Review on a post on LEGAL

It is a fact that the rate of piracy problem in Malaysia is quite high and we are still in the US Government’s Special 301 Watch List for the seventh year running.

From the post from My E-commerce blog, it is clear that our government did put some efforts in fighting against the piracy problem.
However, to fully eradicate this problem, I think we should find out the root causes of the piracy problem and tackle with these causes.


The FACTORS causing the above problem are as follows:

1. The low or middle income level of our citizens

• Most of the income levels of our citizens are still within the low or middle level, especially during this economic crisis period.

• Most of them are unable to buy the expensive genuine products.
  

• Instead, they may compare the cost and benefits of a product before they acquire it.
  

• Consumers who cannot afford the high-price originals will be willing to tolerate with the lower quality pirated products.

2. Social influence

• Peer pressure from the social group you involved in may affect you in buying counterfeit products.
  

• If the social groups you are involved in are less likely to buy the original products, your ethical concepts may be affected where buying pirated products is not a wrong act.
  

• And, if you are already very familiar with the environment of using pirated products, you may find that using an original product may be a weird behaviour to you.

3. “Sharing” principle of Asian region

• Due to this principle, the consumers may perceive that counterfeiting is just a soft crime and it is socially acceptable.
  

• Although knowing that buying pirated products may subject to fine or imprisonment, most of the consumers still do not take serious concern on this matter.

The two-way approach introduced by out government actually does help in tackling the second and third causes of the piracy.
Nonetheless, the first cause can only be solved by improving the overall life quality of our citizens and economy of our country.


It is very important to bear in mind that the factor that drives the growing production of pirated products is the increasing demand of the consumers.
Without these demands, there may be no pirated products at all.
Therefore, in order to solve the piracy problem, the authorities have to face the root causes mentioned above in advance.



Reference:

CONSUMER PURCHASE OF PIRATED VCD: DO NON-PRICE FACTORS MATTER?

Pros and Cons of E-learning

Electronic learning (E-learning) is a broad term of technology-enhanced learning(TEL) where technology, particularly computer technology is used to support the learning process. In other words, that is a specific mode to attend a class where students seldom attend face-to-face on campus as they study online.

In Malaysia, not all universities truly offer a 100% E-learning. E-leaning is still in its infancy stage in Malaysia and the study found that local students prefer paper lecture notes and tutorial questions. Other than that, inadequate technical training, insufficient equipment, and no incentives for innovation also contribute to the problem of E-learning in Malaysia Universities.

Advantages of E-learning

Convenience and flexible to students

Students are not bound to a specific time or days to attend class. They can adjust accordingly at their convenience. For instance, some students may need to work at day time so they can continue to learn at night time without sacrificing their academic.

Save costs

E-learning actually helps to eliminate wasted time and money. Imagine a student who lives very far away from campus, he needs to spent more on transportation and it is time consuming for him to go to campus everyday. If he can learn at home, this definitely will reduce the costs.

Environmental friendly

E-learning is a paperless activity. It can help saving the trees. With virtual notes instead of paper notes, E-learning is reducing environmental impact.

Disadvantages of E-Learning

Accessibility

Every student must be able to access to internet in order to accomplish E-learning. Besides, certain computer skills and knowledge are also needed, such as word processing and internet surfing. The student must also be very comfortable with computers.

Speed of internet

In Malaysia, the bandwidth is always an issue for internet users. Although there are many internet service providers in the market, rarely one of them can actually provide consistent high speed internet. If E-learning is to be conducted in universities, the speed of internet will be a big issue for all the students.

Motivation

E-learning may require students to complete assignments on their own. Thus, students need to be highly motivated and responsible as they have to finish the task in individual.

Effectiveness

Lecturers and tutors may not be available when students need their help. The effectiveness of E-learning is then questionable. Besides, students might cheat on the assignment or coursework since everything is done online and not physically.

