New Border Security Act Can't Stop Employment Visa Misuse

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The recently introduced  US-Mexico border security bill -- that aims to raise $600 million by allowing a massive increase in the fees on H-1B and  L1 visas -- has two distinct effects. While it provides more money to the U.S.government to fight illegal immigration from Mexico, it also makes onshore IT outsourcing more attractive.

This is because by raising the H-1B and L1 visa fess by $2,000 per head per year (thus making these visas as expensive as $3,000-$5,000 -- depending on the attorney and premium processing fees -- the bill has made the import of foreign labor that much more expensive.

However even as this bill has dealt a major blow to the offshore ( mainly India's) IT outsourcing services companies, the onshore service providers -- who should be cheering the sudden misfortune of the competing offshore providers -- are hardly pleased.

According to them, the $2,000 hardly dents the cost-competitiveness of the offshore rates, even as H-1B and L1 visas would continue to be used as an effective tool for importing cheap labor and keeping the onshore labor rates suppressed.

Christopher Hytry Derrington is founder and CEO of Rural America Onshore Outsourcing, which  provides onshore IT outsourcing services at 25-40 percent less than U.S. urban labor.

"This fee adds a very small amount to the hourly overhead of the talent," said Derrington. "This is pure political posturing and doesn't address a bigger issue impacting the rural onshoring industry. The elephant in the room is the "guest worker program" (importing workers through the H-1B and L1 visa route) that allows U.S.companies to hire thousands of [skilled workers] from abroad and even [from the] USA on student visas, very, very cheaply and offering their services at rates undercutting the IT labor market."

The H-1B visa program allows American companies and universities to employ temporary foreign workers who have the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree in a job category that is considered by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services to be a "specialty occupation." The L-1 visa program allows companies to transfer certain employees from their foreign facilities to their U.S. facilities for up to seven years.

Each year the U.S. grants 65,000 H-1B visas alone, almost half of which are taken up by Indian IT outsourcing service providers to send cheaper Indian IT workers to the U.S.
   
Although, adds Derrington, the 65,000-person "cheap" labor "imported" every year hardly seems significant in an industry that employs hundreds and thousands of Americans, "when the top-10 IT outsourcing service providers use these visas to flood 20,000 foreign labor[ers] in the local job markets, and use their rates to beat local rates, its ripple effects can really hurt."

What's more: "There is rampant abuse of these visas," says the owner of a $25-million Wisconsin onshore services provider.  Requesting anonymity, he added that "some U.S. employers have abused the temporary work visa programs by using them to bypass qualified American job applicants."

He has been a victim of that abuse, he said, when recently his company was beaten by a top American IT outsourcing service provider that used these visas to undercut local rates.

"Smaller onshore services providers not only get beaten by larger IT companies," he said "It also creates incentives for local IT companies to avoid hiring Americans."

According to reports, these visas have been used to dupe state government departments as well. Earlier this month, for example, an Ohio state development department executive had to step down because the IT outsourcing services company to which she awarded an appliance rebate program contract, used an offshore call center.

Before awarding the contract, this officer, it is alleged, ignored an email charging the IT service provider with using offshore labor, a criterion that disqualifies a company for Ohio state contracts.  The IT service provider, it is alleged, also did not reveal to the state that it would use foreign labor.

Jolted by this, the governor of Ohio early this month issued an executive order prohibiting use of public funds for outsourcing.

According to onshore technology services providers, protectionist policies -- like the increase in visa fees or the "Buy America" program that many states are in the process of implementing -- may help to some extent, but such moves hardly drive the elephant out of the room.

So what helps? While there is no easy solution to the problem, experts suggest that an effective one may be reducing the validity of these visas to 12 months and extending them only after the employer demonstrates legitimacy of its use.
 
Other suggestions include prohibition of the outplacement of L1 visa holders and establishing a strong investigation process by the state governments to investigate and audit the use of these visas, as well as penalizing their misuse.


Beam of Light to Craft Ontario County's Future

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Ontario County, N.Y., is a rural/suburban community outside Rochester, and already a role model for its self-funded 180-mile fiber optic ring. The county is about to set another example for aspiring broadband communities hankering for ARRA dollars.
 
Leveraging its $7.5-billion, middle-mile network, the county has roped in Verizon Wireless for laying out the last mile fiber-optic link to its towers, thus enabling this county to be the first rural area to be 4G enabled.
 
"Verizon Wireless is contracting with us to build its laterals through all of their cellular towers. What we hope that will do is that in the fourth quarter this year when Verizon announces their 4G rollout, we will probably be the most rural area in the nation to be part of Verizon's 4G technology roll out," said Ed Hemminger CIO of the county.
 
