I Am Blogie

One reason why censorship won’t work 100% — not even in China — is that people will always look for a way around it. People have an intrinsic drive to be free, and to freely avail of information. To satisfy this, technology is readily available to anyone who needs it.

I was fortunate to have met Robert Guerra of Freedom House, an NGO that monitors (among others) press freedom in the world, in Hong Kong and then in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. In an effort to help spread the gospel of Internet Freedom of Expression, his team has compiled a set of instructional videos on how to use the technologies mentioned above. Here’s one of them:

From Mr. Guerra:

As part of our project on promoting freedom of expression through technology and circumvention tools, my team has produced a series of simple, easy to understand video tutorials on how to use some of the leading anti-censorship tools.

Our aim is to not only help facilitate the promotion of existing circumvention tools, but also encourage the development of new creative materials that will make circumvention tools cool, trendy and popular to a wider internet audience.

We would appreciate your help in sharing these videos with your friends, colleagues and networks. Our collection of videos can be found on YouTube.

For security reasons we have also created versions of the video tutorials that have had all references to Freedom House removed. The anonymous videos are available here.

When repressive governments in some parts of the world deemed it necessary to impose Internet censorship, they made use of such righteous rationale as ‘protecting against evil’ or ‘shielding the people from harmful content.’ But we all know those reasons were just a ruse, to put it lightly. Case in point: the Great Firewall of China. In Iran and North Korea, as well, their governments have Internet censors in place — and we know those are countries with authoritarian regimes.

Last January in the U.S., I attended a series of conferences and meetings where the main topic was Internet freedom, and where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a policy speech on America’s stand on this basic right. Together with me were bloggers and journalists from China, Iran, Lebanon, and from them I learned first-hand how censorship — no matter how seemingly noble the apparent objective — is counterproductive and anti-development.

Yesterday, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which is mandated to regulate digital networks in the Philippines, declared that it is requiring ISPs (as well as down-line providers of Internet connectivity) to monitor, deter, and report on child pornography occurring on the Internet. This directive is by virtue of RA 9775, which seeks to prosecute crimes of child pornography in the Philippines. By and in itself, this Republic Act is deserving of the people’s wholehearted support. Congress should be lauded for passing such a law.

However, the means by which this administration hopes to implement RA 9775 — by sanctioning State-sponsored censorship — do not inspire confidence at all. There are technical as well as moral considerations here.

It would cost an arm and a leg to implement the NTC directive. ISPs would have to spend huge sums of money and man-hours to install software that will monitor the millions of websites that Filipinos visit each day. And you can expect that the telcos and their distributors will pass on the cost burden to us, the consumers. The investment won’t only be in the software required by NTC, but also in the acquisition of larger bandwidth pipes to accommodate the expected gigantic load that running the software will definitely entail. That is, if the ISPs are so inclined.

Otherwise, we would suffer considerable Internet access slowdown, if not intermittent down times. You see, the NTC directive states that ISPs must run the monitoring and censoring of websites 24/7. Meaning, each website that you access will have to pass through the censor before you are able to view or interact with it. Imagine the overload! Let’s say one web page is 100kb, and the average number of pages accessed per day is 100; then let’s consider a sample population of 100,000 people. That’s a total of 1 million kilobytes or 1 gigabyte — and that’s a very conservative estimate.

If ISPs do not upgrade their infrastructure in order to accommodate the expected overload, they will most probably have to sort to heavy caching of websites. Simply put, what this means is, if you access Inquirer.net today, the news you read next week will probably be the same as today’s!

Now, the moral issues. Censorship is an evil. It curtails freedom of expression and it is repressive. Enough said.

What about privacy? Yes, there are also privacy issues at stake here. The NTC, in the draft of its implementing guidelines, has stated that it will require logging of what it considers illegal access (which is also resource intensive, by the way). And by logging, does this mean that personal information is to be included? Hmmm… that smacks of China’s Green Dam initiative, doesn’t it?

Think about this. How come First World countries do not impose censorship? They certainly have the resources. I hope that you, and those in our government, will take the time to read Hillary Clinton’s Internet freedom speech. You’ll see why the Americans, the British, the French (whose government also nearly tried to put Internet censors in place) respect freedom of the people.

We should be vigilant. We should not allow our rights and freedom to be trampled upon. That’s not to say that we allow pornography to run rampant. My point is, this band-aid reaction by the NTC is rubbish. It won’t solve — not even by a long shot — the problem of child pornography on the Internet. If our government is sincere in addressing this social blight, they would do well to go to the root of it and not resort to superficial measures that will prove harmful to freedom.

