Cyph Africa : www.cyphafrica.com

Daylight wasting time

2008-11-10T05:42:00.003+02:00

In South Africa, efforts to introduce summer ("daylight saving") time (DST) has and will always by stymied by the considerable east-west extent of the country. During the summer, we have the same time as Namibia - which is then on "daylight saving" time - and there is no reason for the time in Cape Town, on the same latitude as Namibia, to be different. Should the western part of the country then switch to the time zone of Namibia (UTC+1 with DST), the eastern part would surely stay on the present (UTC+2) time zone, perhaps introducing DST and perhaps not. The confusion generated by such a move would be considerable. The blog Freakonomics has furthermore just revealed the environmental effect of DST to be not negligible but actually negative. A study,

Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Indiana by Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant

has just revealed that DST increases the residential demand for electricity in the US state of Indiana - probably due to increase demand for heating and cooling. Ouch!

Half a day of Ubuntu blues

2008-11-05T22:17:00.002+02:00

Like Linux geeks all over the planet, I was excited about last Friday's release of version 8.10 of Ubuntu Linux - Intrepid Ibex. I had tried pre-release versions on my Dell laptop without any problem and was very impressed by the option Auto GSM Connection in the network manager. This feature allowed me to connect to UMTS/GPRS networks using the popular Huawei E220 3G modem. All I needed to enter was the PIN for the SIM card, and the connection just appeared. Given the fragility of our monopoly fixed-line provider and the fickle network at Big U, where I collect a monthly stipend, the Auto GSM features is a great addition - even to desktops.

With almost no trepidation at all, I proceeded to update my Dell desktop in the office, using a downloaded CD image and updating additional packages over the Internet. In other words, this was not a clean install but a genuinely "hot" upgrade. After booting, though, the monitor went into hibernation after briefly showing... nothing at all. Fortunately the consoles (Ctrl-Alt-F1 and F2) were available and I tried to slowly discover what was going on. After I managed to start a graphical VNC session from my home computer, I was convinced that the problem was not serious. Nevertheless, it still took me about an hour this morning to stumble on the idea of removing all NVidia drivers. Bingo - my desktop was back in good shape, running Ibex.

Judge refuses DoC's request to appeal

2008-11-03T22:16:00.003+02:00

The Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburri, has been denied leave to appeal (see Minister scratches back below) in the judgement in favour of Altech's right to have its value-added network service (VANS) licence converted into an individual electronic communications network service (I-ECNS) licence, allowing it to deploy a telecommunications network. It is anyone's guess what she might try next, but - for now - industry and private enterprise are safe.

Sources

Minister scratches back http://www.cyphafrica.com/2008/09/minister-scratches-back.html

Ispa welcomes ruling on Matsepe Cassaburi’s Altech appeal http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=146686

Malema's matric and Home Affairs

2008-10-27T06:06:00.003+02:00

The matric (school-leaving exam in SA) results of Mr Julius Malema, leader of the ANC Youth League, have been circulating in the country over the past week or so. This gentelman, who is famously prepared to "kill" to support "the revolution" managed to get 4% (an H symbol) in the exam in Standard Grade Mathematics. He did manage 57% in History (also on Standard Grade) which is, presumably, more important for a politician. Now, I do not doubt that there were not many opportunities for academic advancement where Mr Malema grew up and although he should perhaps have tried better nevertheless, I am most surprised that no-one has commented about the spelling of "mother tongue" with a Q on the, apparently, official print-out.

Lest anyone believe that the spelling mistake or typo indicates the Malema document not to be genuine, I present the image on the left from an official receipt from the Department of Home Affairs (for a passport application), dated earlier this month. Somehow they got the Afrikaans for "affairs" as "sakke" (meaning "bags") instead of "sake". I have to wonder whether this is the case at every office of Home Affairs or whether it is only at this office and - in that case - whether all the offices set up their cash registers or printers manually.

Also see

"Malema’s (lacklustre) matric results", The Sowetan, 2008-10-24, http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=870114

Prime number formulae

2008-10-05T15:33:00.005+02:00

Last week, I was interviewed on ClassicFM in the show The Internet Economy about GIMPS - the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. During the interview, I said that there was no formula for generating prime numbers, by which I meant - of course - that there is no easy formula. As Eric Weisstein writes in the authoritative MathWorld,

"all such formulas require either extremely accurate knowledge of some unknown constant, or effectively require knowledge of the primes ahead of time in order to use the formula."

He is writing about formulae that are known to produce the n-th prime p(n) on input n. There are other kinds of prime-generating formulae. Consider, for example, the formula described by Eric Rowland in a recent issue of the Journal of Integer Sequences. Rowland's sequence is defined by

a(n) = a(n-1) + gcd(n, a(n-1))

and a(1) = 7. He shows that the values taken on by a(n)-a(n-1) are always either one or prime. However, it is not known whether all primes are produced by this sequence, and I expect it not to be the case! Another approach is to consider the values taken on by a polynomial with integer coefficients and in several unknowns. There exist polynomials for which all the positive values are all prime and in fact there exist such polynomials for which all prime numbers are found among the positive values. These prime-generating polynomials (about which more in the MathWorld article cited below) are, however, not a particularly efficient way of generating prime numbers.

