters for the manner in which it had shot itself in the foot in the Sarawak state elections in May and in the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar elections on 18 June.

I really love this statement in an article by the Chinese language Sin Chew newspaper, which is reflective of the IT Scheiss (IT shit) which I have been going on about all these years.

"The opposition, meanwhile, has placed too much faith in the power of Internet and overlooked the importance of man-to-man interactions. Undeniably people in rural areas are more passionate about localism and are largely repulsive to brainless political jargon that brands opponents as 'stupid".

Those of you who have been reading my IT.Scheiss posts will recall me saying several times that the biggest political changes in history happened since long before there was the Internet - major events such as the American War of Independence, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler and Mussolini, the post World War II independence struggles, the anti-Vietnam War protests, the fall of the Shah of Iran, the collapse of Apartheid in South Africa, the fall of Marcos in the Philippines and so forth.

After mass availability of the Internet, people such as those in the US, have not been able to fight back against the foreclosure of their homes by the "too big to fail" finance capitalists whom the US government bailed out with public money to the tune of hundreds of billions.

So much for the"power" of the Internet.

IT.Scheiss
http://itsheiss.blogspot.my/

Two-party system at risk of collapse

2016-06-21 18:39

By LIM SUE GOAN
Translated by DOMINIC LOH
Sin Chew Daily

I wonder why seasoned opposition leaders in the like of Lim Kit Siang would commit some serious errors in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar, dealing a fatal blow on the Pakatan while boosting the morale of the opposing camp.

Among the errors was a gross negligence of the 'limitability" of by-elections. And since they were only by-elections, BN could throw in all its resources to promise more developments in a bid to offset any opposition onslaught.

Normally in a by-election the voters will be more concerned about local developments and day-to-day issues. And due to the narrowed scope of a by-election, local issues come more effective than national ones in luring votes.

Pakatan has no doubt positioned the by-elections too highly. Some say the by-elections would determine the success of the agenda to replace the current federal administration while Mahathir saw them as a referendum on PM Najib's public acceptance.

Pakatan has also overlooked the importance of their choices of candidates and approachability to the local residents. BN's candidate for Sungai Besar Budiman Mohd Zohdi is known for his amiability and people=-friendly attitude, and will visit any place of worship including Chinese temples and churches in a bid to dismantle the barrier between him and the voters.

The opposition, meanwhile, has placed too much faith in the power of Internet and overlooked the importance of man-to-man interactions. Undeniably people in rural areas are more passionate about localism and are largely repulsive to brainless political jargon that brands opponents as 'stupid".

Perhaps Pakatan has its own reasons to have committed the same mistakes over and again, including their inability to entice more Malay voters. As a result, they have to resort to the strategy of tirelessly pursuing national scandals to cushion the impact from PAS' draining of their support votes. Pakatan has also banked on Mahathir's influences to make inroads into the Malay areas but this has proven to be a futile attempt.

Pakatan Harapan has hoped to make use of the by-elections to start a powerful anti-establishment in the Malay society, and has therefore exaggerated the importance of these by-elections.

Unfortunately such a strategy has failed. Pakatan has underestimated Umno's grip of its fundamental support base and Malay voters, as well as their loyalty to the party, including that of PAS.

Pakatan's flop could be attributed primarily to its own overpositioning of the by-elections, giving the party members and supporters unrealistically high expectations. The bigger the hopes, the stronger the sense of frustration.

And BN is also happy to borrow Pakatan's own slogans to hit back at it. For instance, communications and multimedia minister Salleh Said Keruak has bragged that BN's thumping victories in these two by-elections have been the public's vote of confidence towards PM Najib.

The humiliating defeat of Pakatan has also exposed the opposition pact's dilemma and conflicts.

First and foremost, Pakatan's biggest problem is its inability to win the hearts of majority of Malay voters. According to news reports, Umno commands 60% of votes in Malay villages, PAS 35% and Amanah 5%.

Despite the presence of a multitude of negative issues, Umno is able to win impressively. Pakatan is unable to break through Umno's protective umbrella concept and this will remain a huge dilemma for the opposition pact for a very long time to come.

Securing under 20% of Malay votes, Amanah has once looked to mixed constituencies to claim its first victories, but even that is no longer a bet now. In Malay areas, with PAS hopping into the picture, that gives Pakatan very little if any hope of winning.

It is anticipated that Pakatan can only pin its hopes on urban constituencies in the coming general elections. Wrestling the federal administration is too distant a dream.

Secondly, the opposition is slowly losing its Chinese support, beginning with Teluk Intan, Sarawak and now the two by-elections.

While more than half of Chinese voters will still support the opposition, the support rate definitely pales compared to the 80% it secured during GE13. Unable to win the hearts of Malay voters and the outflow of Chinese votes may put the Selangor state administration in a very precarious position.

Which ways should the opposition parties be headed to after the by-elections? It appears that PAS doesn't look too worried about this but PKR is beginning to get very worried. The existing situation is highly unfavorable to the party.

If PKR is unwilling to sever its ties with PAS, Pakatan is well on the way to a decisive split, because DAP will never want to let the hudud issue to scare away its fundamental Chinese support.

