Arguments for and against the Philippine Cybercrime Law

Does the Philippines need a cybercrime law? Yes, but the current one still has some issues that legislators need to resolve, says online safety and security consultant Sonnie Santos.

Editor’s note: We earlier featured a news and opinion piece on the Philippine Cybercrime law, notably online activist Tonyo Cruz’ take on the temporary restraining order issued against the Cybercrime Law late in 2012. In this syndicated guest article, online safety advocate Sonnie Santos pitches in with the pros and cons of the said legislation, in view of the pending expiry of the TRO.

Update: Interaksyon reported that Atty. JJ Disini said two possibilities could arise from the Supreme Court decision: one, that some of the controversial provisions could be struck down by the high court due to unconstitutionality; and two, that the entire law will be scrapped through a doctrine known as “facial invalidity,” prompting Congress to draft a new version of the law.

We all know that implementation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or Republic Act 10175 is suspended due to 16 petitions filed against it at the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Oral arguments are set for today, and if TRO will not be extended, implementation is likely in February.

Though public opinion is against the cybercrime law, it is better to be  informed objectively of the facts of both sides so we can make an intelligent conclusion, rather than join the mob blindly. Now what are the arguments for or against the law?

Why we need a cybercrime law

Aside from the obvious reasons that we need to protect the citizen from abuses not  covered by the e-Commerce act of 2000, Anti-child pornography act of 2009 and Anti Photo and Video Voyeurism act of 2009. The Philippines’ need to align itself to the Budapest Convention for international cooperation in cybercrime enforcement and investigation. Furthermore, the biz sectors clamor for a law that will protect their interests.

The crimes stipulated in the suspended Republic Act 10175 are as follows:

A. Offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems

• Illegal access to the whole or any part of a computer system without rights
• Illegal interception of any non-public transmission of computer data to, from, or within a computer system
• Data interference such as alteration, damaging, deletion or deterioration of data without rights, including the introduction or transmission of viruses
• System (computer or computer network) interference
• Cyber-squatting or the acquisition of a domain name over the Internet in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same
• Misuse of devices

B. Computer-related offenses

• Computer-related forgery (input, alteration, or deletion of data) without rights resulting in inauthentic data, with the intent that it be considered or acted upon for legal purposes as if it were authentic
• Computer-related fraud (input, alteration, or deletion of data or interference in the functioning of a computer system) causing damage
• Computer-related identity theft or the acquisition, use, misuse, transfer, possession, alteration or deletion of the identifying information of another person

C. Content-related offenses

• Cybersex or the engagement, maintenance, control, or operation of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system
• Child pornography or the unlawful acts as defined and punishable by Republic Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 committed through a computer system
• Unsolicited commercial communications which seek to advertise, sell, or offer for sale products and services
• Libel or unlawful acts as defined in Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code

D. Others

• Aiding or abetting in the commission of cybercrime
• Attempt in the commission of cybercrime

E. Corporate liability

• If any of these offenses are knowingly committed by a natural person on behalf of or for the benefit of a juridical person, the latter shall be held liable for fines enumerated above up to a maximum of PHP 10,000,000.
• If, for the benefit of the juridical person, the offense was made possible because of a natural person’s failure to supervise or control, the former shall be held liable for fines enumerated above up to a maximum of PHP 5,000,000.

Why the current form of the cybercrime law is thought to be in bad taste

1. The cybercrime law is a special law – According to  Atty. Mel Sta. Maria, special laws dont need a criminal mind to be convicted. In short, good faith or lack of intent to do harm is not a defense. Therefore, liking or retweeting potentially libelous posts can get you in trouble.

2. section 4 - The law includes libel as crime and increased its penalty, but failed to define how the crime can be committed.

3. section 5 - Facebook likes and retweets can be a violation of the cybercrime law.

4. section 6 - The 1st “catch-all provision” makes the crime committed under the revise penal code graver with the use of technology.

5. section 12 - Allows the law enforcement agencies the work around to monitor our online activities without our knowledge.

6. section 19 - The take-down clause violates due process.