Sources

Podcast of the 3 October 2008 edition of The Internet Economy on ClassicFM http://tinyurl.com/3m2gug

Weisstein, Eric W. "Prime Formulas." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimeFormulas.html

Rowland, Eric S. "A Natural Prime-Generating Recurrence." Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 11 (2008), Article 08.2.8 http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/journals/JIS/VOL11/Rowland/rowland21.html

Weisstein, Eric W. "Prime-Generating Polynomial." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Prime-GeneratingPolynomial.html

Upcoming tech events in sub-Sahara Africa

2008-09-27T13:46:00.005+02:00

The postings of a fellow blogger - over at WhiteAfrican.com - has alerted me to a number of upcoming ICT events in Southern Africa, some of which had escaped my attention. I am listing them here for the convenience of the casual reader, together with one or two that I happened to have come accross myself.

BarCamp Madagascar Antananarivo, 4 October 2008, www.barcamp-madagascar.net

2nd International ODF User Workshop Pretoria, 9-10 October 2008, www.odfworkshop.com

BarCamp Johannesburg 11-12 October 2008, www.barcamp.org/BarCampJohannesburg

MobileActive08: Unlocking the Potential of Mobile Technology for Social Impact Johannesburg, 13-15 October 2008, mobileactive08.org/

BarCamp Dakar 18 October 2008, www.barcamp.org/BarCampDakar

EuroAfriCa-ICT FP7 Awareness Workshop Kampala, Uganda, 20-21 October 2008 euroafrica-ict.org/events/awareness_workshops.php

ITU World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-08) Kempton Park, just outside Johannesburg, 20-22 October 2008, www.itu.int/ITU-T/wtsa-08/info/

eGovernment 2008 Kempton Park, South Africa, 12-13 November 2008 www.itweb.co.za/events/egovernment/2008/

Open Access 2008 - 6th International Conference on Open Access Lilongwe, Malawi, 12-14 November 2008, www.wideopenaccess.net

Technology Roadmaps 2008 Johannesburg, 9 December 2008, to be organised by ITWeb

This list is not exhaustive and will not be updated.

Minister scratches back

2008-09-19T22:13:00.003+02:00

The previous posting in this blog celebrated the court victory of Altech against ICASA and the Department of Communications (DoC). The ruling was viewed as the closest thing to a big bang liberalisation of the telecommunications industry in South Africa, especially since ICASA had announced that the ruling would not be appealed. Today, however, the DoC announced that the minister intends to lodge an appeal against the ruling and to issue a directive to ICASA (where the I used to stand for "independent") in this regard. The purported justification for this peevish obstructivism is that if it implemented,

"government’s managed liberalisation policy will be seriously undermined to the detriment of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry."

Now, since when is the DoC supposed to act in the interest of the ICT industry?!

The idea is preposterous but not new: it is called regulatory capture and happens when a government agency starts acting in the interest of the commercial groups that it had been expected to regulate. If you have difficulty distinguishing between regulatory capture and corruption, just remember that the one is legal and enduring whereas the other is illegal but usually done quite quickly. The South African innovation is that the DoC is no longer pretendingto be doing anything else.

Earlier this year, the prestigious Rutgers University in the USA conferred on DoC Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri an honorary doctorate in law (she had done her doctorate in sociology there in the 1980s), so perhaps she knows better than I what she is doing. According to the DoC website, she is "one of the most successful, visible, and accomplished women in Africa", after all.

Sources

Communications Minister to appeal court ruling http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5293.html
Minister to Appeal the Altech Judgment http://www.doc.gov.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=280&Itemid=457
Rutgers University honors Minister of Communications http://www.doc.gov.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=230&Itemid=457

Hof raps OKOSA en Matsepe-Casaburri

2008-08-31T07:25:00.007+02:00

Die Pretoria Hooggeregshof het verlede week beslis ten gunste van Altech en teen OKOSA en die Departement Kommunikasie in 'n uitgerekte saak oor die selfverskaffing van netwerkinfrastruktuur deur houers van sogenaamde VANS-lisensie wat vroeër deur OKOSA uitgereik is. Dít beteken dat dié - volgens berigte sowat 300 maatskappye - nie gedwing gaan word om die fasiliteite van Telkom, Neotel e.d.m. te gebruik om dienste te verskaf nie. Sover ek dit verstaan gee dit alle VANS-lisensiehouers die reg om, byvoorbeeld, 'n kabel tussen Pretoria en Johannesburg te lê.

Altech se hofoorwinning kom na verwarrende en teenstrydige uitlatings deur die SA-regering in hierdie verband. Oënskynlik het regulasies wat in 2004 uitgevaardig is en in 2005 "herroep" is, dié reg reeds toegestaan. Met ander woorde, die gesloer en halsstarrigheid van die minister het die industrie en die publiek vier jaar gekos.

Terloops, die onderbreking van vier maande in dié webjoernaal was te wyte aan 'n besonder druk navorsing- en kongresskedule en ek gaan dit van nou af weer meer dikwels opdateer.

Leesstof:

Altech mag eie telekomnetwerk bou, beslis hof (Beeld) http://www.news24.com/Sake/Algemene_nuus/0,,6-1607_2385933,00.html
Court ruling opens doors for telecoms competition (Business Day) http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/TarkArticle.aspx?ID=3308054
VANS can self provide (MyBroadband) http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5023.html

GMail versus Google Mail - the pitfalls

2008-04-19T14:45:00.002+02:00

Before reading further, please identify "[Google Mail]" and "[GMail]" in the screenshot on the right.

