The last time that someone was thrown in jail for political reasons was almost 20 years ago. I don't think that Singaporeans at large are going to be very happy if someone is thrown into jail for such reasons again anytime soon, so it's fairly safe to speak your mind as long as you can back it up (with cash preferably) *grin*
In terms of censorship, things are really loosening up. Some shows that would have been banned outright 10 years ago are making their way into Singapore with under-18 ratings. Basically society is starting to become more open, but again this is largely due to the government acknowledging that they can't remain close minded while everybody is out there making big bucks in this knowledge-based economy.
It's interesting to note that you find our lack of certain freedoms very attractive. I've seen a number of Westerners locally as well who think the same way and are willing to give up some of their "rights" in return for a good life.
While I am not an engineer by training, my gf who is in her final year of Civil Engineering (with minor in Environmental Engrg) at the National University of Singapore has shared with me some interesting facts about NEWater. (Hey correct me here if I make gross mistakes)
1) Singapore's NEWater does not come from the sewers. They are too squimish to run their reverse osmosis and whatever through the sai (shit) that passes through our sewerage system. Instead NEWater comes from drain water, which is a hell lot easier to clean than sewerage.
2) NEWater is pumped back into our reservoirs. Because NEWater lacks nutrients and minerals for human consumption, it is important that it is pumped back into the reservoirs so that it gets some of these properties back. Drinking NEWater over the long term (which is not what any of us do anyway) is not good for health.
3) NEWater is valued by industries. Manufacturing plants for instance do not need to process treated water and can instead use NEWater directly for things like cleaning PCBs and other electronic equipment since it is pure.
Overall NEWater is a good thing! I felt quite honoured to have been one of the guys staging the first public drinking of NEWater during the National Day Parade 2002... Altho all of us (even the Colonels from the Army) referred to it as sai-chui (Shit-Water):D
I'm disturbed by the way large conglomerates determine and demand damages based upon projected profits should a product's IP have not been violated and piracy had not occurred.
It's a somewhat flawed argument to claim that $5,000,000 worth of software was confiscated in a piracy raid when off the shelf, at the point of purchase, the software would only have had a $2,000 street value (I'm referring to how much the pirates price the products).
Basic economic theory would point out to you that the lower the cost of ownership, the greater the demand for that product. Even if the retail value of a shop's pirated products had been worth millions, I can't imagine how they would have been able to sell these products that the prices they were pegging it at.
Although piracy is wrong per se, how much in lost profits should a company be allowed to attribute to piracy? I think cases where students from universities are hauled up for file sharing and the penalties imposed on them are totally absurd although the crime is similar (piracy) but the damage, obviously can't possibly be so high.
How does the law make sense of this? How far should IP be protected and would we ever see an end to some of the whimsical claims made by IP owners?
Yeah it'll be kinda difficult for our teams to get webhosting in some of these countries, but we'll be trying anyway and documenting the procedures that we go through and the correspondence. For Myanmar we've discovered that they now offer webhosting services - http://www.bagan.net.mm . We aren't saying that we'll get it for sure, but the whole point of this is to show that the Internet is not the free medium everybody seems to think it is. Just looking at the traces alone in the past day shows that either hardly anybody in Africa reads Slashdot or Africa hardly has access to the Internet at all. The Middle Eastern countries seem very detached as well, and we're hoping to be able to get some form of webhosting there even if it might not be on a 24/7 server.
Slashdot Mirror
The last time that someone was thrown in jail for political reasons was almost 20 years ago. I don't think that Singaporeans at large are going to be very happy if someone is thrown into jail for such reasons again anytime soon, so it's fairly safe to speak your mind as long as you can back it up (with cash preferably) *grin* In terms of censorship, things are really loosening up. Some shows that would have been banned outright 10 years ago are making their way into Singapore with under-18 ratings. Basically society is starting to become more open, but again this is largely due to the government acknowledging that they can't remain close minded while everybody is out there making big bucks in this knowledge-based economy. It's interesting to note that you find our lack of certain freedoms very attractive. I've seen a number of Westerners locally as well who think the same way and are willing to give up some of their "rights" in return for a good life.
Some download mirrors here
While I am not an engineer by training, my gf who is in her final year of Civil Engineering (with minor in Environmental Engrg) at the National University of Singapore has shared with me some interesting facts about NEWater. (Hey correct me here if I make gross mistakes)
:D
1) Singapore's NEWater does not come from the sewers. They are too squimish to run their reverse osmosis and whatever through the sai (shit) that passes through our sewerage system. Instead NEWater comes from drain water, which is a hell lot easier to clean than sewerage.
2) NEWater is pumped back into our reservoirs. Because NEWater lacks nutrients and minerals for human consumption, it is important that it is pumped back into the reservoirs so that it gets some of these properties back. Drinking NEWater over the long term (which is not what any of us do anyway) is not good for health.
3) NEWater is valued by industries. Manufacturing plants for instance do not need to process treated water and can instead use NEWater directly for things like cleaning PCBs and other electronic equipment since it is pure.
Overall NEWater is a good thing! I felt quite honoured to have been one of the guys staging the first public drinking of NEWater during the National Day Parade 2002... Altho all of us (even the Colonels from the Army) referred to it as sai-chui (Shit-Water)
I'm disturbed by the way large conglomerates determine and demand damages based upon projected profits should a product's IP have not been violated and piracy had not occurred.
It's a somewhat flawed argument to claim that $5,000,000 worth of software was confiscated in a piracy raid when off the shelf, at the point of purchase, the software would only have had a $2,000 street value (I'm referring to how much the pirates price the products).
Basic economic theory would point out to you that the lower the cost of ownership, the greater the demand for that product. Even if the retail value of a shop's pirated products had been worth millions, I can't imagine how they would have been able to sell these products that the prices they were pegging it at.
Although piracy is wrong per se, how much in lost profits should a company be allowed to attribute to piracy? I think cases where students from universities are hauled up for file sharing and the penalties imposed on them are totally absurd although the crime is similar (piracy) but the damage, obviously can't possibly be so high.
How does the law make sense of this? How far should IP be protected and would we ever see an end to some of the whimsical claims made by IP owners?
Yeah it'll be kinda difficult for our teams to get webhosting in some of these countries, but we'll be trying anyway and documenting the procedures that we go through and the correspondence. For Myanmar we've discovered that they now offer webhosting services - http://www.bagan.net.mm . We aren't saying that we'll get it for sure, but the whole point of this is to show that the Internet is not the free medium everybody seems to think it is. Just looking at the traces alone in the past day shows that either hardly anybody in Africa reads Slashdot or Africa hardly has access to the Internet at all. The Middle Eastern countries seem very detached as well, and we're hoping to be able to get some form of webhosting there even if it might not be on a 24/7 server.