7. section 20 - The 2nd “catch-all provision” clause is also known as the draconian rule of martial law.

8. Aside from libel, another supposed crime that violates freedom is cyber sex, because even legit couples are prohibited from engaging in that.

There is no doubt we need a legal framework to fight cyber crime, but this should not violate our right to privacy, due process and freedom of expression. I hope the supreme court will have wisdom to deal with what is best for the country.

Must read articles

• Cyberauthoritarianism 101 by Atty. Theodore Te
• How the cybercrime law criminalizes likes and tweets by Atty. Mel Sta. Maria
• Why PNoy should veto the cybercrime bill

About the author

Sonnie Santos is a digital HR consultant and cyber wellness coach. He runs the Web Safety Philippines (WSPH) Training and Consultancy Services, through which he imparts wisdom and practical knowledge on safe and secure use of IT resources in the workplace, school and home.

This article originally appeared on WSPH, and was re-published with permission.

The post Arguments for and against the Philippine Cybercrime Law appeared first on e27.

Link to full article

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Arguments for and against the Philippine Cybercrime Law

Does the Philippines need a cybercrime law? Yes, but the current one still has some issues that legislators need to resolve, says online safety and security consultant Sonnie Santos.

Editor’s note: We earlier featured a news and opinion piece on the Philippine Cybercrime law, notably online activist Tonyo Cruz’ take on the temporary restraining order issued against the Cybercrime Law late in 2012. In this syndicated guest article, online safety advocate Sonnie Santos pitches in with the pros and cons of the said legislation, in view of the pending expiry of the TRO.

Update: Interaksyon reported that Atty. JJ Disini said two possibilities could arise from the Supreme Court decision: one, that some of the controversial provisions could be struck down by the high court due to unconstitutionality; and two, that the entire law will be scrapped through a doctrine known as “facial invalidity,” prompting Congress to draft a new version of the law.

We all know that implementation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or Republic Act 10175 is suspended due to 16 petitions filed against it at the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Oral arguments are set for today, and if TRO will not be extended, implementation is likely in February.

Though public opinion is against the cybercrime law, it is better to be  informed objectively of the facts of both sides so we can make an intelligent conclusion, rather than join the mob blindly. Now what are the arguments for or against the law?

Why we need a cybercrime law

Aside from the obvious reasons that we need to protect the citizen from abuses not  covered by the e-Commerce act of 2000, Anti-child pornography act of 2009 and Anti Photo and Video Voyeurism act of 2009. The Philippines’ need to align itself to the Budapest Convention for international cooperation in cybercrime enforcement and investigation. Furthermore, the biz sectors clamor for a law that will protect their interests.

The crimes stipulated in the suspended Republic Act 10175 are as follows:

A. Offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems

• Illegal access to the whole or any part of a computer system without rights
• Illegal interception of any non-public transmission of computer data to, from, or within a computer system
• Data interference such as alteration, damaging, deletion or deterioration of data without rights, including the introduction or transmission of viruses
• System (computer or computer network) interference
• Cyber-squatting or the acquisition of a domain name over the Internet in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same
• Misuse of devices

B. Computer-related offenses

• Computer-related forgery (input, alteration, or deletion of data) without rights resulting in inauthentic data, with the intent that it be considered or acted upon for legal purposes as if it were authentic
• Computer-related fraud (input, alteration, or deletion of data or interference in the functioning of a computer system) causing damage
• Computer-related identity theft or the acquisition, use, misuse, transfer, possession, alteration or deletion of the identifying information of another person

C. Content-related offenses

• Cybersex or the engagement, maintenance, control, or operation of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system
• Child pornography or the unlawful acts as defined and punishable by Republic Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 committed through a computer system
• Unsolicited commercial communications which seek to advertise, sell, or offer for sale products and services
• Libel or unlawful acts as defined in Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code

D. Others

• Aiding or abetting in the commission of cybercrime
• Attempt in the commission of cybercrime

E. Corporate liability

• If any of these offenses are knowingly committed by a natural person on behalf of or for the benefit of a juridical person, the latter shall be held liable for fines enumerated above up to a maximum of PHP 10,000,000.
• If, for the benefit of the juridical person, the offense was made possible because of a natural person’s failure to supervise or control, the former shall be held liable for fines enumerated above up to a maximum of PHP 5,000,000.