For a week or two now, I have noticed strange behaviour when using my GMail from my desktop client, Claws Mail, using IMAP. Two things bothered me especially:

The Sent folder one of my accounts had apparently stopped being updated about 10 days ago. Nevertheless, on the GMail web interface, everything was fine and all the sent messages could be retrieved.
On the other account, my client would no longer process the messages marked to be moved to the folder All Mail.

It should have bothered me that one of the accounts showed an exclamation mark next to the number of unread messages but actually it did not. I should add that I have at least three installations of Claws (more-or-less all copies of a single one) and I could not verify whether they all behaved the same but I suspected that Claws and GMail were simply either unable to communicate or that I had somehow destabilised the set-up by deleting some GMail labels.

Fortuitously I somehow recalled that when setting up the GMail originally, one had to change the language setting – in the GMail Settings – from English UK (in my case) to English US before being able to active IMAP access to the account. I set both accounts to English US again and then rescanned the folders in the account (right-click on the account name in Claws and choose "Rebuild folder tree"). That solved the problem and both folder trees are now known as "GMail".

This issue, I believe, appeared because of trademark conflicts in the UK and Germany about the name GMail – q.v. the ars technica article, below. I have not, and am not going to, test it with German but would be glad to hear whether this problem can be duplicated with German and with languages and countries not affected by trademark disputes. A few years ago, incidentally, when I started running my own IMAP server, I realised that it was a really bad idea to change the default folder names (e.g. Sent) .

Notes:
Google can't use "Gmail" name in Europe - ars technica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claws_Mail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imap

Load shedding - the T-shirt

2008-04-04T17:50:00.002+02:00

For those far from the fatal shores of - once sunny - South Africa: the state monopoly power utility uses "load shedding" as a euphemism for rolling blackouts.

Ek het nie woorde nie.

Eskom-rantsoenering beloon hoë kragverbruik

2008-03-14T22:14:00.005+02:00

Eskom het aangekondig dat kwotas ingestel sal word vanaf 1 Julie 2008 vir huishoudelike en industriële gebruik van elektrisiteit. Dít sal behels dat straftariewe betaal moet word vir verbruik wat hoër is as 90% van die gemiddelde verbruik oor 'n tydperk in die verlede, aangekondig as Oktober 2006 tot September 2007. Dit klink pragtig en deugdelik, amper soos 'n oefen- of verslankingsprogram. Maar, sê maar, jy en jou familie was van Oktober 2006 tot September 2007 in Doebai en die bure het na julle huis gekyk. Intussen het julle teruggekeer en die werklose neef en familie van Randfontein (die myn het gesluit weens die kragtekort) het in Januarie by julle ingetrek. Daar woon dus nou 9 mense in die huis, in vergelyking met geen in die verwysingstydperk. Julle moet egter 10% minder krag gebruik, in dié geval 10% minder as omtrent niks. Daar is nie 'n prosedure vir die Randfonteiners om hulle kwota (in dié huis woon nou plakkers) oor te dra na jou paleis in Swartkops nie.

Dié voorbeeld wys uit wat die probleem is met die kwota-stelsel: mense wat in die verwysingstydperk baie elektrisiteit gebruik het word beloon deurdat die vorige hoë gebruik as gebruiksreg aan hulle toegestaan word onderwyl mense wat min gebruik het belas word met 'n verdere besparing. Dié wat voorheen die verwarmer die hele winter aan gelos het, sal dit baie maklik vind om aan die kwotas te voldoen. Wat staan die verstandige gebruiker nou te doen? Moet net nie meer as die verpligte hoeveelheid elektrisiteit spaar nie, want anders gaan jy met die instel van die volgende - nog strenger - kwotas regtig bars.

Die instel van 'n kwota kom neer op die skep van 'n bate. Dit gee jou die reg tot gebruik van 'n hulpbron, teen 'n vasgestelde tarief. Jy "besit" dus nou iets wat jy voorheen nie gehad het nie. In die geval van die Eskom-kwota kom dít neer op 'n massiewe oordrag van hulpbronne na die "bevoorregtes" (teen wie ek, anders as Alec Erwin, niks het nie), of 'n ondergroep van "bevoorregtes". Ek wonder, terloops, wat Eskom gaan maak met nuwe huise en besighede?

Opsomming: Die kwota-stelsel vir elektrisiteit "straf" wel die sameleweing vir hoë kragverbruik, maar dit beloon hoë gebruik (in die verlede) deur die individu. 'n Redelik persoon sal uit dié ervaring die verwagting ontwikkel dat verder kwotas toegepas gaan word en dat hoë verbruik vandag (môre se verlede) weer beloon sal word.

