Internet Censorship

Those who have observed Malaysia's 12th General Election on 8th March 2008 will have noticed the Opposition won 5 states from the dominant Government via the Internet, which the Govt had little control over while they were controlling the mass media.

This was even mentioned by Vinton Cerf, Father of the Internet @ WCIT 2008 - which you can read more about him here in our previous post (at the bottom of that post). He mentioned about how the Internet has shown it plays an important role in politics, and it has even resulted in the world's first blogger to be voted into Parliament, which is Malaysia's case, is Jeff Ooi. So what has the Gov tried to do? Read on for more.

As a result, in order to work towards securing the 13th GE in 2012 from being lost, the Govt has begun to blog like the Opposition, and has recently decided to attempt to filter the Internet, just as how China tried with their Green Dam project.

However, as Jack of BrickGamers have said, if even the Middle Kingdom can give up (at least for now), perhaps it's futile for the Govt here to consider pursuing this when it actually contradicts the MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Bill of Guarantees, which prohibits Internet censorship to encourage foreign investments in the country.

So far the Govt has said the filter is only to censor pornography, but we all know power can be abused in the wrong hands once laws are laid down, and in anycase, it still violates the MSC's Bill.

More Data?

Google Earth, Sky, Ocean, Moon, Mars

Most people would have heard of Google, primarily for searching for information on the World Wide Web (Web), a part of the Net (Internet), via Google Search. Some may know Google has some other interesting ways to search for other information, like locations via Google Maps (maps.google.com). But did you know there's more to this?

2D Web Google Maps (above) and 3D desktop Google Earth (below)

Google Earth (earth.google.com) is the desktop version of G-Maps, with the main difference being the program is in 3D while the Web version is in 2D.

2D Web Google Sky (above) and 3D desktop Google Sky (below)

Did you know G-Earth also progressed from just searching the land to space as well? It was called Google Sky but it's actually a part of G-Earth. You can also use the 2D version via the Web at sky.google.com

Then Google Ocean was added in G-Earth. However, unlike G-Sky, it's not available on the Web.

3D desktop Google Moon (above) and 2D Web Google Moon (below)

In the past, when you maximum zoom in 2D Web Google Moon, you'll see cheese, based after the phrase "The moon is made of cheese".

Now, there's Google Moon in G-Earth. Like G-Sky, G-Moon is also available on the Web in 2D at moon.google.com. There's also another nearby planetary body available from Google - Mars.

2D Web Google Mars (above) and 3D desktop Google Mars (below)

Google Mars is also incorporated into G-Earth, and you can also get it in 2D on the Web via mars.google.com

Venus is the same size as Earth, but it's too hot for life

So, will there be Google Venus at venus.google.com soon? Going by how Mars is heavily being explored as the next possible habitable planet after Earth, there's a chance Venus won't be mapped anytime soon in the near future.

Past (left) and present (right) satellite images in Google Earth

Instead, there's a higher chance G-Earth will incorporate a Future Time Slider in the not so distant future to enable a Temporal Database of what you're looking at - be it G-Maps, G-Sky, G-Ocean, G-Moon, or G-Mars. With this, you'll not only be able to search for past information as you now can in G-Earth, but also future predictions based on historical and present information.

This was what Vinton G. Cerf (the Father of the Internet), the Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist @ Google said during the 2008 WCIT (World Congress on Information Technology), held at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) Convention Centre (KLCCCC or KLC4?). The WCIT is organised by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA).

To get G-Earth (which comes with G-Sky, G-Ocean, G-Moon and G-Mars in the latest version 5), visit earth.google.com

images from Wikipedia

More Data?