(Now, just to be clear, I’d like to qualify what I mean by “freedom” here: our God-given liberty of self-determination.)

[Media Release]

The Tattoo embodies three core principles of HTC Sense: Make it Mine, Stay Close, and Discover the Unexpected

Mobile communications frontrunner HTC Corp. today introduces the HTC Tattoo™, an Android-based phone that brings high personalization to a broader market. With its distinct design and the ability to personalize programs on the phone — from its applications as well as content — people are able to express themselves and create their own individual mobile experience.

“Everyone wants their own phone to feel like it was specifically made for them. The Tattoo, with HTC Sense, represents an easy way to shape your own distinct mobile experience and really make it your own,” said Peter Chou, HTC Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer. “The HTC Tattoo ensures that you can create the most engaging and appropriate mobile experience through simple yet powerful personalization.”

HTC Tattoo is the second phone to embody a mobile experience focused on putting people at the center by making your phone work in a simpler and more natural way, otherwise known as HTC Sense™. Designed by listening to and observing how people live and communicate, HTC Sense revolves around three fundamental principles: Make it Mine, Stay Close, and Discover the Unexpected.

With HTC Tattoo, you stay close to the important people in your life by integrating your communications and applications, including voice calls, emails, texts, photos, and status updates into one consolidated view, while providing innovative and fun mobile phone experiences.

The stylish HTC Tattoo is small and compact, fitting snugly into your hand or pocket. You stay fashionably chic with its lightweight design and easy-to-navigate keys. Its touch-screen interface alongside the four-way navigation control and enter button, make browsing your phone seamlessly sophisticated.

HTC Tattoo integrates Google’s innovative mobile services including: Google Maps, search, Google Mail, and Android Market where users can download thousands of popular applications and games. It also comes complete with a broad variety of hardware features including a 3.2 mega pixel camera, 3.5mm stereo headset jack and expandable microSD™ memory.

Pricing and Availability

The new HTC Tattoo is now available in thoughtful silver at all authorized resellers at a suggested retail price of ₱14,990 and is available with Globe Telecom through Plan 1,800, which comes with one month free subscription of Super Surf. The standard retail HTC Tattoo package comes with a 2GB microSD™ card.

HTC Tattoo™ At A Glance

[Media Release]

Sales of electronic products worldwide are set to rise sharply in the next 10 years. And, unless action is stepped up to properly collect and recycle materials, many developing countries, like the Philippines, face the spectre of hazardous e-waste mountains – which include old and dilapidated desk & laptop computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo & music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions. Needless to say, these pose serious consequences to the environment and public health. This scenario gives a new urgency of creating awareness and future establishment of ambitious, formal, and regulated processes for collecting and managing e-waste through the setting up of efficient recycling facilities.

In its bid to be proactive and forward-planning, ICT Davao, Inc. (IDI), an umbrella organization of all information and communication technology groups in Davao City, has taken on the challenge of the e-waste problem and turning it into an e-opportunity.

Creating Awareness

ICT Davao has created a video ad campaign for public viewing to create awareness about the growing e-waste disposal issues for developing cities such as Davao. The tagline, “Davao Can Do!” maintains that advocacy endeavors such as this is doable, hence, uniting all Dabawenyos to participate in this city-wide proactive campaign.

Lastly, as part of its commitment to the Earth Day Network Philippines 2010‘s 10-million movement, IDI supports the importance of addressing climate change and protecting the environment, and that it requires both individual and collective action. Hence, IDI’s e-Tapok event is leading the call for companies and communities in the city to compliment the prevailing theme, Hamon ng Panahon, CLIMATE CHANGE, 10 Milyung Solusyon (Kilos Na! Ngayon Na!) of the Philippines’ Earth Day Celebration. This is a call for all Dabawenyos to sign their pledges by visiting the IDI website (www.ictdavao.org) and help us achieve our target of 10,000 pledges which will be Davao’s contribution to the 10-million movement.

Concrete Action & Sustainability

The awareness campaign will be put into action by creating an avenue at the Damosa Market Basket Canopy area in Lanang through the “e-Tapok e-Waste Weekend Collection Event” from April 24 to 25, 2010, the weekend after the worldwide celebration of Earth Day on April 22, 2010. Apart from e-waste collection, the event aims to gather the private sector, academe, and public government officials, to create an effective web of advocacy influence. Other activities include:

1. targeting 10,000 pledges for the signature campaign;
2. unveiling of “e-waste art monster”;
3. photo wall;
4. viewing of documentary films.