Lees- en kykstof:

SA enters power rationing phase : http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page62093?oid=199024&sn=Detail
Eskom insists on 10% cut for homes, offices : http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A727143
Kragrantsoenering 'n resep vir chaos (brief van ene Gerhard op LitNet) : http://tinyurl.com/27eo6q
Carte Blanche oor die Eskom-krisis (met klem op die steenkoolreserwes) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWCFExYQ2NA
Skielik is die liggies af (deur Leon Schuster - nog iets waarvoor ons Eskom kan blameer) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tejC5jd244

Verkeersfoto's in Duitsland - stoor van nommerplaatinligting verbode

2008-03-12T21:33:00.008+02:00

Die Duitse grondwethof in Karlsruhe het beslis dat die polisie in twee Duitse deelstate nie verder sondermeer die nommerplate van verbygaand motors mag afneem en stoor nie. Die uitspraak is ook van toepassing op ander Duitse deelstate waar dié tipe bewaking toegepas word. Dit is vanselfsprekend kommerwekkend indien die owerhede basies 'n rekord opbou van mense, of hulle motors, se bewegings.

In watter mate het 'n mens die reg om anoniem op die pad te wees? Die kamera hier bo wys 'n kruising in die Amerikaanse stad Seattle en word elke minuut of so opdateer. Hoewel die resolusie nie heeltemal goed genoeg is om nommerplate af te lees nie, hoe lank voor sulke verkeersfoto's deur nie-regeringsgroepe verwerk word om 'n databasis op te bou van mense se bewegings?

Hier onder is Johannesburg se spaghetti-wisselaar vir die N1/N3/M1.

Verwysings:
http://www.nrc.nl/buitenland/article971088.ece/Duits_Hof_legt_scan_kenteken_aan_banden
http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/videoueberwachung_aid_264787.html

Hijacking a Big U network account

2008-02-29T15:05:00.008+02:00

I could not really imagine that there is too much worth reading in the average Big U e-mail account but here is how you can easily hijack one, as well as the user account for the same person - letting you, potentially cavort around the Big U intranet as that user. All you need to know is the person's username, say ALBERTE - which Big U, contrary to all the usual advice, also uses as the e-mail prefix, e.g. ALBERTE@bigu.ac.zw.

Send an e-mail to the ICT helpdesk, asking for the password for ALBERTE to be reset. Use any e-mail account whatsoever to send this message! The reason that ICT-help will not find this unusual at all is that they only except password reset requests by e-mail. Since the lame network of Big U requires passwords to be changed on a monthly basis, they get a lot of requests for resets and ALL of these requests originate from some e-mail address different from that which they have to reset, of course. They apparently cannot require that these requests originate from the user's own e-mail address because either (i) they haven't thought of it; or (ii) most users don't have a separate e-mail password or have never used a computer other than their own.
Wait a few minutes for the reset password - often "password" - to arrive.
Log in the victim's user account. If they have no separate e-mail password, this will probably give you access to their e-mail as well.
Don't worry. The victim does not receive a copy of the password reset request or of the reset password. They will log on the next time and probably assume that they have forgotten their brand new password from last week and request a new one. This behaviour will confirm ICT-help's conviction that the user ALBERTE is an idiot and that they should keep on doling out reset passwords.

Needless to say, criminal minds will probably want to do this after having verified that the target has gone home for the weekend, so as to have a day or two to play around. I have never done this for any other than my own account, but for that it has worked very well. Big U, by the way, has disabled IMAP accounts on the advice of their (Microsoft) consultants who believe IMAP to be an unacceptable security risk. Huh?

[Apologies to Neil Stephenson for hijacking the title of his first published novel, The Big U.]

Useful links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_%28security%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_U

1000 weekend minutes on Vodafone Hungary

2008-02-08T00:54:00.000+02:00

I am in Budapest at the moment, using a 3G card from Vodafone Hungary, provided with the apartment which I am renting. It occurred to me to check out the call rates and South Africans will be chagrined to find that Vodafone Hungary offers 1000 (sic) free weekend/evening minutes on a package costing R138,40 per month (at today' s exchange rate). On this package, calls to other Vodafone subscribers are about R0,70 per minute and calls to other networks just over R1,00 per minute, at any time of the day. South African subscribers getting 1/10 the number of minutes for the same price are... words escape me... sucked dry. Did I mention just R200,00 per month for an "unlimited" HDSPA service?

Sources: http://www.vodafone.hu/egyeni/tarifak/tarifa_valaszto/vodafone_tripla_en.html http://www.vodafone.hu/microsite/mobilinternet/szolg_hsdpa.html

ICASA's award of pay-TV licences to be challenged

2008-01-03T09:27:00.000+02:00

ITweb reports today that Black Earth Communications (BEC) will be challenging the ICASA decision not to grant it a licence for pay-TV services in SA. Apparently represented by Cape Town ICT attorneys Michalsons, BEC was one of ten applicants not to receive a licence. Since the technology for pay-TV does not require the use of any scarce resource, one can presume that the decision to deny licences is based on non-compliance with one of the raft of mom-and-apple-pie (or should that be, umama-and-melktert?) provisions of the relevant legislation, or on ICASA engaging in an anti-competitive carve-up of the market. Which legal grounds it would have for the latter is unclear to me but why should an organ of state be picking winners in the marketplace, especially for a totally non-essential service?

One of the firms awarded a licence, e-Sat, has already announced that it no longer intends to run a pay-TV service but has got into bed with the incumbent monopoly provider, Multichoice. That leaves four firms with licences, one of which is Multichoice (and another... Telkom). In economics, the four-firm concentration ratio is often used to gauge how competitive a market is. In this case, the concentration ratio will be 100% - a situation that many people will regard as a full oligopoly. Furthermore, the barrier to entry is very high and I would not be surprised if the situation turns into a Multichoice/Telkom duopoly rather quickly, with very little benefit for the consumer.