Under this deal, Verizon is leasing fiber to connect all of the company's cell towers in Ontario County to provide more reliable cellular service to its customers in the region. Construction of this fiber ring continues to be on schedule and on budget, with the entire project scheduled to be completed at the end of 2010 -- with over 107 miles of dark fiber already laid out.
 
Indeed there are many things to learn from this upstate New York county that is a mix of very urban and very rural geography. 
 
For instance Ontario county realized way back in 2001 that it had to build a virtual super highway to retain existing businesses and attract new ones. More importantly, it also realized that the only way to ensure affordable but high-quality Internet would be to fund such a network on its own instead of depending on private-sector or the federal-government capital. 
 
Thus, a unique financing model was crafted. The country formed a not-for-profit development corporation called The Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corp. (FLRTDC) to develop and manage an open-access, fiber-optic ring, which it christened Axcess Ontario. This company received $1 million from Ontario county to pay for use of the fiber network for 25 years, as well as a $1.5 million no-interest loan for the project. Axcess also got $4.3 million as a loan against annual payments of the property tax that it gets from a pipeline through the county.
 
The other notable feature of this project -- unlike many other municipal roll-outs in the rest of the country -- is that Axcess Ontario doesn't actually provide broadband service to businesses and consumers itself.  Instead it is leasing capacity to "all-comers," inviting them to use the fiber ring to enhance their broadband infrastructure.  
 
"This was another crucial decision for us because we realized early on that a county that has little experience in telecom services should not be providing such services," said Hemminger. "Instead a county should allow the private sector to provide services they are so good at. We are different from most municipalities because when they build fiber like this, they try to provide Internet services, phone or TV."
 
Besides Verizon -- that is rolling out wireless services, said Hemminger -- the county has roped in two other telecom companies like Finger Lakes Technology Group (a competitive local exchange carrier), and TW Telecom, that are building their own last-mile solutions to provide other telecom services.
 
The county has also applied to become a trial location for Google's pursuit to offer faster broadband networks to select communities in America.
 
"We believe that a county's responsibility should start and end with the creation of the public infrastructure," added Hemminger. "And this is important because to ensure economic development it is important that access to that infrastructure should be cheap, which only a quasi-government organization like a county can afford."
 
Ontario county has set a payback period of 25 years for FLRTDC. "This payback period is far more than the 3 to 4 years of payback that most private telecom companies allow," said Hemminger. "In Ontario country any company that wants to build a last-mile solution now has a 180-mile fiber infrastructure that is very inexpensive to lease, and to allow them to serve very rural as well as urban areas and be able to create solutions which are the most cost effective in the country."
 
Still, said Hemminger, economic development should lie at the core of all broadband roll-outs in the country. "The foundation of this project was economic development; a key factor that sets us apart from other municipalities, possibly in the nation. Our goal is to create a situation where Ontario county is considered globally competitive to bring new business and/or retain existing business. New York is not known to be the cheapest place to do business. But we could be the best place to do business with this infrastructure." 
 
Small wonder, then, that this project has already put Ontario county at the forefront of the country's efforts to improve broadband access. The FCC, for instance, has recognized Axcess Ontario as a role model for other broadband projects that are seeking funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  
 
And although the network isn't fully rolled out yet, businesses and institutions have started benefiting from this infrastructure. Take the instance of CherryPharm, a food processing company in the Country that houses its data with a cloud-computing provider based in the West. Constant connectivity to the cloud is critical to CherryPharm's business, says the company, and it would not have been able to use cloud computing without the fiber ring.
The other notable example is The Technology Farm, a research and development initiative in the county in the areas of food and agriculture that depends solely on the ring.
 
"Ontario county has reinvented itself as one of the few communities and counties in Upstate New York to step into a more balanced economy.  They have already created 2,500 tech jobs and, with Cornell University, Hobart College and other world-class academic institutes in the region, they are leveraging the rich agricultural base to transform that industry into a modern, R&D based farming region," said Louis Zacharilla, co-founder of The Intelligent Community Forum, a think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community.

Indian Microfinance Venture Uses Online Platform to Lend Cheap Money.

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Mohammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, discovered in 1976 that extending very small loans -- called microfinance -- could change the face of poverty alleviation. Yunus won a Nobel Prize for his work, and numerous microfinancing models have emerged to make a disproportionate difference to millions of poor around the world.

Yet the most common complaint about this form of financing has always been that it is too expensive; microfinance lenders often charge interest rates almost as high as credit cards. Besides, many also complain that despite being over three decades old as an industry, microfinance still has a global estimated average outreach to just about 20 percent of the poor. This means that a large section of potential borrowers continue to remain out of its ambit.