Why the current form of the cybercrime law is thought to be in bad taste

1. The cybercrime law is a special law – According to  Atty. Mel Sta. Maria, special laws dont need a criminal mind to be convicted. In short, good faith or lack of intent to do harm is not a defense. Therefore, liking or retweeting potentially libelous posts can get you in trouble.

2. section 4 - The law includes libel as crime and increased its penalty, but failed to define how the crime can be committed.

3. section 5 - Facebook likes and retweets can be a violation of the cybercrime law.

4. section 6 - The 1st “catch-all provision” makes the crime committed under the revise penal code graver with the use of technology.

5. section 12 - Allows the law enforcement agencies the work around to monitor our online activities without our knowledge.

6. section 19 - The take-down clause violates due process.

7. section 20 - The 2nd “catch-all provision” clause is also known as the draconian rule of martial law.

8. Aside from libel, another supposed crime that violates freedom is cyber sex, because even legit couples are prohibited from engaging in that.

There is no doubt we need a legal framework to fight cyber crime, but this should not violate our right to privacy, due process and freedom of expression. I hope the supreme court will have wisdom to deal with what is best for the country.

Must read articles

• Cyberauthoritarianism 101 by Atty. Theodore Te
• How the cybercrime law criminalizes likes and tweets by Atty. Mel Sta. Maria
• Why PNoy should veto the cybercrime bill

About the author

Sonnie Santos is a digital HR consultant and cyber wellness coach. He runs the Web Safety Philippines (WSPH) Training and Consultancy Services, through which he imparts wisdom and practical knowledge on safe and secure use of IT resources in the workplace, school and home.

This article originally appeared on WSPH, and was re-published with permission.

The post Arguments for and against the Philippine Cybercrime Law appeared first on e27.

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Startup Labs to pay the Philippines a visit this February

Startup Labs is visiting 25 countries this year as part of its co-investment program in emerging markets. First stop is the Philippines, with a pitching session in February.

Startup Labs, a global co-investment program for technology startups, has announced that it will come to the Philippines in February. The fund is currently in talks with partners that have expressed interest in opportunities in the Philippines, such as ICCP Venture Partners, Siemer & Associates and independent angel investors.

Startup Labs is seeking interested startups and entrepreneurs to be part of the pitching session. Applications are until January 20, while the pitching sessions are scheduled for the first week of February.

Startup Labs director Tugce Ergul has expressed optimism in the Philippine startup ecosystem, saying the market is exciting and full potential can be reached once the ecosystem and investors are aligned. “We will be mixing the local investors’ expertise with a global Silicon Valley and the Philippine context. The ecosystem is very young and there’s a lot of market fragmentation but this only makes things more exciting for us.”

The global seed-stage investment fund focuses on emerging markets and co-invests with local investors in their respective markets, while running post-investment bootcamps for entrepreneurs. For 2013, the fund plans to visit 25 cities around the world, with an aim of bringing together at least 100 local investors to fund 125 or more deserving startups in emerging markets.

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Startup Labs to pay the Philippines a visit this February

Startup Labs is visiting 25 countries this year as part of its co-investment program in emerging markets. First stop is the Philippines, with a pitching session in February.

Startup Labs, a global co-investment program for technology startups, has announced that it will come to the Philippines in February. The fund is currently in talks with partners that have expressed interest in opportunities in the Philippines, such as ICCP Venture Partners, Siemer & Associates and independent angel investors.

Startup Labs is seeking interested startups and entrepreneurs to be part of the pitching session. Applications are until January 20, while the pitching sessions are scheduled for the first week of February.