Die volstruisverestoffer in die geskiedenis

2007-12-29T06:10:00.000+02:00

Met die uitvinding van die verestoffer, gemaak van kalkoenvere, het die Amerikaanse Susan Hibbard 'n deurbraak gemaak. Haar storie word egter verskeie plekke op die Internet (o.a. die Amerikaanse openbare diens-uitsaaier, PBS, se webbladsye) onjuis aangehaal. Dit word vertel dat haar bose eggenoot die patent by haar wou wegneem en in sy naam registreer en dat sy in die hof sou moes veg om dit te behou. Dit is weliswaar so dat eiendomsreg binne die huwelik 'n netelike probleem was in die patentreg (soos elders in die personereg) maar die geval Susan Hibbard was meer ingewikkeld.

Volgens 'n artikel in The American Journal of Legal History het Susan se man, George Hibbard, in 1874 'n patent in sy naam registreer vir die verestoffer. Kort daarnee het ene GM Richmond aansoek gedoen vir 'n patent vir dieselfde item. By 'n verhoor om die twee aansprake te beoordeel het dit aan die lig gekom dat die uitvindsel eintlik Susan s'n was. Die VS-patentekantoor het die dispuut toe verander na een tussen Susan Hibbard en Richmond en die patent aan Susan toegestaan. Hoewel die storie van Hibbard se verestoffer wel wys dat mans soms in die 19e eeu gerieflikheidshalwe hul eggenote se uitvindsels patenteer het (miskien soos sommige amper-insolvente individue vandag hul huise in hul eggenoot se naam registreer), illustreer dit eerder 'n verligte houding aan die owerhede se kant!

Volgens die Wikipedia is die volstruisverestoffer in 1903 in Johannesburg uitgevind deur ene Harry S. Beckner. Die Beckner Feather Duster Company se webbladsye maak egter 'n minder omvattende aanspraak:

original South African Ostrich Feather Dusters were invented in Johannesburg, South Africa by missionary, broom factory manager, Harry S. Beckner in 1903...

Let op die hoofletters en die kwalifikasie "South African"! In iedere geval, Beckner is na die VSA saam met sy broer George en het dié maatskappy in 1913 op die been gebring. Vandag word die maatskappy besit deur George se kleindogter Margaret Fish en haar man en word dié verestoffers vervaardig in McDonald, Tennessee, van vere wat uit SA ingevoer word.

Hoewel dié webjoernaalskrywers een van die laaste persone sou wees om die ekonomie deur 'n nasionalistiese bril te sien, kom die vraag tog by 'n mens op: watter hoop het, byvoorbeeld, die SA-regering se planne om verydeling (die vervaardiging van juwele e.d.m.) in die mineraal- en edelmetaalsektore aan te wakker indien ons, na meer as 100 jaar, nog die vere van ons volstruise Amerika toe stuur om daar aan 'n stok vasgemaak te word vir 'n stoffer? Dié tipe denke oor die verestoffer ignoreer natuurlik die subtiele ekonomiese kragte (die "onsigbare hand", indien u wil) wat dinge gemaak het soos dit is. Ministers ignoreer dié kragte ook besonder graag.

Bronne: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/sfeature/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich_feather_dusters http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5205/is_1999/ai_n19125056 http://www.becknerfeather.com/

Deborah J. Merritt . Hypatia in the Patent Office: Women Inventors and the Law, 1865-1900. The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 35, No. 3. (Jul., 1991), pp. 235-306.

Jou wagwoord en Oliver Cromwell

2007-12-19T11:44:00.000+02:00

Een van die burgerregte wat gevestig is tydens die 17e-eeuse bewind van die Oliver Cromwell in Engeland, is (aldus Wikipedia) die reg om mensself te weerhou van self-inkriminasie tydens 'n kriminele verhoor. Dié reg is baie belangrik omdat dit die vergryp van gedwonge bekentenisse, dikwels deur marteling, bekamp het. Vandag is dié reg veral bekend uit Amerikaanse TV-reekse en films, waar die uitoefening daarvan in die spesifieke instansie waar 'n mens weier om 'n vraag te beantwoord, bekend staan as "taking the Fifth". Hierdie is die verwysing na die vyfde amendement van die grondwet van die VSA, waar die reg verwoord word m.b.t. kriminele vervolgings.

Pas hierdie week het 'n Amerikaanse federale regter in die deelstaat Vermont beslis dat 'n man wat daarvan aangekla word dat hy kinder-animasiepornografie (uiters smaakloos, maar is dít 'n misdaad?) oor die Kanadese grens op sy draagbare rekenaar die VSA sou ingebring het, op gronde van die "Fifth" kan weier om die kriptografiese sleutel (sê maar: wagwoord) wat nodig is om sy harde skyf te ontsyfer, te verskaf. Doeanebeamptes het blykbaar wel inkriminerende materiaal op dié rekenaar gesien maar het nou die sleutel nodig om weer toegang tot die geënkripteerde skyf te kry. Die brandende (indien daar so iets is) regskwessie is of 'n wagwoord (of sleutel) 'n vorm van spraak of verbale getuienis is, en of dit eerder ooreenstem met 'n kas-sleutel of die kode vir 'n kluis. Blykbaar kan 'n mens gedwing word om 'n sleutel of 'n kluiskode te oorhanding indien dít nodig is om getuienis van ernstige belang te bekom en my gevoel is dat daar min verskil tussen 'n kluis- en 'n kriptografiese sleutel is. 'n Mens sien hier eintlik dat die reg wat 'n teenstrydigheid konfronteer wat spruit uit 'n wiskundige innovering - sterk enkripsie.