It is also a fact that despite years of raging debates over these issues; hardly anyone has come up with a solution to address them. Given these facts, then, it is heartening to note that two innovative entrepreneurs from India -- a husband and wife team -- are trying at least, and that too, with the help of ICT.

Called Rang De (www.rangde.org) -- which literally means "making life colorful" -- it is India's first online micro-lending platform that enables the public to lend money to any poor borrower engaged in a legal money-earning venture.

Rang De started in 2008 and is headquartered in the Indian city of Chennai (formerly Madras). Ramkrishna NK, one of its founders prefers to say that Rang De is not just a business but "a pioneering, Web-based social initiative with a mission to make poverty history in India."

And how? Primarily by ensuring that interest rates are way lower -- which at 8.5 percent is about a third lower -- than what all other microfinance lenders charge, and by reaching out to every borrower that registers on the website. The most notable feature of Rang De is that it uses ICT to bring an individual lender with a philanthropic bent to a needy borrower. 

All one needs to participate in micro lending is to register on Rang De "to become a social Investor" and choose borrowers that are registered on the website. "As long as you are willing to lend at the interest rate set by Rang De, you can choose any borrower and invest as little as $2.15," says Ramakirshna.

After the lender transfers his money to Rang De, its field partners take over the responsibilities of disbursing it to the identified borrower. The responsibility of interest collections and repayments also lies with them. Lenders can withdraw most of their lent money  -barring the mandatory minimum lent amount of $2.15- after the lock-in-period of 50 weeks.


"The biggest advantage of this model is that unlike a typical microfinance lender, which is almost always a professional institution with a profit motive, lenders of Rang De are either individuals or corporate entities who are aiming for social returns. Their main aim is not to derive a market rate of return for their investments but more to derive the satisfaction of serving the society. This is why it is easy for us to keep borrowing costs low," he says.

ICT is at the heart of this model and is used with the mix of Internet and mobile phones. While the website connects the lenders with the borrowers virtually, Rang De also facilitates a personal contact between the two through mobile phone conferences at regular intervals.

"India's wide digital divide is not a hindrance either, since all the technological assistance to the borrowers are provided by the field partners," says Ramakrishna.  Currently, Rang De operates with 18 NGO field partners in 10 Indian states.The founders claim that Rang De has about 1,500 individual and corporate lenders who have so far lent about $0.4 million to 3,600 borrowers.

Future expansion plans not only includes covering all 28 Indian states but going offshore, to the U.S. as well. "Indian laws do not allow Rang De to accept lenders who are not Indian citizens. But next January, when we complete 3 years of operation, Rang De will be allowed to accept non-resident Indians as lenders, and that's when we plan to tap them in the U.S.," Ramakrishna said.

So does Rang De want to replicate its business model there? "Why not?" he says. "Although there is a similar venture (called Kiva), the difference is that they haven't been able to cap the interest rate. We believe  that what we have done in India, can be done in the U.S. as well."


Technology Comes to Aid for Bloggers Facing Repression.

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anti censorship.jpgWith some 60 countries implementing web censorship in 2009 -- twice as many as in 2008 -- and a record number of bloggers behind bars --120, the highest in Internet's history -- technology empowerment comes at a cost for many around the world. Yet technology may also be finally coming to the rescue of the bloggers. Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders or RWB) is opening an online anti-censorship shelter for journalists, bloggers and dissidents whose work is being curtailed by the creeping censorship in cyberspace.
 
Launched last week, this "anti-censorship shelter", claims RWB, is the first ever online refuge for free speech that will use state-of-the-art censorship-circumvention and encryption software to by pass sophisticated censorship technology.

It will also connect to the digital security firm XeroBank through a high-speed anonymity network, while the press freedom organization says it has plans for a dedicated website for hosting banned content and a multimedia hub hosting film and video as well.

All this, hopes RWB,will provide bloggers with free access to secure, online connections to make it harder for authorities to pursue them for their work. "This will allow them to connect to the internet securely, to help them continue as bloggers," said secretary general of RSF Jean-Francois Julliard.

Indeed at a time when online filtering and surveillance is becoming more and more widespread, this is a notable development demonstrating that technology can cut technology too. 

Even as the Internet offers a unique space for discussion and information-sharing, in authoritarian countries where the traditional media are state-controlled, latest technological tools have also come in handy censoring political and social content.

"Never before have there been so many netizens in prison in countries such as China, Vietnam and Iran for expressing their views freely online. Anonymity is becoming more and more important for those who handle sensitive data," noted RWB

RWB adds that the World Wide Web is being progressively devoured by the implementation of national Intranets whose content is "approved" by the authorities. "It does not matter to those governments if more and more Internet users become victims of a digital segregation. Web 2.0 is colliding with Control 2.0," RWB said.