As a matter of fact, it is a little too late to worry about the Malay votes now, as the general elections will not be too far away.

There are several formulas to break through the current doldrums. A merger of the three parties is a feasible solution. Next, it has to focus on the administration in Penang and Selangor with the hope of boosting its image and luring some votes to its side.

If Pakatan leaders do not have a clear direction for the future, the destiny of the country's hard-earned two-party system will as well be put at risk once again.

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/114463/tid=13

THE INTERNET CULTURE IS A PARIAH CULTURE

I have often times said that the Internet culture is a PARIAH CULTURE and the article by The Mole should tell you why.

The anonymity afforded by the Internet encourages people to indulge their worst characteristics without fear of being identified, thanks to SMART PARIAHS who help to abet their PARIAH activities, all in the name of "privacy" and "freedom".

The Mole article follows below.

IT.SCHEISS

Dark web menace, where everything vile resides


Written by Zaidi Azmi
(The Mole does not endorse and encourage Malaysians to enter the dark web and therefore will not provide any links to the sources and sites that we have visited in the dark web)

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KUALA LUMPUR – June 3, 2016: If Malaysians think that the recently reported paedophiliac news was extremely morbid, then they are in for a rude awakening.

In fact, what most of us probably knew about such disgusting sexual fetish was only the tip of the iceberg.

The shocking reality is that the demand for Austronesian (Malays, Filipinos and Indonesian) children pornography has been steadily rising.

Although these children’s presence in the so-called “dark web” is not as abundance as those of Caucasians or Latinos, ‘caramel kids’ (as they are generally called) were definitely the in-thing among paedophiles.

The dark web is a lawless underbelly of the internet and according to experts, it accounts around 90 per cent of what is vile on the internet.

It is a place where your IT technician would usually warn from going into, and thankfully it cannot be entered thorough conventional search engines.

The dark web can only be accessed via unique web browsers that will conceal your internet protocol address that makes it extremely difficult for anyone to trace and monitor your activities.

The lack of accountability made the dark web a hot bed of criminal activities and it has become the breeding grounds of illicit drug markets and violent paedophilic behaviour.

And the fact that it is not a place for the faint-hearted was absolutely true.

The Mole has discovered that most of the children pornographies littered in the dark web were not your-run-of-the-mill industrial grade porn acted out in studios.

These despicable contents were real sexual abuse videos acted on unwilling victims, usually children aged 5 to 15 years old.

And with the help of a local ethical hacker (who wanted to remain anonymous), The Mole has managed to locate several sites hosting hundreds of videos of kidnapped ‘caramel kids’ being sexually abused.

One of such videos showed a child tied to a wooden stool as he was being tortured and singed.

Shockingly, it garnered almost 14 million views.

It was not disclosed when the torture took place but the video was uploaded two months ago.

Also, there was no telling if the child survived the ordeal.

But what was even more sickening was that some of the viewers, had, during the first time the video was uploaded, suggested other ways of torture in exchange for bit coins (internet money).

“I like the way his nose gave of that red afterglow after being burn,” an anonymous paedophile commented at the comments section of the video.

Another commenter wrote: “I have donated 200 bit coins so please do a video where you shove that d#%*o up his a$$.”

A viewer from another paedophile websites remarked that he wanted “a change of pace”.

“I find these kind caramel kids rather intriguing,” said a viewer using the moniker, SpankRay67.

“I don’t care if you think it’s sickening but I’m not the one doing harm to those Malay or Pinoy or whatever you call them,” the viewer added.

But of course, child-abuse pornography was not the only traumatic contents present in the dark web.

There was even an online cookbook website that teaches its viewers how to cook even human being.

At a glance the site sounded like a sick joke but as The Mole dive deeper into the content, the recipes were nonetheless “dead serious”.

There were pages dedicated in informing viewers which part of flesh was better for what sort of meals and guides on how exactly to cut them.

As if that was not gruesome enough, those who were willing to donate will get to see the host perform live mutilations of human bodies.

So far, despite various claims by several intelligence agencies, it is almost impossible to regulate the dark web.

Among the agencies who made such claims were the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Last year, its director James Comey claimed that FBI)have the technology needed to tail those who enters the dark web.

But IT experts deemed that Comey was not telling the truth and merely trying to bolster the FBI’s image in an attempt to deter criminals.

The reason said by one of those experts, Jose Marcelino Ortiz, was simply because the dark web was specifically and complicatedly built for privacy.

“They do not have the technology to monitor everyone in the dark web,” Ortiz said in a video discussion regarding the matter on Youtube.

“They can only monitor those who have already been previously inflicted by their technology’s malware,” he added.

Even so, Ortiz said that the developer of these dark web portals would always release new patches to strengthen the security and privacy of their search engines.

The Mole had sent Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) an email to inquire whether they have the technology to at least deny Malaysians from accessing the dark web.

So far, there have yet to be any reply, but considering how the FBI themselves seemed to be at their wits end to deal with the menace, it would be highly likely that MCMC was having the same problem.

http://mole.my/dark-web-menace-where-everything-vile-resides/