Lesers wil dalk in gedagte hou dat onder SA se nuwe Wet op Seksuele Misdrywe dit 'n kriminele oortreding maak vir mense jonger as 16 om te soen (om nie te praat van wat nóg in die agterste ry by Sterland mag aangegaan het nie). Hou dus maar stil wat agter die fietsloods gebeur het, hoop dat die staatsaanklaer nie op jóú dagboek toeslaan nie, en vertrou op nulla poena.

Vodacom sny ten volle betaalde rekeninghouer af

2007-12-15T07:38:00.000+02:00

Vodacom sal doodluiters iemand, wie se rekening ten volle betaal is, se diens opskort - selfs al het die persoon 'n dekade se goeie betalingsgeskiedenis (van seker R100 000,00 of méér). Dít is my storie.

Donderdagoggend sit ek in die verleentheid dat my selfoon nie die kompleks se hek kan oopmaak nie want "your service has been suspended". Ek is reeds meer as 10 jaar lank 'n Vodacom-kontrakgebruiker en het in Oktober 'n datadiens (met 3G/HSDPA-modem) by my kontrak gevoeg. Om een-of-ander rede het ek tot onlangs geen faktuur vir dié datadiens ontvang nie. Daar was dan Maandag 'n SMS van Vodacom waarin ek gewaarsku is dat my rekening met iets oor die R200,00 agterstallig is. Dieselfde dag nog gaan ek op Vodacom4me, laai 'n staat af en betaal die volle balans wat aan die einde van Desember betaalbaar is op EasyPay. Dit was meer as R1000,00 waarvoor ek nog geen faktuur ontvang het nie en wat ek dus vooruit betaal het.

Doodtevrede gaan ek aan met die week - tot die hekinsident op 'n baie besige Donderdag. Die diensopskorting behels, terloops, ook dat die diensverskaffer (111) nie geskakel kan word nie en derhalwe moes ek laat dié middag by die blink nuwe Vodacom-dienssentrum by Menlyn instap. Die - baie vriendelike - man daar aan diens het my verduidelik dat EasyPay-betalings drie dae neem om op die Vodacom-stelsel te registreer en my diens herstel. Hy het natuurlik begrip gehad vir my ontsteltenis. Die volgende sake het my spesifiek opgeval aan dié proses.

Op Vodacom se stelsel word ek as highly-valued customer (in rooi) aangedui. Sou 'n mens nie verwag dat 'n highly-valued customer één oproep werd is voor s/hy diens opgeskort word nie?
In die afgelope 5 jaar het ek meer as R40 000,00 aan Vodacom oorbetaal met EasyPay. Dít is die prys van 'n goeierige tweedehandse motor, maar Vodacom (hulle het my nommer!) kan nie soveel doen as om te skakel en te hoor of ek leef nie.
Die werknemer by Menlyn het dit baie moeilik gevind om my EasyPay-betalingsbewys uit te druk (wat op 'n manier nodig skyn te gewees het). Hy het o.a. probeer om 'n skermbeeld (Engels: screenshot) te neem en die kopieer-en-plak in 'n Word-dokument in en uit die Word-dokument probeer druk. Is dít die tipiese toestand van Vodacom se kliëntediens-rekenaarpunte? Is die uitdruk van 'n webbladsy iets waarmee 'n mens tegniese probleme hoort te hê?
Is daar in die 21ste eeu nie 'n manier hoe betalings dalk in minder as drie dae kan registreer kan word nie?
Dit het gelyk asof die uitvoer van roetine-take 'n verbasende hoeveelheid gebruik van die Start... Run en intik van 'n DOS-bevel (hulle gebruik Window$) behels het. Gits.

Ná dese is dit seker nie moeilik om te verstaan dat ek die baie ernstig oorweeg om my selfoonnommer na MTN of VirginMobile te neem, nie. Gelukkig het my kontrak op die stemnommer reeds in Oktober verval. Waarom het Vodacom nog nie dié highly-valued customer geskakel om te hoor of ek nie belangstel in 'n nuwe selfoon en 'n kontrakhernuwing nie?

GMail - all is forgiven

2007-12-15T07:28:00.000+02:00

This week I had to take the step - in spite of some previous difficulties I had had with GMail - to switch all my e-mail to GMail. For several years now I have been running my own IMAP server on a Pentium II sitting in my cupboard at home. This has been my primary e-mail access (using fetchmail to collect my e-mail from various other servers) and has worked better than any other solution that I have known. Unfortunately, power cuts in Pretoria have now become so common (3 or 4 times already this week) that this old solution is no longer feasible. So, I am now using GMail to collect my e-mail and I access the GMail service through IMAP on my desktop and laptop machines with the Evolution e-mail client. Web access is also good, of course. My main question is what to do with my e-mail archives, but for now I think I shall leave them on the home server - available through the excellent and fast SquirrelMail webmail service, if necessary. It should - in principle - be easy to upload the old mail to GMail using IMAP as well but I do not want to trigger a GMail service suspension for "unusual activity" ever again...