It is a few rare countries, such as North Korea, Burma and Turkmenistan, that completely cut themselves off from the World Wide Web -- not because of a lack of infrastructure development, because it serves their purpose.

Interestingly, this new "censorship shelter"  comes at time when 40 or so countries began a new round of talks on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the Swiss city of Lucerne yesterday. (See http://www.digitalcommunitiesblogs.com/international_beat/2010/04/could-anticounterfeiting-trade.php)

According to RWB, this shelter could also serves as something of a plea for the ACTA negotiators not to sacrifice Internet free speech and access to online information in an effort to  combat piracy and the counterfeiting of copyrighted works. 

The European Commission draft of the ACTA released on 21 April, revealed that there are several provisions that could possibly threated online free expression, including the possibility of Internet users being disconnected, the lack of protection for personal information and the intention to turn ISPs and other technical intermediaries into "copyright policemen" who would in turn probably introduce Internet filtering systems.

The document shows that member states are pushing for non-commercial online copyright infringement to be punishable by imprisonment as well. This would include private copies, which are legal in several countries. 

Imprisonment would also apply in cases of "complicity" and "incitement," which experts say are extremely vague concepts that could be interpreted very broadly in certain countries with grave potential consequences for free expression.

The negotiations have been conducted confidentially for more than two years between the European Union, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Morocco, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Canada and Switzerland without any consultation with NGOs and civil society representatives.


Australian Government Wants to be the Net Nanny

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Ask Irene Graham a noted anti-Internet-censorship activist in Australia about what she finds funny about her country's government and she says it treats its "adults as if they are children." Indeed, the Australian government tries to decide what books Australians should read, which types of magazines should the country publish, what type of films should its people see, and above all, what Australians can see and say on the Internet.
 
Ever since 1999 diverse political parties that have formed the government have made attempts to censor the Internet. But increasingly, say experts, Australia is attempting to prevent public criticism of government policies.

Of course censorship, particularly of the Internet, exists to some extent in all modern countries, including the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, France, and even Singapore. And in countries with authoritarian governments like China, Iran, Turkey and the like, the Internet is almost shackled like a pet dog.
 
Yet, says Geordie Guy, director, Electronic Frontiers Australia -- the country's Internet rights group --  suddenly politics within Australia is going through a notable change, where the government is getting increasingly paranoid about the medium.

"The present attitude within the politics in Australia is that the Internet is responsible for a lot of bad things in Australia; and in a way, the Internet is a big problem," he said.

"The Australian government [regardless of which political party is at its helm] is increasingly getting terrified of the Internet. All efforts of the monitoring or censoring the Internet are very much driven by the fear of inability to control the Internet. We understand that to be the case with regard to a lot of other laws as well but all seem to point to the fact that the government is very frightened of the Internet. This is strange because you only see that in undemocratic countries."

Consider the latest move of the present Labor Party-led government.

Last week, ignoring the mounting opposition by voters over its latest Internet censorship polices, the country's federal government proposed to mandate that all ISPs record browsing history and store it. Its justification: everyone's online actions need to be retained "just in case" it's needed in a criminal investigation. According to the Attorney General's Department, the proposal is under consideration.

ISPs are not now required to retain their subscriber's private Web browsing history unless they are given an interception warrant by law enforcement, usually approved by a judge.

This is a matter of grave concern, say critics, since it would make the Internet slower and more expensive for Australians, and would allow the federal government to access personal Internet data without having to seek permission from the courts.

Although Australia is not the first country to consider compulsory data retention -- in 2006 the European Union adopted a policy requiring some states to retain data for between six and 24 months -- critics and ISPs are rattled.

Along with dealing a severe blow to protection of free speech, Australia's tightening grip on the Internet could seriously damage international reputation, they say. For that matter, according to Graham, the Internet censorship regime in Australia may even be getting tyrannical; cutting across political leanings as well.

In 1999, for instance, came the first clampdown on this medium when the Commonwealth (Liberal/National Coalition -- Howard) government introduced Internet censorship legislation (operative from 1 January 2000) which makes information/material, that is lawful for adults offline, subject to government censorship/deletion online when hosted in Australia. 

According to Graham, no other Western democracy had then, or has now, Internet censorship legislation which deems material unsuitable for children "prohibited content" online. Governments in other Western democracies have focused on the more effective approach of educating and empowering parents and children in safe use of the Internet, she says

The Commonwealth government in 1999 also decided to block adults' access to overseas-hosted content unsuitable for children on a secret blacklist compiled by a government agency.  However, as a result of widespread public criticism and opposition, as well as advice by industry members that ISP-level blocking was not "technically and commercially feasible," the proposed legislation was amended during its rushed passage through Parliament to require ISPs to provide an "approved" filtering/blocking product to customers who wished to use same.
 