Startup Labs director Tugce Ergul has expressed optimism in the Philippine startup ecosystem, saying the market is exciting and full potential can be reached once the ecosystem and investors are aligned. “We will be mixing the local investors’ expertise with a global Silicon Valley and the Philippine context. The ecosystem is very young and there’s a lot of market fragmentation but this only makes things more exciting for us.”

The global seed-stage investment fund focuses on emerging markets and co-invests with local investors in their respective markets, while running post-investment bootcamps for entrepreneurs. For 2013, the fund plans to visit 25 cities around the world, with an aim of bringing together at least 100 local investors to fund 125 or more deserving startups in emerging markets.

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Thai Co-working Space Hubba Feels Homely, Expanding to Chiang Mai

Bangkok’s first co-working space, Hubba, is popular among Thai entrepreneurs and freelancers. Located in the very happening Ekkamai area, Hubba is 300 square meters in area and can fit up to 70 people simultaneously. The co-working space now has 60 active members and co-founders Amarit Charoenphan and Charle Charoenphan expect to hit 150 members by March. Some of the startups housed at Hubba include Creativemove, Infinit Closet, Computerlogy, and Pheromone Studio.

The walk from Ekkamai station to Hubba feels a little long, especially under the hot sun. But all is forgotten when you arrive at the homely ground of Hubba. It even feels a bit like a house, which makes it cozy to work in.

Hubba doesn’t just stop at Bangkok, and will soon be expanding to Chiang Mai. Amarit told me:

We are expanding to Chiang Mai via our partnership with Pun Space due to our belief in the potential of the city, given the large amount of talented graduates in programming, large expat freelance community setting up tech and web companies. We plan to expand to four spaces in 2013.

Besides running the co-working space, Amarit and Charle also act as event organizers, helping organizations such as Thumbsup and e27 to run events locally in Thailand. The duo also run events like Startup Weekend, Startup Outing, and Jellyweek 2013, which is happening this week.

So if you’re in Bangkok and looking for a cozy space to work, head over to Hubba:

Address:
19 Soi Ekkamai 4, Sukumvit 63 Rd.
Prakanong Nua, Wattana
Bangkok, Thailand 10110

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Buy wall posters online from Delhi based startup, Carmocrat

We love to see our movies, music, literary, fantasy and sports icons on our wall. During my school days, I had a tough time looking for Kurt Cobain’s poster in Patna. Nowadays, I can just go online and buy one of them from Flipkart, Infibeam and PosterDuniya, or recently launched Carmocrat.

Carmocrat is an online store which offers posters across entertainment, lifestyle and people categories. Consumers can choose posters spanning across different brands and sizes. Currently, the site deals only in Hollywood movies, music icons and celebrities.

Rohan Jairath, the co-founder of Carmocrat says that the company doesn’t offer Bollywood posters right now because of copyright issues. “The issue boils down to copyright. We realize that there is great demand for posters of Bollywood actors and movies, as well as sports like cricket but we don’t have licenses for them at the moment,” Jairath told NBW.

Carmocrat does sell a few Bollywood posters made by designers under the brand “The Poster Imposter Inc.”

The Delhi based startup sources posters and merchandise from third party distributors and all are licensed and copyrighted with legal permission to sell them. Carmocrat does not reproduce any of the images on its own, said Jairath.

Presently, the venture is being bootstrapped by founders and has 65,000 page views since its inception in August 2012 with 4,000 unique visitors every month. The startup claims to have 20% of its visitors are directed to the site via Facebook and shipped over 150 orders.

In coming months, Carmocrat plans to expand its offerings to printing custom posters , and collaborate with amateur photographers in categories such as nature, wildlife, landscapes and black and white, to retail their work.

“We also plan to enter into the customization business wherein consumers can send us their photographs of special occasions such as family vacations, birthdays etc for printing and framing”, concluded Jairath.

There are a bunch of other startups doing prettymuch the same thing. Like for instance Bangalore based OyeBazaar, PosterGully, student startup Bluegape which sells Customized Posters Online.