Altbeker se boek oor misdaad in SA

2007-10-14T00:04:00.000+02:00

Ek het sopas A Country At War With Itself: South Africa’s Crisis of Crime van Antony Altbeker klaar gelees. Dit is 'n bietjie van die onderwerp af vir dié webjoernaal maar ek wil dit sterk aanbeveel vir enigiemand wat in SA woon of belangstel. Altbeker raak 'n paar onderwerpe aan wat met tegnologie te doen het:

hoe eskalerende verdediging lei tot eskaleerde geweld, byvoorbeeld motordiefstal wat moeilik gemaak word deur tegnologie lei tot transito-rooftogte en huisaanvalle;
hoe deur speurtak van die polisie afgebreek is na 1994 en die klem op klinkgoed-voelgoed strategieë soos gemeenskapspolisiewerk geplaas is en hoe dít 'n strukturele hindernis is vir die gebruik van DNA-profiele en ander forensiese tegnieke wat kan help om meer suksesvolle vervolgings te bewerkstellig;
die rol van maklik vervoerbare produkte van hoë waarde (selfone, DVD-spelers, kontant) by misdaad, en nie net in SA nie; en
die noodwendige manipulasie van misdaadstatistieke, nie op 'n hoë vlak nie maar deur stasiebevelvoerders wat deur boontjietellers in Pretoria oor die vingers getik word indien daar te veel aangemelde misdade in 'n gebied is

Ek verskil 'n bietjie van Altbeker oor die positiewe aspekte van selfoon- en voertuigmonitering in die poging om, nie soseer misdaad te bekamp nie, maar meer misdadigers vas te trek, suksesvol te vervolg en (lank) op te sluit. Indien 50% van moordenaars aan hul slagoffers bekend is, waarom lei net 3% (volgens Altbeker) van aangemelde moorde tot suksesvolle vervolging? Sal dit regtig help om die land se dosyne van miljoene (gesteelde) selfone dag en nag te kan volg? Wat daarvan indien toegang tot die opsporingstelsel verkry word deur die kriminele elemente self?

Voorts noem hy in die boek dat SA se 25% van die bevolking wat sosiale toelae ontvang besonder hoog is, maar ek glo nie dit is so. In Australië, byvoorbeeld, volgens die Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is daar sowat 'n miljoen mense (5% van die bevolking) wat bystand ontvang vir ongeskiktheid alleen. Voeg daarby werkloosheidsbystand endiesmeer en ek kan maklik glo dat sowat 25% van die bevolking ook in Australië staatsbystand ontvang. Ek is ook onlangs informeel deur 'n Australiese ekonoom meegedeel dat dit rofweg klop. Dit is egter so dat in Australië die gemiddelde belastingbetaler dalk 'n baie beter kans staan in SA om eendag self (of deur 'n familielid) van staatsbystand gebruik te maak. Ons sosiale bystandstelsel is, sou ek sê, tog totaal disfunksioneel omdat diegene wat daarvoor betaal (belastingbetalers, lesers van dié webjoernaal ens.) geen vooruitsig het om ooit direk daaruit voordeel te trek nie. In ander lande is dit in 'n mindere mate ook só maar by ons is dit besonder opvallend.

Altbeker se boek is nie juis opbeurend nie maar dit sit die kwessies rondom misdaad, vir my, duidelik uiteen en verskaf 'n goeie raamwerk waarbinne 'n mens kan dink en redeneer. Dit is aktueel en goed geskryf.

Minister knip draad

2007-09-13T10:05:00.000+02:00

Diegene wat hoop op 'n spoedige einde aan SA se peperduur Internet- en telefoniepryse is hierdie week 'n gevoelige slag toegedien. Die Eassy-konsortium (waarvan Neotel, Telkom en MTN saam 27% besit en wat ook deur die Wêreldbank befonds word) staan gereed om 'n kabel wat SA en die ooskus van Afrika, Europa en Asië sal verbind, by Mtunzini aan wal te bring. Die Ministerie (of, is dit, Misterie?) van Kommunikasie onder Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, bekend vir haar uitspraak

I don't want a sector to be monopolised by people who do not look like me

het aangekondig dat meerderheid plaaslike besit vereis sal word van alle ondernemings wat kabels na SA wil lê. Of sy regtig die bevoegdheid het om dié vereiste te bepaal al dan nie, die bedoeling van die regering is duidelik: vreemdelingevrees en kleinlike patriotisme (of is dit rassisme?) is belangriker as ontwikkeling. Intussen plaas die regering hul hoop op die sogenaamde Kigali-protokol, 'n NEPAD-inisiatief om breëband-Internet in Afrika te bevorder en 'n werkswinkel hieroor het amper begin. Ek kan net voorstel dat Suid-Afrikaanse ministers ook hulle Duitse motors deur 'n NEPAD-komitee laat ontwerp en aankoop.

Somalia: anarchy, calls

2007-08-10T09:57:00.000+02:00

Somalia has not had a recognised government since 1991. Not totally surprisingly, the country has a vibrant and unregulated telecommunications sector. According to a BBC report from 2004 some of the highlights of the Somali market include

a three-day wait for installation of a landline;
US$10/month for unlimited local calls (VAT is irrelevant, one presumes);
150Mbps Internet in central Mogadishu, 11Mbps wireless elsewhere.