But rather than ending the debate, that Internet censorship legislation turned into a full-fledged controversy. It forced the Commonwealth government to rework that filtering policy several times until the November 2007 federal election, when the Commonwealth government changed to the Labor government, which cancelled the former government's filter program from 31 December 2008.

The Labor government sadly was no better, since, says Graham, it continues the trend of treating adults as if they are children.

Worse, says Darren Churchill, president, Australian Democrats -- a political opposition that espouses a social liberal ideology -- government has no clue about technology.

"Like the Internet filter, the Internet interception won't work -- for the same reasons. The real criminals will use virtual private networks (VPNs) and encryption to avoid being caught," said Churchill in his blog.

Moreover, according to Guy, the Labor government is also trying to bring in a backdoor measure to controlling the Internet. "The government is very focused on what it is being listened to. By controlling the Internet we feel that the government believes that it will be much easier to fight negative propaganda," he said.

Countries Questioning Google's Intentions over Street View Data.

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First it was "no." Then, "let us check." And finally, "yes we did it. Sorry!" As a cornered Google finally admits that its controversial Street View map service has indeed "accidentally" snooped on people's homes, cars and roads collecting 600 gigabytes of personal data in as many as 30 countries, it appears that few are ready to let Google off the hook so easily.

The beleaguered Internet search engine giant is increasingly facing global ire as countries across the world have started tightening a noose around Google, and even accusing it of criminal intent.

The several weeks-long fiasco around Street View's data collection methods received its biggest jolt yesterday when Privacy International (PI), the international watchdog, accused Google of criminal intent over Street View usage. PI said that although Google claimed "rogue code" in Street View software was a mistake, the report is misleading.

On the contrary, said PI, the system in Street View used for the Wi-Fi collection intentionally separated out unencrypted content (payload data) of communications and systematically wrote this data to hard drives. 

This is equivalent to placing a hard tap and a digital recorder onto a phone wire without consent or authorization, and almost certainly puts Google in the risk of prosecution in many countries.

"This action goes well beyond the 'mistake' promoted by Google. It is a criminal act commissioned with intent to breach the privacy of communications," PI said. "The communications law of nearly all countries permits the interception and recording of content of communications only if a police or judicial warrant is issued. All other interception is deemed unlawful."

But even as larger countries like the U.S. and U.K. are still weighing their options -- and putting pressure through a demand for an open investigation -- some of the smaller nations in Europe have already started clamping down.

The Austrian Data Protection Authority, for example, took its first punitive steps against Google when it placed a temporary ban on Street View before crafting local laws to make such snooping punishable.

DSK said that all collection of data or use of previously gathered information by Google Street View in Austria would be banned until it received from Google "a precise technical description of its data-collection activities," as well as an answer to a detailed questionnaire.

According to Austria's current laws, when data is deliberately extracted in a premeditated fashion with the purpose of selling that data, it becomes a crime. However, State Secretary for Media Josef Ostermayer, in a comment to the press, said that since the EU has not issued any data protection directive in regard to Street-View-like offenses, the country will be planning its own national law.

The Austrian move comes as Google is already under investigation by German prosecutors for "unauthorized interception of data," while inquiries have been initiated by several other European regulators, as well as Australia.

According to Simon Davies of PI, the U.K. is still reviewing the audit, since Google has failed to establish that its interception was not criminal  -- thereby attracting a violation of criminal law -- the country may be forced to go to Scotland Yard.

According to Google, the code in Street View that accidentally ended up collecting private data was part of an experimental Wi-Fi project undertaken by an unnamed engineer to improve location-based services.

"As we have said before, this was a mistake," said Google. "The [audit] report confirms that Google did indeed collect and store payload data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, but not from networks that were encrypted. We are continuing to work with the relevant authorities to respond to their questions and concerns."

But PI has disputed this explanation. It argued that since Google always claims that all its projects are rigorously checked, the reasoning that the rogue code was a work of a lone engineer doesn't hold water.

"This action by Google cannot be blamed on the alleged single engineer who wrote the code. It goes to the heart of a systematic failure of management and of duty of care," PI said.

Meanwhile in the U.S., three congressmen (Henry Waxman D-Calif.; Joe Barton R-Texas; and Ed Markey D-Mass.) sent a detailed letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt expressing concern that Google did not disclose until long after the fact that consumers' Internet use was being recorded, analyzed and perhaps profiled. 

That letter follows a letter that EPIC -- the Washington, D.C.-based public interest research center -- sent to Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, suggesting that Google may have violated federal wiretap laws.