Related posts:

1. PosterGully brings posters online, not just another brick in your wall
2. Buy Posters & Canvas Prints Online on OyeBazaar, Bangalore based startup
3. Student Startup, Bluegape sells Customized Posters Online, Sells 5,000 Posters in 5 months

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Kleii expands to Australia to be Asia’s cloud storage solution

Cloud storage solution, Kleii, recently expanded its operations to Australia. Co-founder Nguyen Tuan Son shares more about what it takes to build a successful cloud storage service.

Building a cloud storage platform is not an easy task. Dropbox was one of the first to break into the consumer cloud storage space, followed by Box. Over in Asia, Kleii aims to take advantage of the opportunities in the region by being the consumer cloud solution for the region. By understanding their Asian customers, Kleii has been able to build a strong following in a space that is being dominated heavily by its Western competitors.

Just three months after launching their web application, Kleii hits 100,000 registered users. That number has tripled over the past three months.

With its Western competitors having a head start over Kleii, the team at Kleii are not shying from analysing what their competitors are doing and adapting their strategies to a market that they understand better. Spotting an opportunity with student users, Kleii launched a similar campaign to Dropbox’s Space Race, focusing heavily on education institutions in Asia.

Kleii announced on its blog that it is expanding its services to Australia with a new data center in Sydney. e27 caught up with co-founder Nguyen Tuan Son to find out more about the latest expansion and what it takes to run a cloud storage platform in Asia.

Kleii recently expanded its operations to Australia, can you share with us the strategy behind this expansion?

First of all, we always wanted to become a world class operation. We are growing quite fast and well in Vietnam and Southeast Asia countries. Now, we would love to expands our service to Australia, where cloud computing takes a stronger meaning in Australia today. In the next two years, we want to become the leading cloud computing service in Asia and Australia. The strategy at this point of time is simple. Southeast Asia first, then Asia, then Australia, and move on.

What user traffic does Kleii see on a daily basis?

Now we have around 30,000 visitors with around 80,000 page views per day. Since we launched six months ago, 300,000 users have registered to use our service. More than 4TB of data are transferred everyday. Our users love to upload their documents, music and videos to Kleii since we allow to stream multimedia files to any devices. 70 percent of our users are from Vietnam and Southeast Asia, the rest are from Japan, America and Brazil.

Protecting users’ data is important for Kleii, how does the team manage this?

We do our best to ensure that our users’ data are secured in three ways:

Secured storage

We encrypt the files that you store on Kleii using the AES-256 standard, which is the same encryption standard used by banks to secure customer data. Encryption for storage is applied after files are uploaded, and we manage the encryption keys. Kleii uses the highly durable Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for data storage.

Secured transfers

Your files are sent between Kleii’s desktop clients and our servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, the standard for secure Internet network connections. Your files are sent between Kleii’s mobile apps and our servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL encryption where supported. Your data are sent between your browsers and our servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL encryption.

Data back-ups

Kleii keep redundant backups of all data over multiple locations to prevent the remote possibility of data loss. In the unlikely event that this redundancy were to fail, Kleii’s folders linked to a desktop computer client will still contain copies of your files (except files you’ve chosen not to sync using Selective Sync).

What made you choose Amazon Web Services for Kleii?

Amazon Web Services is a wonderful cloud computing infrastructure for any company. As a new startup such as Kleii, it was wise to choose a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services as we can save tons of time and money needed to build and manage our own infrastructure. Furthermore, with help from the Amazon Web Services team, Kleii can grow faster by focusing on building our vision and product. Based on the existing infrastructure of Amazon Web Services, Kleii was able to build and scale our system to multiple continents and serve customers worldwide. Kleii is using Amazon CloudFront with Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3 for the AWS Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region.

Amazon Web Services supports technology startups through its AWS Global Start-up Challenge. Find out more about how you can be part of it.  Go to http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge/2012/ to find out who the 2012 finalists are!

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Kleii expands to Australia to be Asia’s cloud storage solution

Cloud storage solution, Kleii, recently expanded its operations to Australia. Co-founder Nguyen Tuan Son shares more about what it takes to build a successful cloud storage service.