In its plan for an effective and sustainable project, ICT Davao aims to continue its information awareness, complementing advocacy efforts of SM City’s Monthly Waste Collection Fair and NCCC’s Buy Back Fair, and spearheading a move to urge the City Government to establish an efficient and professionally-managed recycling facility to complement regulations on collecting and managing e-waste. At the end of the day, the project aims to be a catalyst among organizations to start adapting “green IT practices” and in recognition of these efforts, possibly an incentive-driven reward.

Sponsors & Advocacy Partners

This advocacy effort will not be possible without the support from the following: Anflocor and Damosa Land Inc., InkTech, NCCC Mall and NCCC Cares, Home Channel Network, Bayan Telecommunications Inc., Amon Marketing Corporation, Brokenshire College, Southeast Software Solutions Corporation, Youth for Environment & Peace (YEP), Creative Factory, Digital Interface, Mindanao Bloggers, Davao City Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc. and Basureros de Davao, Philippines-Australia Human Resource Development Foundation (funded by AusAID), Office of Councilor Mabel Sunga-Acosta, and the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

Please sign the “Davao Can Do!” petition today!

Davao City’s northern commercial district, centered around the Damosa area, has been rapidly developing these past few years. It is particularly encouraging to see the flourishing of food & beverage establishments in Damosa Gateway and Market Basket. And, one notable addition is a branch from a Cebu-based chain: Pino! Restaurant.

Pino! is decidedly Filipino, with such favorite dishes as the kaldereta, laing and pinakbet. Of course, Filipino cuisine has heavy Spanish influences, and so they also have callos and other such delicacies. By all accounts, this restaurant is clearly committed to serving excellent food, as attested by their very name. What’s more, I’m quite pleased to report that their sinigang — my #1 comfort food — is truly a treat! The vegetables were cooked just right, and I love how they made the soup sour with tamarind and tomatoes.

Located at the Damosa Gateway commercial center (right beside Tsuru Japanese Restaurant) in Lanang, Pino! is a breath of fresh air in Davao’s restaurant scene. The interiors and the décor are easy on the eyes, and the place is really comfortable and well-appointed. You’ll notice that their table settings are meant for groups and families.

I went to Pino! last week with my poker buddy, Hannah, who’d been there a couple of times before. We had baked scallops (₱48/100g) for appetizer, and sinigang na baboy (₱225), which turned out to be good for 3 people, and callos (₱185). I love callos, and Pino! serves it in all its authentic yumminess.

For rice, we ordered Javanese rice (₱185), also a hefty serving good for 3. I found it very tasty (the Kikkoman and the shallots) and filling (lots of minced meat and eggs). I was expecting, though, that it would be spicy, but it wasn’t. Pino! is also known for their Bamboo rice, which is mixed with vegetables and meat and steamed inside a bamboo pole.

The service at Pino! was admirable. I could see that they took care to serve their patrons well. I hope they maintain this level of customer service.

For a limited time, they’re offering buffet lunch and dinner at very affordable prices. Judging by the number of items on the buffet table (appetizers, main courses, desserts), I’d say it’s well worth twice what they charge!

Pino! opened its doors to Dabawenyo diners last December 2009. They’re open daily from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM. They are open even on holidays (except Good Friday).

Unfortunately, this restaurant has already closed shop for good.

Some of my blogs were recently hacked into, so I decided to implement this particular security measure that I’d long heard of but never really bothered to get around doing. The hacking attempts are what’s termed as zero-day SQL injection attacks. Basically, two things happened:

• In several blogs of mine, users with admin access were inserted without my knowledge.
• In one blog, a number of my latest posts were deleted at the application level (not the database level) — meaning, the posts were erased manually, presumably because they were able to gain access to my dashboard with admin rights. (Good thing WP has a recycle bin!)

What I did was to change all my database tables’ prefix from wp_ to something else (for our purposes, let’s use “somethingelse_“). According to some WordPress plugin developers, having your database tables named with a prefix other than wp_ increases your site’s security by preventing malicious insertions. Simply put, hackers out there know that WordPress db tables are prefixed by “wp_” by default, so that it’s fairly easy for them to create scripts that can wreak havoc in your database.