Govt CIOs Get A New ICT Tool to Address Climate Change Issues.

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Ask any expert from industry or government: "What is the greatest threat facing our future society and economy?" and the answer is very likely to be global warming. Ask them what they are doing about it, and more often than not, you will draw a blank.

 

Although both governments and industry, say experts, are collectively responsible for addressing the need for climate protection, precious time is being lost. Countries, their governments, and even businesses are hesitant when it comes to seriously addressing the problems of climate change.

 

The reasons could be many. Some say the foremost being that most stakeholders are unable to reach consensus on what should be their respective responsibilities.

 

But, according to insurance giant Allianz SE, and World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), there is another reason why climate protection efforts remain largely in a state of limbo. Although some are aware of a need to address the environment, most, including many in government, are unaware of what needs to be done to address those issues.

 

According to Allianz and WWF, this seems to be a bigger hurdle for climate protection efforts than the absence of a general consensus. And, alarmed by the fact that the window of opportunity for ambitious greenhouse gas reduction is closing fast -- the world has to act by 2020 to limit global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) by 2050 -- these two groups are trying to speed up the process by raising global awareness. They have created a Web-based game that not only throws light on the nuances of climate change issues, it also helps its players craft appropriate strategies to address these issues.

 

Called CEO2 (available at www.ceo2-game.com), the game is more of a simulation program that puts a player in the role of a decision maker, say its creators. Eric Mahleb, of LGM Interactive -- the Berlin-based agency that specializes in green digital communications, which has designed this game -- says it "enables a player to learn and understand the complex dynamics and play of the climate protection issues."

  

A significant feature of this game is that it does not just preach. Players can gather hands-on experience as well. For instance a player can slip into the role of a CEO and show which business strategy will reduce carbon, reduce risks and be most profitable.

 

The game also allows the player to identify which investment at what time will set the course for a profitable growth in the low-carbon economy of the future. "This simulation helps a player to understand what the real issues are with regard to the industries it covers, as well as to get an idea of what needs to be addressed while formulating environmental policies," says Mahleb.

 

CEO2 covers four industries: chemical, automobile, utility and finance. This is because these are expected to impact the environment going forward 20 years. Others will be added soon, says Mahleb.

 

Nevertheless although the simulation was designed keeping industry in mind, Mehleb says that the government sector, including local government "can extract enough valuable information that would help address the local environmental issues as well."

 

"Like the industry, the government can play a significant role in protecting the climate and we hope that CEO2 will help the governments understand the dynamics and complexities of the world we live in, and the complexities they have to face to address the environment," he says.

 

Launched on May 27, CEO2 has come at a time when representatives from 182 nations, have started preparing for the second round of the United Nations Climate Change Talks for 2010 summit to be held 2-6 August in Bonn, Germany. Here world leaders are expected to pick up on issues that were not resolved in the Copenhagen meeting last December,and to pave the way for the full implementation of climate change action across the globe. 

 

The main topic of discussion will be the contentious issue of who (countries, governments, communities and industries) -- is responsible for greenhouse gas emission reduction and to what extent they must engage to limit the temperature rise below two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and avoid dangerous consequences of climate change.

 

 


Opposition to Body Scanners Gets Fierce

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As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to roll out full-body scanners, the opposition to this much-embattled security measure seems to be getting fierce. 

Alarmed by the Transportation Security Administration's announcement that it would add 11 more full-body scanners at U.S. airports last month, more than 30 privacy and civil liberties organizations filed a formal petition with DHS. This was the largest opposition since full-body scanners (FBS) were introduced in 2005, and also the most forceful. Instead of requesting the agency to look into privacy concerns, the petition this time round urged the federal agency to shut down FBS use altogether at all the nation's airports.

And unlike earlier protests, its opposition this time has not come from just the civil liberties groups. A plethora of organizations like air travel, educational, civil liberties, human rights, religious and taxpayer-rights organizations from across the country have joined in as well in a bid to force DHS to stop its use.

Take a look at the petition and it becomes evident that concerns are indeed spreading broadly;

"In addition to the privacy and health concerns that have been raised, we are becoming increasingly aware of growing doubts about the effectiveness and safety of the devices as well as the very real offense to deeply held religious views.

Many religious leaders have spoken recently in opposition to body scanners.

We join them in urging you to suspend this program.

We further believe that the full body scanners are contributing to a negative perception of the United States and reducing the number of foreign visitors who will travel to the US.

If the program is suspended, there is the very real possibility of saving taxpayers over $400 million this year and much more in the years ahead.
 
We support a proposal to undertake a comprehensive study to evaluate the effectiveness, health risks, and privacy impacts of the devices.

