---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Subramani L <lsubram...@deccanherald.co.in> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 22:04:37 +0530 Subject: FW: The latest issue of BUZZ: IndiaTechonline Newsletter To: lsubramani.v...@gmail.com
-----Original Message----- From: Anand Parthasarathy [mailto:an...@indiatechonline.com] Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 7:11 PM Subject: Fwd: The latest issue of BUZZ: IndiaTechonline Newsletter If you are not able to read the newsletter below, pl click here> http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewNewsletter.php?id=19 <http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewNewsletter.php?id=19> <http://www.indiatechonline.com/images/new-letter-head.jpg> ANAND PARTHASARATHY'S TECH BLOG # 10 A tale of two countries (and two technology issues) Spare a few minutes to see what the government agencies responsible for Information Technology have been up to, in two nations on different continents, but comparable in development status. Brazil has just reinforced its image as the most progressive of nations, when it comes to state-driven policy to encourage the free and open use of software and digital technologies for the general good: It has updated its copyright laws to make the imposition of Digital Rights Management (DRM) illegal in all work that falls in the public domain or where such rights impede fair use. DRM is technology dreamed up by music and movie distribution companies - mostly American - which restricts the use of legally purchased work to specific geographies or a limited range of players. For example, the movie DVD that I borrow from the local British Council library, does not play on most players that are available in the Bangalore market - players contract-manufactured in China, Taiwan etc even if they are ' made in India' . I had to buy a new player from Coby ( an American manufacturer) because the DVDs in the British Council collection are made in the UK, whose publishers ensure that it will only play in Europe and America. The same situation prevails in the music business. Many CDs from leading international labels selling in India, will work on your music player but not on your PC. And you can't transfer tracks to a USB thumb drive so that they can be heard on your MP3 player. That's DRM alive and well in India! But in Brazil they have taken a revolutionary position, that while it is perfectly legal to break DRM ( as long as you don't violate anyone's copyright), it is illegal for DRM to 'break' the public domain of information and entertainment. Back in India, the Maharashtra government has just cast its covetous eyes on all those caller tunes that we Indians download in millions, paying almost a rupee a day for using them - and thus identifying ourselves while expressing our personalities. Innocuous? The Revenue Secretary of the state thinks otherwise. Caller ID tunes entertain, do they not? So they must be charged entertainment tax -- at 25 percent! The proposal is going to the Maharashtra cabinet for approval - and you can bet they will approve it double quick. After all, it's another milch cow to fill the state's coffers without any special effort. And what of the central government? They are making angry noises at Research In Motion, the company behind the Blackberry, because the Canada-based leader in secure messaging devices says it is unable to offer Indian security services a ' back door' to monitor emails and other messages exchanged by its customers in this country. Ensuring the privacy of their customers' traffic is Blackberry's USP - and they are unlikely to hand this over to any one government, when they operate in over 100 countries: they will just withdraw if they are not allowed to function. Indian officials might feel emboldened to push RIM harder, after the actions of the UAE last week which has said it will shut down Blackberry's email traffic. Saudi Arabia, has also threatened to do so- and the latest news is, that RIM may have offered to shift some of its servers to that country. Will they do likewise in India - or do they have a different standard for different nations depending on how much business is at stake? In any case, Blackberry-type services are already under pressure from cheaper options that work with phones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Nokia's Symbian or Google's Android. Many new smartphones promise Blackberry -type email and messaging, without any additional charge. In the US, Android phones have outsold Blackberries. In cost-conscious India, they may do likewise. Brand Blackberry may never dilute; it may just become irrelevant. As Brazil has reminded us last week, governments must be agile in addressing new technology, as it affect their citizens... technology like DRM, which huge corporates dream up, to grow their business at the expense of customers' rights. Understanding such technologies will be more meaningful, will touch ordinary citizens more meaningfully, that shackling Blackberry ever will. IT HAPPENED IN INDIA More on l'affaire blackberry: Why is the maker RIM's college -drop out CEO, suggesting nations seeking to monitor its traffic, do so because they are Internet-challenged ignoramuses without computer science degrees? <http://goog_66372599> http://www.indiatechonline.com/blackberry-and-national-security-297.php Why India's Big Four IT providers may end up helping the US catch illegal Mexican immigrants: Because they are chop-shops, that's why! http://www.indiatechonline.com/charles-schumers-chopshops-296.php myBantu: 'smart' online personal assistant from Indo-US startup http://www.indiatechonline.com/mybantu-online-personal-assistant--295.ph p KBC, aka the Indian avatar of "Who wants to be a millionaire?" returns - after 3 years with a new telecom partner, Idea Cellular: http://www.indiatechonline.com/idea-cellular-to-power--return-of-kbc-gam e-show-294.php Why we say India's so called $ 35 computer is mostly hype: http://www.indiatechonline.com/indian-$35-net-access-device-291.php Are you being 'served' Acer's renewed thrust in the server space, sees 17 products launched in India http://www.indiatechonline.com/acer-india-server-launch-292.php Salaam! Young innovators create robotic farming tractor and other earthy solutions at the Intel India embedded challenge 2010 http://www.indiatechonline.com/intel-india-embedded-challenge-159.php Wah Guru! Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande of Tejas to co chair Us President's Innovation council http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewimage.php?id=158 Technopark, Trivandrum, India's first hardware-software park turns 20. http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewimage.php?id=160 IT'S FOR YOU... IT NEWS YOU CAN USE Small town start-up, Hycus offers India's first free and open web publishing tool http://www.indiatechonline.com/hycus-content-management-system-160.php Kaspersky unveils 2011 Net security tools for lay users in India - and there are some cool desktop gadgets and a beefed up parental control http://www.indiatechonline.com/kaspersky-net-security--tools--2011-161.p hp 40 plus and unmarried? Not to worry! There's a matrimony portal just for you: http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewimage.php?id=161 AVAILABLE IN INDIA: PRODUCT REVIEW If you can mail, it, we'll print it - says HP, with its new e-all-in-one printer range http://www.indiatechonline.com/hp-e-all-in-one-printer-54.php D-Link's new palm sized 3-in-1 wireless networking product is router, access device rolled into one - all for Rs6000 http://www.indiatechonline.com/d-link-pocket-wirelless-router-access-dev ice-53.php INDIA IT... THE NUMBERS THIS WEEK Runaway notebook sales rescue Indian hardware sector from a so-so 2009-10: MAIT study: http://www.indiatechonline.com/mait-hardware-survey-2009-10-59.php All the latest numbers from our exclusively compiled India IT snapshot: http://www.indiatechonline.com/snapshot.php EVENT WATCH Workshop on Cloud Computing Chennai, India August 18-20, IIT Madras, Organised by Computer Society of India Div IV (Communication), Chennai Chapter and SIG-Distributed Systems and IEEE Computer Society, Madras Chapter http://www.csi-chennai.org/wcc/ WiMAX India 2010: 7th International conference and exhibition New Delhi, Aug 20, 2010, Le Meridien hotel http://www.bharatexhibitions.com/english/WiMAX2010subspnsrs.php Cloud Computing Technology Forum Bangalore Aug 21 Hotel Monarch Luxor Organised by Microsoft and Computer Society of India for developers, architects, project managers http://www.csibc.org/ Knowledge Utsav: India's largest R&D conference Bangalore, August 28 2010, Jain University campus Organised by Edu.in with Tumkur University and Jain Research Foundation The single day conference will host around 400 plus paper presentations and nearly 100 talks, and will witness the best in Indian academia ideate, inspire and interact with the delegates. www.knowledgeutsav.org All India seminar on Web Technologies: emerging trends and social impact Kochi, Aug 30-31, International Hotel Ernakulam Institution of Engrs/IEEE/IETE/CSI http://www.ieindia.info/Itempage.aspx?Event_Id=43 Phone contact: 91-484-2390286 Sangam 2010-Oracle user conference Hyderabad, September 3-4 2010, 2010. Presented by the All India Oracle Users Group (AIOUG) www.aioug.org/sangam10.php LTE Asia 2010 Hong Kong September 7 - 8, 2010, Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel, LTE Asia 2010 will be the 5th annual event for the region focusing specifically on LTE . http://asia.lteconference.com/ CONNECT 2010 - The Tenth EditionChennai, September 8-9 2010, Chennai Trade Center, Nandambakkam Forum for Indian Information and Communication Technology Industry (ICT) to confer on latest trends & developments. It has also been designed to showcase Tamil Nadu's capabilities in the sector. http://www.ciiconnect.com/ World Computer Congress Australia Sep 20-23, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, with South East Asia Regional Computer Federation Computer Conference ( SEARCC) www.wcc2010.com <http://goog_66372690> & sea...@wcc2010.com Mobile Value Added Services World Summit Singapore, September 29-30 , Swissotel Merchant Court Developing Strategic Partnership & Best Business Model In Offering Innovative VAS to Optimize Profit and Reduce Churn http://www.symphonyglobal.com/index.php/event/page/mobile_value_added_se rvices CAT-iq developers conference Eindhoven The Netherlands October 19-20 CAT-iq is the IP Broadband successor of DECT (DECT 6.0). Next to telephony (with HD-Voice) CAT-iq will be used for home automation/connected home, smart grid and in ultra low power use. <http://goog_66372699> www.catiqconference.com Connecting the Next Billion: Regulator's Summit Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov 2 2010 www.connectingthenextbillion.com 4th Annual Connecting Rural Communities Asia 2010 Forum Jaipur, November 16-18 Le Meridien Organized by Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO). The theme for the conference is Broadband Access for Rural Communities. http://www.events.cto.int/CRCAsia2010 Are you organising an upcoming conference or trade show in the Middle East/Asia/Pac region that will interest the Indian infotech community? Send us the details in a mail to feedb...@indiatechonline.com with Event Watch in the subject line and we will be happy to feature it in this section. TECHIES TIMEPASS Prince of Persia: Your dad played it on his first PC - now you can explore the dungeons in the latest version ( and see the big screen film, while you are about it) http://www.indiatechonline.com/prince-of-persia-forgotten-sands-review-1 58.php POSTED 2010-08-09 Buzz comes to you from www.indiatechonline.com Your guide to information technology in India Please do not reply to this e-mail as it is unmonitored. However we do value your feedback. To send us your feedback, email us here feedb...@indiatechonline.com To stop receiving this newsletter, you may unsubscribe now feedb...@indiatechonline.com. Email secured by TPML Electronics = Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with disability bill at: http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. 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