References:

A comparative study on the effectiveness of E-learning at Malaysian University

Disadvantages of e-learning

E-learning in Malaysian Public Universities : UKM and UTM

Corporate Blogging

As the competition among corporations becomes more intense, not only do the companies need to survive, they also need to look for opportunities to be conspicuous.

Even though traditional media has been a solid medium that communicates the company messaging to the world for a long time, the trends of information consumption are evolving.

After some initial doubtfulness, companies are starting to realise the importance of blogging.

According to a research, 61 companies out of the Fortune 500 companies or 12.2% of the Fortune 500 are blogging as of 17 April 2009.


Corporate blog refers to blog that is published and used by organisation to attain its organisational goals.

The main advantage of blogs is that readers can reach and follow the posts and comments easily since the hosting is centralised and conversation threads are generally structured.

At present, all major browsers such as Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 8 support RSS technology, which allows readers to read new posts easily without having to visit the blog. This is particularly useful for small-volume blogs.

Generally, there are six types of corporate blogs, which are sales blog, relationship blogs, branding blogs, knowledge blogs, collaboration blogs and culture blogs. These blogs can then be classified into either external or internal.


Internal blogs

Internal blogs are blogs that can be viewed by any employee and are usually accessed through the corporation’s Intranet. Internal blogs include knowledge blogs, collaboration blogs and culture blogs.

External blogs
External blogs refers to blogs that are made public where company employees, teams and spokespersons share their views. Sales blogs, relationship blogs and branding blogs fall under this category.

For more information about these six types of blogs, please visit http://www.corporateblogging.info/2004/08/six-types-of-business-blogs.asp.

Benefits of corporate blogging

I) Build rapport with customers

II) Provide two-way conversation

III) Increase website traffic from higher search engine rankings

IV) Position business as thought leader

V) Lead generation

For more information, please visit http://buzzmedia.com.my/blog/corporate-blogging-breakdown-what-is-it-and-why-does-my-organisation-need-it

Tips for corporate blogger

1) Know yourself

2) Know your audience

3) Engage your audience

4) Stay current

5) Cover your rear

For more details on tips for corporate blogger, please click here.

Followings are some of the more popular corporate blogs:

Google Blog

Adobe

Direct2Dell

GM Fast Lane

The number of corporate bloggers is increasing and it is expected that it will continue to increase in the future.

In order to compete with other corporations and keep up with the trends, corporations should start blogging if they have not done so.

In conclusion, corporate blog is a new, powerful marketing communication tool for every organisation.

Regardless of whether the organisation is small or large, small medium enterprises or corporations, for-profit or non profit organisations, as long as it is done correctly, corporate blogging can yield a huge Return on Blog.

References:

Corporate blog - Wikipedia

Do's and don'ts of corporate blogging

Top 15 corporate blogs

Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

Want to go for a movie on the coming weekend and you feel irritating to queue for the purchase of movie tickets? It is the time for you to purchase your movie tickets online!!

Golden Screen Cinema (GSC) offers the customer with the e-ticketing service named GSC E-Payment Ticketing on the GSC main website. All you need to do is sign up to become the member and you can enjoy the service.

In my opinion, there is a user friendly feature provided by the GSC to the new users which is the “e-payment ticketing tutorial”. This tutorial could be easily found in the website and it provides a clear step-by-step tutorial on how to purchase the movie tickets online.

Other than that, right after the step of selecting movie, there will be a pop up box to remind the consumers about the age restriction of the movie. For me, it is important as consumers might not be aware of the restriction and a pop up box brings the consumers' attention to the age restriction.





The service allows the consumers to pay via Maybank2u and credit card. Furthermore, there is “status page” at the end of the transaction which allows us to print out the hard copy as evidence of payment. The status page provides clear instruction about the collection of the ticket (such as remember the confirmation ID and the place to collect the ticket) which I think is very useful to avoid the consumers’ confusion during the collection of purchased ticket.