We also ask you to consider the importance of sincerely held religious opposition to the digital undressing of air travelers by TSA officials, as well as the economic impact on the US tourism industry."


According to Lillie Coney, associate director, Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC), the organization that is spearheading this "movement," ever since the DHS decided to be aggressive with rolling out of full body scanners -- thanks to $1 billion in Recovery Act funds -- this issue has emerged as a political hot potato.

"We are entirely opposed to full-body scanners," she said. "While we appreciate the concerns of agency, we want the agency to pursue technologies that address the real threat; are least privacy invasive; as well as be one that is most effective."

For instance, says Coney, the body scanners are not effective and are not designed to detect the type of powdered explosive that was involved in the Dec. 25, 2009 "underwear bomber" incident.

The issue of introducing FBS dates back to the time of the Bush administration. In 2005, DHS ordered the government's first batch of the scanners -- five from California-based Rapiscan Systems. 

Today, 40 body scanners are in use at 19 U.S. airports. The number is expected to skyrocket at least in part because of the Christmas Day incident. Reportedly, The Transportation Security Administration expects to have an additional 450 FBS deployed by the end of 2010.

Photo: CBP Port


Could Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Lead To Control of the Internet?

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Counterfeit Jeans.jpgPhoto: Counterfeit jeans in a market in Bangkok (The label reads: =if(Label="","RMA","?") This is an Excel or Microsoft Access function. The factory is using Excel or Access to store all the logos for the different jeans they make and then print them onto leather. (Photo by Ben Donley. CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)
 
Ever since its birth, the Internet has been the central theme of the tussle between the United States and the rest of the world over who should control it. And thank god that it was designed as such so that barring the somewhat limited control companies and countries exercise, the Internet is largely a free-for-all wonder.
 
However, going by the draft text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Control (ACTA), if the new international agreement-in-process has its way, it could soon be controlling the Internet on behalf the United States, the UK, and a dozen other countries.
 
After keeping the terms of negotiations tightly under wraps -- despite global pressure -- for three years, ACTA finally revealed a draft text of the agreement on April 21. This revealed what has been feared all along: overruling each country's local laws, the ACTA would seek to significantly regulate what you can and can't do online.
 
Initiated in October 2007 by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland and Japan, the objective of the ACTA was to fight counterfeiting and piracy of physical goods like medicines, luxury items, and some softer items like movies, music, books, etc. - all which  negatively impact States and companies around the world.
 
The growth of this menace spurred the ACTA participants to agree to develop an instrument that will strengthen international cooperation. And this subsequently attracted countries like Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Canada to join in as participants.
 
Yet, a very disturbing feature of ACTA has been the fact that despite global pressure, the negotiations' details were kept a closely guarded secret. However, various leaked versions over  the last three years indicated that the deliberation of the terms of the agreement focused not just on fake Guccis and medicines. It is also considering new rules to control online piracy of intellectual property and, by extention, some believe, the free flow of information over the Internet.
 
And now, the official draft has confirmed this fact.
 
"ACTA has several features that raise significant potential concerns for consumers' privacy and civil liberties, for innovation and the free flow of information on the Internet, legitimate commerce, and for developing countries' ability to choose policy options that best suit their domestic priorities and level of economic development," says Electronic Frontier Foundation, the US-based civil liberties group that claims to fight to defend rights in the digital world.
 
Similarly the European Digital Rights, says "This agreement is meant to become a global standard for trade agreements. If this happens, what will be left of the EU's historical credibility in the fight for free speech and democracy when it starts asking grateful undemocratic governments to place obligations on Internet access providers to terminate or prevent infringements? Of course, those measures, procedures, and remedies shall also be fair and proportionate but it is almost absurd to think that legal action would be taken if one party's implementation was excessive. It is, after all, an intellectual property agreement and not a human rights instrument."
 
According to EFF the draft language also indicates provisions that will include mandated disclosure of personal information in alleged IP disputes, a new global requirement that commercial scale piracy will also capture non-commercial copies, and new powers to place injunctions on IP violations with lowered standards of proof and limited due process.
 
What becomes evident here, as notes EFF is, that the global entertainment industries have been able to lobby well. "Much of the language is reminiscent of entertainment industry demands -- and nowhere in the draft is there mention of the rights of individual consumers and the IP balance driving innovation in the knowledge economy," it says.
 
"Most disturbing of all", added EFF is "an entire section of the treaty is devoted to rights management technology/the Internet suggesting that both negotiators and lobbyists are choosing to ignore the complex dangers of regulating the Internet across jurisdictions to match the demands of rightsholders."
 