So then, this is what I did for all my blogs. I renamed all my databases’ tables (wp_options, wp_users, wp_posts, etc.) so that they would all have a new prefix. I even went as far as using a different prefix for each database. Then, so that WordPress would know what the new prefix was, I redeclared it in wp-config.php. Like so:

[php num=51 highlight_lines="58" toolbar="false"] /**
* WordPress Database Table prefix.
*
* You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a
* unique prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
*/
$table_prefix = 'somethingelse_';
?>[/php]

I made a rather serious mistake, though. What I actually did was to download the database from phpMyAdmin (using the prescribed db backup procedure) and modify the downloaded .sql file. I used a text editor to rename all references to wp_ to somethingelse_. Then, I dropped the tables from the database and inserted new ones using the modified backup. Problem was, I also inadvertently renamed some database meta keys in the somethingelse_postmeta table, which caused some rather alarming changes to my blogs. For example, the meta keys _wp_attachment_file and _wp_attachment_metadata were also renamed to “_somethingelse_attachment_file” and “_somethingelse_attachment_metadata”. That caused all my images to lose their meta information and resulted in WordPress not knowing which thumbnails were associated with which images anymore! Solution: I renamed all instances of _somethingelse_ back to “_wp_” in the somethingelse_postmeta table.

Something else happened that confirmed to me that the hacking was a zero-day SQL injection attack. Just when I completed the renaming of my database tables for all my WordPress installations, one of the databases suddenly acquired a new set of tables!! There they were, new tables prefixed by wp_ alongside the real db tables. The wp_users table contained an admin user with a bogus email address — imagine what those hackers could’ve done to my blog if I hadn’t implemented this security measure. How my databases were intruded upon, however, still remains a mystery as of press time…

N.B.: While you should be aware that the meta keys in the somethingelse_postmeta table should remain with their _wp_ prefixes, the meta keys in the somethingelse_usermeta table should be prefixed by whatever new prefix name you’ve chosen. And, there is an entry in the somethingelse_options table that’s originally called wp_user_roles. If you do change your table prefix to something else, make sure that that entry is also renamed to somethingelse_user_roles.

The process is quite involved, I know. But this security measure is urgently recommended if you mean to keep your WordPress installation(s) safe from hacking attempts.

The AngDabawenyo.com site has been online for 3 years now, and to freshen it up a bit, I’ve decided to publish a directory of Davao businesses. The purpose of this is to help promote the city’s various hotels, restaurants, shops, spas and other types of businesses that involve the delivery of services.

The planned directory will be organized by type of business, and will display the following information per listing: name of establishment, address, telephone & fax numbers, website URL (if available), a brief description, and even a company logo. There will be no charge for getting your business listed on AngDabawenyo.com, but I will reserve the right to refuse submissions as I see fit.

Right now, I have a Choice Spots section here. Once I get enough submissions, I will recreate that section into the new directory. I’m thinking of putting in place a feature that will allow my blog readers to rate the establishments. If you have other ideas, or if you’d like to suggest a new category of business establishments, please use the Contact Form. I’d really appreciate your feedback.

Let’s get on with it! Submit your business now!

ICT Davao Inc. (IDI), the umbrella organization of all information and communications technology associations in Davao City, is spearheading a truly worthy endeavor to help protect the environment. Recognizing that its particular industry is a huge contributor to e-waste, this organization has mounted this campaign to hopefully stave off environmental damage. Such damage, caused by irresponsible dumping of electronic waste (junked computers, mobile phones, etc.), is already a global concern.

The proponents of this advocacy are currently campaigning for 10 million signatures. In order for our political leaders to pay attention to the seriousness of environmental problems, it is imperative that an overwhelming number of advocates join the effort. If you believe in this campaign — it doesn’t matter whether you’re from Davao or not — please lend your support by signing the online petition. Please click here to view the petition (you will see a link for signing near the bottom of the page). Leave your mark and be heard!

There is also a community site that details the advocacy, as well as a Facebook page. It would certainly help if you could display the badge below on your own blogs / websites:

Visit 10 Million Movement

If you take a look at the Facebook page, you’ll learn about the upcoming event, Davao’s e-Tapok e-Waste Collection Event, on 24 & 25 April 2010. I hope to see a lot of bloggers there — the venue will be announced on the FB page.

It would be very fulfilling indeed if this initiative were replicated in other cities of Mindanao, as well as the rest of the Philippines!