I am satisfied with the e-ticketing service provided by GSC as it provides a user friendly and easy environment for the consumer to purchase movie ticket online.



Reference:

Golden Screen Cinema Online

Pre-paid cash card for consumers

What is a prepaid cash card?

Basically, pre-paid cash card is an alternative way to make payment. It works by loading money into the card and you can use the card for various or specific paying purposes. It does not require deposit account and there is no credit or overdraft allowed. The limit of the card depends on how much electronic cash you have loaded in.

The application of prepaid cash card could be broken into a few categories:

1. Substitution of cash

- Prepaid cash card can be used as a paying or purchasing mechanism. We can pay by using this card rather than cash. It is convenient for the consumers because they do not need to carry much money when shopping. Other than that, it is safer than cash because we can recover the money loaded inside the card if the card gets stolen but stolen cash is usually not recoverable.

2. Purchase online

- Pre-paid cash card acts similarly with credit card which allows us to purchase items online. Online purchasing will be the future trend and it is usually not convenient for those people who are unable to register for a credit card. Pre-paid cash card can solve this problem as there is no requirement for salary or credit check during the application.

3. Accepted worldwide

- Usually, currency like Ringgit Malaysia can only be used to trade in Malaysia. However, present pre-paid cash card with Visa service allows us to pay for goods or services all over the world. A very popular example will be the Rush Visa Card in America.

4. Withdraw cash

- Most of the pre-paid cash card allows us to withdraw the balance in the card at ATM machine. However, it does not apply to all pre-paid cash card. The example of non-refundable pre-paid cash card will be the Touch and Go card of Malaysia.


Reference:

No Checking Or Savings Account? Use Prepaid Cash Card

Master Prepaid Card

Credit Card Debts : Causes and prevention

Credit card is a common and convenient tool provided by commercial banks to let consumers purchase on credit.


Yet, the situation is getting worse that most of the consumers misuse the credit cards and cause heavy credit card debts until they go into bankruptcy.




Credit card debts problems come from few reasons.

First, the availability of credit card. The rules and regulations to apply credit cards are looser than before. Some banks even charge 0% of interest on the credit card balance in order to get your business done. This is very seductive and people always get trapped although they do not need credit card.

Other than that, advertisement does play a role too.
The society tends to satisfy their desire at the moment, thus, credit cards advertisement would advocate their wish to apply for it.

Besides, people often think that credit card is one of the ways to represent their social status. For instance, other will think that one is very rich if one has platinum credit card. So, a number of people will apply for credit card and try to upgrade it.




Preventions:
Here are some tips to avoid credit card debts:

1. Pay the balance in full. You are advised to pay at least double of the minimum payment every month; otherwise the debts will keep rolling until you cannot afford to pay it.


2. Know your interest rate. Always keep checking the interest rate you are paying for your debts. Not only the interest rate you are offered but also when you get the approval. Sometimes credit card issuers will raise your interest rate with little warning.


3. Pay on time. Bear in mind that credit card issuers might raise your interest rate as a penalty in case you pay late. Always settle the payment before the bill is delivered to you to avoid extra unnecessary fine.


4. Do not depend on credit card. Bring some cash with you and try not to use credit card always. Swipe it only when you have planned it properly.


5. CUT IT ! Cut off your card so that you do not use it. But, whenever it is necessary, keep at least one as emergency backup.





References:

How to avoid credit card debt

Credit card debt prevention

Electronic Currency

Money has existed for thousands of years.
It has taken many forms, ranging from precious metals, conch shell etc. to paper notes and coins.

As Internet and computer become more common, money has evolved into a newer form, which is electronic currency.

Electronic currency, which is also known as electronic money, digital money etc., refers to money or scrip that is exchanged only electronically with the use of computer networks, Internet and digital stored value systems.