All of this seems like science fiction to the hard-pressed South African consumer. In fact, National Geographic reports, earlier this year, that the waiting time for installation of a landline in the capital is now 8 hours. According to a World Bank report the number of landlines in Somalia had increased seven-fold in the period 1991 to 2002. Compare this to SA, where the number of landline subscribers has declined since 1995 in spite of an interventionist government, crocodile tears in Davos etc. Every African knows the immense entrepreneurial flair that pervades our continent but few Africans believe that we are blessed with particularly efficient or wise governments. Somalia shows how well things can work in Africa when entrepreneurs are in charge and not bureaucrats.

Power and "universal service"

2007-07-02T07:54:00.000+02:00

A very persuasive posting by Russel Southwood of Balancing Act today points out that "universal service" agencies, who - according to the World Bank - are sitting on $4500m of unspent funds, should use this money to simply expand the power grid in rural areas, especially in Africa. According to Russel the cost of providing power generators for mobile base stations in areas where there is no or an unreliable electric grid, makes these base stations around 10 times more expensive than those in developed aread. SA's agency apparently has a new executive who is (sic) feeling the shoes of Ms. Cassandra Gabriel (Chairperson of the Board)... The only other item of news from 2007 on USA's homepage is about the relocation of offices in March - and one can only pray that the move went well. This agency is well placed, given the lack of action from the other regulators, to undermine the telecommunications oligopoly operating in South Africa. Will they?

Pylpunt en Pallo Jordan

2007-07-01T10:56:00.000+02:00

Enkele weke gelede het 'n Internetsoektog my toevallig attent gemaak op die bestaan van 'n plek met die naam Pylpunt. Die soektog het verband gehou met iets in die omgewing en ek het vir die snaaksigheid na http://maps.google.com/ gegaan en die naam Pylpunt ingetik. Siedaar - dis 'n plek of kruising langs die N1, net noord van Pretoria, so 15km van waar ek woon. Waarom vind ek dit snaaks? Omdat ek skielik besef het hoe belaglik die politici van SA is indien hulle dink dat dit 'n magtige daad is om oorspronklik Afrikaanse dorpe herdoop na vlou moutbiere of vermeende Ndebele-opperhoofde. Amper al wat vir my eintlik saakmaak is of die plek se naam in die Google-databasis is. Die tyd toe dit primêr saakgemaak het hoe iets in 'n stowwerige lêer in Pretoria aangeteken is, is lankal verby. In die terminologie van Thomas Friedman, is ons politiese opperhoofde nog in die sfeer van die olyfboom (kleinlike stryd oor plaaslike kwessies) waar ek en Google in die sfeer van die Lexus (globale uitnemendheid en samewerking) is. Die Internet het veroorsaak dat Google en soortgelykes die databasis beheer en versprei en nie kleinlike burokrate nie. Wat 'n bevryding! En, sal die leser vra, indien 'n mens die voorgestelde nuwe naam vir die Jakarandastad (Snor City, Mor City) intik? Wel, dan wys GoogleMaps 'n gehuggie by Ghanzi, in Botswana.

SA beplan verbod op buitelandse selfone

2007-06-06T05:04:00.000+02:00

Die meeste van ons ken die roetine wanneer die sitplekgordelligte afgeskakel word op 'n vreemde lughawe: die selfoon word aangeskakel, konnekteer aan 'n plaaslike netwerk wat dadelik 'n verwelkomingsboodskap stuur en 'n mens ontvang dadelik 'n paar SMSe van Suid-Afrika af en laat weet dat 'n mens veilig aangekom het. Dit is nou maar deesdae deel van die normale lewe - maar nie meer vir lank in Die Republiek nie. Net om besoekers, veral vir 2010, te laat besef dat Gauteng se lughawe (ek kan nou nie onthou wat ons die plek hierdie week amptelik noem nie maar ek verwys na die een net oos van Johannesburg) in Donker Afrika is, oorweeg die parlement in Slaapstad tans 'n Regulation of Interception of Communication Amendment Bill wat - onder andere - sal behels dat buitelandse selfoongebruikers eers hul identiteit, tuisadres endiesmeer aan plaaslike netwerke sal moet verklaar alvorens hul toegelaat sal word om in SA te swerf (Engels: roam), m.a.w. hul selfone plaaslik te gebruik. Indien dié wetgewing aanvaar word gaan duisende mense elke dag in SA arriveer en met skok agterkom dat hulle selfone, anders as in Namibië of Zimbabwe, nie hier werk nie. Soos ANC-LP Luwellyn Landers verklaar in Business Day:

Everyone who uses roaming in SA must register, otherwise there is no point to this legislation.

Presies!Ons kan òf die land in die oë van 6 miljoen of meer toeriste en sakebesoekers per jaar belaglik maak òf hierdie beheersieke wetgewing laat vaar.

Ek was nog in geen land waar my selfoon by aankoms nie gewerk het nie, maar dan het ek tot dusver lusoorde soos Mongolië of Irak vermy... Die voormalige Sowjet-Unie het natuurlik die registrasie van fotokopieermasjiene (ook uit die buiteland) vereis en miskien is sekere lede van ons regering hier weer deur 'n aanval van Sowjet-nostalgie geïnspireer.