Building a cloud storage platform is not an easy task. Dropbox was one of the first to break into the consumer cloud storage space, followed by Box. Over in Asia, Kleii aims to take advantage of the opportunities in the region by being the consumer cloud solution for the region. By understanding their Asian customers, Kleii has been able to build a strong following in a space that is being dominated heavily by its Western competitors.

Just three months after launching their web application, Kleii hits 100,000 registered users. That number has tripled over the past three months.

With its Western competitors having a head start over Kleii, the team at Kleii are not shying from analysing what their competitors are doing and adapting their strategies to a market that they understand better. Spotting an opportunity with student users, Kleii launched a similar campaign to Dropbox’s Space Race, focusing heavily on education institutions in Asia.

Kleii announced on its blog that it is expanding its services to Australia with a new data center in Sydney. e27 caught up with co-founder Nguyen Tuan Son to find out more about the latest expansion and what it takes to run a cloud storage platform in Asia.

Kleii recently expanded its operations to Australia, can you share with us the strategy behind this expansion?

First of all, we always wanted to become a world class operation. We are growing quite fast and well in Vietnam and Southeast Asia countries. Now, we would love to expands our service to Australia, where cloud computing takes a stronger meaning in Australia today. In the next two years, we want to become the leading cloud computing service in Asia and Australia. The strategy at this point of time is simple. Southeast Asia first, then Asia, then Australia, and move on.

What user traffic does Kleii see on a daily basis?

Now we have around 30,000 visitors with around 80,000 page views per day. Since we launched six months ago, 300,000 users have registered to use our service. More than 4TB of data are transferred everyday. Our users love to upload their documents, music and videos to Kleii since we allow to stream multimedia files to any devices. 70 percent of our users are from Vietnam and Southeast Asia, the rest are from Japan, America and Brazil.

Protecting users’ data is important for Kleii, how does the team manage this?

We do our best to ensure that our users’ data are secured in three ways:

Secured storage

We encrypt the files that you store on Kleii using the AES-256 standard, which is the same encryption standard used by banks to secure customer data. Encryption for storage is applied after files are uploaded, and we manage the encryption keys. Kleii uses the highly durable Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for data storage.

Secured transfers

Your files are sent between Kleii’s desktop clients and our servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, the standard for secure Internet network connections. Your files are sent between Kleii’s mobile apps and our servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL encryption where supported. Your data are sent between your browsers and our servers over a secure channel using 256-bit SSL encryption.

Data back-ups

Kleii keep redundant backups of all data over multiple locations to prevent the remote possibility of data loss. In the unlikely event that this redundancy were to fail, Kleii’s folders linked to a desktop computer client will still contain copies of your files (except files you’ve chosen not to sync using Selective Sync).

What made you choose Amazon Web Services for Kleii?

Amazon Web Services is a wonderful cloud computing infrastructure for any company. As a new startup such as Kleii, it was wise to choose a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services as we can save tons of time and money needed to build and manage our own infrastructure. Furthermore, with help from the Amazon Web Services team, Kleii can grow faster by focusing on building our vision and product. Based on the existing infrastructure of Amazon Web Services, Kleii was able to build and scale our system to multiple continents and serve customers worldwide. Kleii is using Amazon CloudFront with Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3 for the AWS Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region.

Amazon Web Services supports technology startups through its AWS Global Start-up Challenge. Find out more about how you can be part of it.  Go to http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge/2012/ to find out who the 2012 finalists are!

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M-Story: A Personal Finance App From Korea With iCloud Integration

Readers may remember that I was very enthusiastic about Japanese finance application Zaim. And while I’m pretty happy with that app, I was curious to come across a Korean-made alternative called M-Story.

From Korean developer ParkPill, the iOS app boasts one interesting feature that caught my attention in particular, that being the ability to export all your data to a CSV file, which can then be used in your preferred spreadsheet program (Excel, Numbers, or Google Spreadsheets).

In comparison to Zaim, M-Story doesn’t require you to add too much information. It just asks you to specify what you bought and how much you paid for it. While M-Story has been around for a while, it recently added iCloud backup and Retina display support as well, both big pluses. There’s a lock feature to ensure your finances are kept private, which I suppose would come in handy to anyone who doesn’t implement iOS’s normal lock screen ¹.