Followings are some of the examples of electronic currency:

PayPal

In today’s world, many companies are providing electronic currency services.
One of them is PayPal.
PayPal is a well-known leading online account-based e-payment service provider.
Users need to create a PayPal account before they are able to purchase online or transfer money to anyone who has PayPal account.
Payment can be made in any currency and may later be converted into any desired currency.




There are some characteristics which define “Electronic Currency”.

i) Real time & irreversible

ii) Private & anonymous

To know more on the characteristics of e-currency, please click here.




Advantages of electronic currency:

I) Privacy & confidentiality

Since the transfer of electronic currency is done privately and anonymously, no personal details are transferred to the merchant.

II) Security

The adoption of encryption method can enhance the security of electronic currency.

III) Convenience

Customers do not need to bring large amount of cash with them. Users can make online payment wherever they are and whenever they want using credit card size smart card.



Disadvantages of electronic currency:

I) Fraud

Hackers may hack into the user’s bank account and illegally retrieve his or her records.

II) Peer-to-peer double spending risk

Double spending is a problem where a piece of electronic currency is duplicated and both copies are spent.


Requirements of electronic currency system:

a) Security

b) Anonymity

c) Scalability

d) Acceptability

e) Interoperability

For a detailed explanation on these requirements, please click here.




In this digitalised century, electronic currency is becoming more common and popular as it makes our life much easier.
Even though there are some risks associated with electronic currency, consumers can actually choose to avoid it.
For instance, they can opt to include intermediary in their transactions to avoid peer-to-peer double spending risk.
Once the electronic currency industry is able to guarantee the safety and trustworthiness of the transactions, it will definitely benefit us.






References:

Electronic money - advantages and disadvantages

Electronic money - Wikipedia

What is digital currency: digital money & real cash

Mobile Payment Systems in Malaysia

Mobile Payment Potentials

There are 25 million mobile phone subscribers in Malaysia with 88% of the Malaysian population subscribing to mobile phone services.

With this high penetration rate, there is no doubt that Malaysia is provided with immense opportunities to deliver mobile payment products that offer fast, simple, convenient, cost-effective, or even efficient method of delivering financial service in the remote areas.

Besides, having 55 million deposit accounts in the Malaysian banking system also reflects that a high percentage of Malaysian population have participated in the banking system of Malaysia.

With the high rates of mobile subscribers and participation in banking system, the potentials of the mobile payment system is clearly shown.


Consumers’ adoption strategies

1. Interoperability and collaboration between industry players, such as mobile operators and banks play a crucial role in realizing the potentials of mobile payment.

• By developing a common infrastructure and standard, an easily accessible, open and lively payment ecosystem will be created and this will certainly attract more consumers to join.

• Maxis Communications launched the world’s first contactless mobile payment service, Maxis FastTap, which is an integrated mobile payment service that uses NFC, together with the partners Nokia, Visa, Maybank and Touch ‘n Go on 9 April 2009.

2. Releasing the economic benefits, such as cost-effectiveness and efficiency gains that customers and businesses seek, by offering new and innovative mobile payment products will also encourage the consumers to adopt the mobile payment system.

• Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc (NYSE:SY), has been selected by Celcom to power AirCash, an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) based mobile financial service to Malaysian customers.

• It enables the customers to transfer money locally and internationally, airtime topup, mobile payments for utility bills, mobile commerce and others.

3. Building security and authentication standards in the mobile payment system will eliminate the worries of consumers when adopting this system.

• Mobile Money, a PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution desiged by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd, allows the registered users the pay the merchants using mobile phones coupled with a 6-digit security PIN via SMS without needing to physically present at the store.

• It removes the need to disclose individual’s credit card information when taking online orders.

• Mobile digital signature also provides confidentiality, authenticity and integrity using mobile payment for the delivery of financial services.