Nevertheless even as ACTA threatens the carefully crafted balance of many countries' copyright laws that protects intellectual property rights and citizens' freedom of expression, an international framework that ACTA seeks to establish is indeed needed to effectively combat the proliferation of counterfeiting and piracy, which undermines legitimate trade and the sustainable development of the world economy.
 
Consider this: according to OECD estimates, infringements of intellectual property traded internationally (excluding domestic production and consumption) account for more than $200 billion per year (higher than the GDP of more than 150 countries).
 
This illegal trade is also growing phenomenally. For instance, OECD adds since 2007, seizure of fake cosmetics and personal care products has grown by 264%; toys by 98%; foodstuff by 62%; computer equipment by 62%; and medicines by 51%.
 
ACTA however argues that since counterfeiting and piracy are not only growing in the physical world, but also increasing alarmingly as well in the digital environment, it is important to bring in online counterfeiting and piracy within its purview as well.
 
Besides it adds there is no proposal to oblige ACTA Parties to require their border authorities to search travelers' baggage for IPR infringing goods or their personal electronic devices for IPR infringing downloads.
 
Neither does it wish to oblige ACTA Parties to require Internet service providers (ISPs) to terminate users' connections on the basis of accumulated allegations of online IPR infringement (the so-called "three strikes" rule).
 
Although there is no fixed time frame and no concrete end-date that has been set for the ongoing negotiations, participants are aiming to conclude the negotiation by the end of
2010.

Latin America Offers New IT Outsourcing Challenge

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Learning Center Peru.jpgIt was always feared that as soon as the euphoria for offshoring everything that's ICT- enabled starts dying down and other countries realize that what India can offer they can offer too, India could well start losing its preferred-destination status for IT-enabled services. Although not a strong trend yet, it has finally started happening.

Experts say, having spent the last few years in acquiring competing skills for ICT-enabled back office services, Latin American countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Peru (as well as Philippines) have slowly started eating into India's until now dominance in the voice based back-office services pie. What's more; with increasing connectivity and more cost effective rates, these countries are even posing as tough competition to India's pre-eminent position as a back-office destination of choice.

"Although work has not started running away from India yet, over the last few quarters, few new businesses of inbound voice back-office processes are coming to India," says Ramesh Kamath of Aditya Birla Minacs, an IT-services company of Indian origin that claims to operate across 3 continents and 29 centers spanning Canada, Germany, Hungary, India, Philippines, the UK and USA. 

According to him North American customers are seriously evaluating Latin American countries and are even considering taking back simple call-center jobs back to USA for creating more jobs back home.

"This trend is driving us to open operations in Latin America and we are evaluating countries that are nearer shore to the USA," he added.

Kamath's company, may haven't yet started romancing in the region where Romance languages - those derived from Latin like Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French - are primarily spoken. But some of the marquee names in the IT-services world have already started wooing Latin America.

Reportedly attracted by the ready availability of, as Kamath says "fair number of skilled workforce", companies like IBM, TCS, Accenture and Unisys have set up centers in countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Peru, making them new back-office hotspots. 

Indeed back-office offshoring has turned the full circle. Industry sources say some North American companies are willing to pay even twice the Indian rates for moving some of the back-office processes because success rate is higher back home.

Right now though, the shift is headed mainly towards Latin America-and Philippines. These destinations- considered now as rivals to India- have started offering what India has failed to acquire despite several years of trying; strong emotional and cultural connect.

"With regard to telesales in particular, Latin American voice process service providers are scoring higher because, unlike India, they have been able to connect very well with North America customers," said an industry source requesting anonymity. 

Latin America is also getting fiercely competitive. "While Indian service providers are still conscious about margins, Latin American providers offer rates that are at least $3 to $4 cheaper than Indian voice process rates per hour," says Kamath.

"Consequently Latin America is not only emerging as more competitive in terms of cost, but many governments there are also reshaping their policies to encourage the back-office industry there," says Kamath.

Experts also say India is losing out because of its inability to upgrade its workforce. According to Raman Roy, who was the first to drive American companies to offshore their back-office services to India, the country has failed to fine-tune the skill sets of its back-office workforce. He says despite its large pool of English speaking labor, few have the required communication skills to interact effectively with North American clients.

The falling dollar is helping as well. Adverse currency movements and wage inflation in India are putting pressure on operating margins of Indian providers. In contrast Latin American service providers are hardly impacted by the fluctuations of the dollar, says research agency Gartner.  

Nevertheless, the moot question is, how serious is the Latin American threat to India? "Not so much now, as complex voice-based businesses like tech-support, or other knowledge-based processes are still coming to India," says Kamath. "But five years from now I expect Latin America to catch up with India."

Photo of a Learning Center in Peru by Amber Rosaamarilla. CC Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic


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