Unlike Zaim, M-Story is a paid application for iPhone and iPad. But at just 99 cents, it still looks to be a bargain. I recommend you give it a try and let us know what you think. I’m looking forward to giving it a test run over the next few weeks.

The folks over at Japanese tech blog AppBank have created a short video demo which you can check out below. The interface here is in Japanese, but the app comes in English too.

---

1. I’m not sure why anyone would not use the lock screen though.

   ↩

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4,000 Years of Chinese Culture Culminates in this Online Slang Dictionary

So now we’ve figured out that the internet won’t bring universal freedoms to China and got all that disappointment out of our systems, perhaps it can at least bring some lulz. A startup site called Xinci.so wants to help people figure out all the Chinese slang and faddish humor that pervades the web, which often resembles some sort of hyperconnected playground of childish insider gags.

Xinci – which could be translated as “new dictionary” – is basically a version of UrbanDictionary, packed full of user-submitted Chinese slang terms. So far it has 4,000 entries, which is a bit short of UD’s seven million English terms, but it’s a start.

Click to enlarge.

If Xinci can gather a devoted clique of regular uploaders, then the site should become the go-to place for the web’s wisecracks. For those baffled by all the slang, Xinci can inform you that “3Q” is a jokey way of saying “thank you” in Chinese (say it “san q”), or that “cai niao” is a “noob”, especially referring to a newcomer on the web. Though if that needs explaining to you, then you’re the noob, obviously.

With UrbanDictionary getting such huge traffic – 15 million visits a month – it might not be a bonehead move to make such a silly site. Xinci’s founder is Jason Gui from mainland China, who’s a graduate of Penn, an Ivy League school, so he’ll have a business plan in mind. Indeed, he told Chinese tech blog 36Kr yesterday that it’s a serious project for him, and he’ll soon start to monetize it. For now, Xinci has no ads and is available in both simplified and traditional Chinese versions, with an English iteration promised.

(Source: 36Kr – article in Chinese)

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Rumor: Jack Ma to Retire from Alibaba This Year

Could 2013 be the year when a Chinese tech legend rides off into the sunset of retirement and (one assumes) maybe a little venture capitalism on the side? Maybe! A story in China Newsweek says that according to company insiders, Alibaba CEO and founder Jack Ma is planning to leave Alibaba at some point during 2013, and that the company’s management has already prepared for the transition.

Mr. Ma himself was a bit more cryptic about his intentions, but his comments to the magazine certainly also seem to imply his impending departure:

I have done Alibaba for 13 years, and if I don’t stop, I will lose out on other dreams. I don’t know which dream is best, but I think I should take advantage of the opportunities [I have], otherwise in the future they may no longer be available to me.

In other words: all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

We have contacted Alibaba for confirmation or comment on this story and will update it if we hear back.

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Failed kidnap incident inspires mobile safety app Watch Over Me

Chin Xin-ci, co-founder of mobile personal safety app, Watch Over Me, has a story to share.

Back in May 2012, Xin-ci was the talk of the town after nearly being abducted in her own car. Her Facebook note detailing how she escaped from the ordeal of being restrained in her own car by two men spread like wildfire, with over 50,000 shares. The incident took place at the multi-storey car park of The Curve, a shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur, that she frequents.

“Given what happened to previous similar cases, I know I would have been sexually assaulted and killed if I did not escape in time,” she shared.

She suffered from depression for months after the incident, and it dawned upon her that many women take safety for granted, especially in familiar surroundings.

“Safety is a concept that does not exist, especially for urban women. Almost every woman has the experience of calling a friend when they are places that they feel unsafe,” the former freelance social media engagement specialist said.

Xin-ci recognizes that this is a need that has to be addressed, so in October 2012, she decided to join her co-founder, James Khoo, in developing the security tracking mobile application.