References:

1. Governor’s Keynote Address at the Mobile Digital Signature Symposium 2008 –“Towards a More Efficient Payment System: Electronic Payments"

2. “World’s first contactless mobile payment system” launches in Malaysia

3. Mobile Money (MM Wallet) Overview

4. Sybase 365 Launches First USSD Mobile Financial Solution in Asia Pacific Region

Internet security -Favourite Passwords Used Online

I choose the post entitled “Favourite Passwords Used Online”.

After I read this post, the first thing came into my mind is that the public users awareness on internet security are low. The password for emails, e-banking account, e-market and others is very important because it protects the personal identity of the user from being stolen. However, it seems that there are still large number of users do not realize the important of password choices and the selected password shows zero imagination which could be easy prey by another unauthorised person.

Some of the websites have discovered this problem and inserted the “password strength” module into the user sign up process right beside the password column. The purpose of this module is to notify the users about the strength of the password (weak or strong) chosen by them. G-mail is one of those who provide this kind of service.









Other than the tips stated in the article to create a safer password, there are also something we should avoid when choosing a password:

a) Don't use keyboard patterns (asdf) or sequential numbers (1234).
b) Don't use a password that contains personal information (name, birth date, etc.)
c) Don't use repeating characters (aa11)

There are other tips for password creation; you may refer to https://www.google.com/accounts/PasswordHelp for further reading and information.

Other than that, you can also refer to http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologynews/view/408503/1/.html for technology news about the Favorite Passwords used by the internet users.

It is always better to be wise during the selection of password as it is our responsibility to protect our identity and defend the internet security.

References:

Technology News: Favourite passwords: "1234" and "password"

How safe is your password?

Remove DANGER from personal and financial data

Personal data^[1]

- All information about a loving, identifiable individual.
It includes the individual's name, address, age, gender, telephone number, identity number, financial status, occupation, personal identification numbers (PINs) and others.


Financial data

- Examples are bank account information, credit card information and others.


How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

1. HAVE A STRONG ACCESS CONROL

• In order to ensure a stronger security, users are advised to have a wiser password.

• A combination of letters, numbers and symbols will increase the difficulty for the thief to figure out your password.

• Active tokens and passive tokens also do a big favour in this matter.

• Besides, the biometric system offers a more accurate authentication by recognising a person through physical trait, for example fingerprint, iris, facial and voice recognition.

2. USING PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE (PKI)

• It is a cornerstone for secure e-payment.

• Users should encrypt their private data to protect data in transit.

• Public key encryption, Digital Signature and Certificate Authorities are examples of encryption.

3. IMPROVE YOUR COMPUTER SECURITY

• To reduce the risk of exposing to those internet threats and attacks, users are recommended to use some useful tools, such as the anti-virus software, spyware or setting up a strong firewall.

• This can protect users' personal and financial data from the nefariousness.

4. LOWER YOUR CREDIT CARD LIMIT

• When purchasing online or using mail orders, it may be easy for other intended person to steal and use you credit card information.

• By using a low limit credit card, you can be saved from paying huge amount of payment for others without knowing it.

5. BE ALERT

• Users are advised to check their monthly bills in order to discover any unusual transactions done using their credit cards.

• Scanning computer regularly can detect the viruses or worms which have intruded into the computer.

• Users should be careful when receiving anonymous's mails and do not simply open them.

• Before giving out any sensitive data, users should verify the validity of any request for personal data independently.

Reference:

1. Safeguard Your Financial Life

Phishing: Examples & its prevention methods

As the usage and popularity of Internet increase, the security of Internet is also being threatened.

Many security issues have arisen recently as hackers are attempting to steal personal information from the users.

One of them is phishing, which is a process of duplicating a genuine Web page in the attempt to obtain personal information such as username, password, bank account and credit card details.

This is normally done by sending a deceptive e-mail claiming to be from an established legal entity with a reasonable request, such as authenticating one’s personal information and account details.

When users click the hyperlink in that e-mail, they will be directed to a sham Web site asking for their personal information. ]

Once they enter their information, the information will be stolen.