Watch Over Me, previously known as SecQ.me (pronounced “secure me”), automatically triggers an alert for help in case of an emergency without the need for user intervention. It is available both for Android and iPhone.

Users register an event whenever they are engaging in a potentially dangerous situation. The app prompts users to provide useful information, like a text or voice message with a taxi’s serial number, a photo of a stranger they happen to be meeting for dinner, and a duration estimate. When users doesn’t “end an event” after the duration estimated, the app tracks using GPS, and issues a call for help.

Ever since joining the team, Xin-ci has been drawing learning points from the kidnap incident to make the design of the application more user-friendly. She has created the option of having pre-saved options to make registering an event less of a hassle.

The target market of the mobile application right now is concentrated on Malaysia and other Asian markets, where Watch Over Me will be partnering with local media to promote the mobile application. However, the beta type of the application is available worldwide and has more than 30,000 downloads. Its main target audience is urban women who often have to commute alone.

The effort of Watch Over Me does not end there. The team will be launching an extension of the app that is meant for parents to watch over their children by end of January.

About the author

Jasmine is currently based in Silicon Valley under the NUS Overseas College programme. She interns at Love With Food, a Silicon Valley startup, and attends Techno-entrepreneurship classes at Stanford University. As a double major student in Communications & New Media, and English Language, she is always on the lookout for the new stories and hypes in the tech scene. When she is not busy pimping Love With Food or writing articles, she would be enjoying herself at musical festivals or hunting down a good cup of chai latte.

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Failed kidnap incident inspires mobile safety app Watch Over Me

Chin Xin-ci, co-founder of mobile personal safety app, Watch Over Me, has a story to share.

Back in May 2012, Xin-ci was the talk of the town after nearly being abducted in her own car. Her Facebook note detailing how she escaped from the ordeal of being restrained in her own car by two men spread like wildfire, with over 50,000 shares. The incident took place at the multi-storey car park of The Curve, a shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur, that she frequents.

“Given what happened to previous similar cases, I know I would have been sexually assaulted and killed if I did not escape in time,” she shared.

She suffered from depression for months after the incident, and it dawned upon her that many women take safety for granted, especially in familiar surroundings.

“Safety is a concept that does not exist, especially for urban women. Almost every woman has the experience of calling a friend when they are places that they feel unsafe,” the former freelance social media engagement specialist said.

Xin-ci recognizes that this is a need that has to be addressed, so in October 2012, she decided to join her co-founder, James Khoo, in developing the security tracking mobile application.

Watch Over Me, previously known as SecQ.me (pronounced “secure me”), automatically triggers an alert for help in case of an emergency without the need for user intervention. It is available both for Android and iPhone.

Users register an event whenever they are engaging in a potentially dangerous situation. The app prompts users to provide useful information, like a text or voice message with a taxi’s serial number, a photo of a stranger they happen to be meeting for dinner, and a duration estimate. When users doesn’t “end an event” after the duration estimated, the app tracks using GPS, and issues a call for help.

Ever since joining the team, Xin-ci has been drawing learning points from the kidnap incident to make the design of the application more user-friendly. She has created the option of having pre-saved options to make registering an event less of a hassle.

The target market of the mobile application right now is concentrated on Malaysia and other Asian markets, where Watch Over Me will be partnering with local media to promote the mobile application. However, the beta type of the application is available worldwide and has more than 30,000 downloads. Its main target audience is urban women who often have to commute alone.

The effort of Watch Over Me does not end there. The team will be launching an extension of the app that is meant for parents to watch over their children by end of January.

About the author

Jasmine is currently based in Silicon Valley under the NUS Overseas College programme. She interns at Love With Food, a Silicon Valley startup, and attends Techno-entrepreneurship classes at Stanford University. As a double major student in Communications & New Media, and English Language, she is always on the lookout for the new stories and hypes in the tech scene. When she is not busy pimping Love With Food or writing articles, she would be enjoying herself at musical festivals or hunting down a good cup of chai latte.

The post Failed kidnap incident inspires mobile safety app Watch Over Me appeared first on e27.

Link to full article

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