Here is a simple example of how that works.

http://www.google.com.my

By looking at the link above, we will think that it will direct us to Google’s Web site.
However, when you click on it, you are directed to Hotmail's Web site.
This is done by editing the html coding.


Phishing e-mails usually claim to be from any bank, eBay, PayPal or credit card companies. The e-mails will either state that the user has won a huge amount of cash prize and needs to follow the steps to claim the prize, or that the user needs to verify their personal or account details to prevent their account from being closed or deleted.
The earliest recorded mention of phishing was on the alt.2600 hacker newsgroup in January 1996, even though the term may have appeared earlier in the printed hacker magazine 2600.


Below are some of the examples of phishing e-mails and Web sites:

Phishing eBay Web site



















Phishing eBay e-mail












Phishing PayPal Web site




















Phishing PayPal e-mail



Phishing Citibank Web site




















Phishing Citibank e-mail

The number of phishing scams is increasing dramatically.
Therefore, we need to take certain steps to avoid being a victim.
A simple phishing scam can be revealed easily.


The followings are some ways to detect phishing scam:

I) Never click on the link provided in the e-mail

II) Look for misspelled words or grammatical errors

III) Not get panic by the content of the e-mail

A more detailed explanation can be found here.



As for a more sophisticated phishing scam, there are few ways to prevent phishing attacks.

1) Detect and block phishing Web sites in time

2) Enhance the security of the Web sites

3) Block phishing e-mails through different spam filters

4) Install online anti-phishing software

For more information on these four methods, please click here.




References:

Phishing - Wikipedia

Online detection and prevention of phishing attacks

Online Security Threat : How safe is our data?

Online security threat, is one of the issues that concerns many people. We must aware of the threats we are facing only then we can avoid from the trap.

Basically, cyber attacks include accidental actions, malicious attacks and online fraud.

ACCIDENTAL ACTIONS

This threat is avoidable because it arises from basic lack of knowledge about online security concepts and other such as poor password choices, accidental disclosure or outdated software. Other than that, misconfigured security products and information leakage resulting from insecure information transfer also contribute to the online security threats. Thus, education can help innocent online users from this threat.

MALICIOUS ATTACKS

These attacks specifically aim to harm targeted prey. For instance, computer virus, phishing, denial-of-service (DOS) attack, distributed denial-of-service (DdoS) attack, worm as well as trojan horse.

Computer virus

It is the most common form of malicious code which the program or a fragment of code replicates by attaching copies of itself to other programs. For example, the Melissa virus/worm which first spotted in March 1999 caused about $ 80 million in damage worldwide. This virus was embedded in WORD document and would be sent out as an attachment to the first fifty people in the e-mail. Besides, ‘ I LOVE YOU’ virus which was found on May 2000 also caused great impact in worldwide.

Phishing

Phishing is a social engineering attack that the electronic identity is misrepresented in an attempt to trick individuals into revealing credentials. This threat will be discussed in more detail in the later post.

Denial-of-service attacks (DOS) and Distributed denial-of –service (DDoS) attack

DOS involves one computer attacking another but they are growing into DDoS which attacks with the use of multiple computers in a highly organized form. A DDoS attacks by overwhelming the server with plenty of messages that seem normal. They will send a list of internet protocol (IP) addresses to the target machines which are under their control. When everything is ready, the attacker will give order to the machines to send data packets against the given IP using false identities. This process is called ‘sproofing’.

ONLINE FRAUD

Online fraud consists of identity theft and data theft.

Identity theft is basically about the attackers use a victim’s name to open an account using false identification. Then, the attacker will use the account to do what he plans to do. Besides, data theft is the manipulation of private data without the victim’s knowledge.

The example of online fraud is the Cisco Systems case in April 2001 which the two workers transfer stock share to their private portfolios.

Threats are everywhere. Be carefull and cautious.

Reference:

Major Online Security Threat