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Spammers are using TinyURL.com to escape spam filters

I recently found out that besides the new breed of spam bots which emulate human surfing behavior and sporting javascript support. Spammers now developed a new tactic by concealing their url behind TinyURL.com redirection service.

I hope TinyURL administrators will take note of these service abuse, and devise a plan to reduce spammers from using their service to spread their spammy URL around.

For the time being, I’ll be more watchful and configure my anti-spam software to filter out urls that uses TinyURL service. I personally don’t use TinyURL service, and only occasionally surfed to tinyurl addresses when I’m certain it was given by a reputable source (and it must be from a human!)

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Dangers of Free Trade Agreement to Malaysian ICT Industry

FTA includes certain clause that will drive our local software company out of business, please don’t let this happen! Do not let what has happened to Australia happen to our ICT industry.

FTA will indirectly let US impose their laws (like DMCA) in our country by letting foreign companies to sue our government, this is clearly unacceptable for a sovereign country like Malaysia. Our ICT industry is endangered by (software) patents infringement lawsuit by US mega-corporations, effectively driving our local ICT companies out of business.

Forget about e-commerce or e-niaga, as a typical e-commerce website are covered in a shitload of patents (See: Patented Webshop). Our local entrepreneur websites will risk patent lawsuits from some faceless foreign companies right in our own soil!

Read more at Free Trade Agreements and ICT Industry

p/s: There’s no doubt that FTA with US will work great for our country, but there are certain clauses which are unacceptable to our local ICT businesses, this is because softwares themselves are unique in nature than other tangible products, and certain terms such Intellectual Property has blurry meaning concerning this issue.

Please read this too
What other people say about FTA with US and ICT industry in Malaysia

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The meaning of ‘terror’ in colloquial Malay

If you are living in Malaysia and has a lot of Malay friends, there’s chances that you may encountered these kind of conversation/dialog

A : kau ni memang terror la.
B : Eh aku mana terror bab-bab ni, kau tanya Lim tu

C: mamat tu buat wheelie time korner maut, terror betul !

D: Kena terror jugak nak jawab soalan-soalan ni

In a webster terror means :
terror
n 1: an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety [syn: panic]
2: a person who inspires fear or dread; “he was the terror of
the neighborhood” [syn: scourge, threat]
3: a very troublesome child [syn: brat, little terror, holy
terror]

I guess some of you may already know what this ‘terror’ means in the context of conversation. Usually in colloqual Malay, terror means clever,skillful or an expert. I’ve heard this kind of use since before I enter primary school.

The thing is, I can’t help but wonder how this word has come to use widely in malaysian community to describe somebody who are clever, skillful or with expertise. Could it be misinterpretation from an older generation?

What would you call somebody who is an expert in (let’s say) farming ? a terrorist farmer?

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Readable Ubuntu (Breezy Badger) root password

ubuntu

Ubuntu Breezy users, a new security problem has surfaced where root password is readable to the world by merely executing this command :

mypapit@enterprise:~$ grep -r rootpassword /var

Users are advised to update their Breezy installations (via automatic updates) as soon as possible to counter the bug. The problem has been fixed in Ubuntu 6.04 (Drapper Drake).

Link to bug #34606

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Mypapit GNU/Linux blog may be unavailable on March 14

I’ve one announcement to make, Mypapit GNU/Linux blog *MAY* be unavailable starting March 14 (0100 GMT+8), this is because my hosting company is performing some server upgrades and maintenance. My website will be available back on March 15.

Well, Just telling you in advance in case if you are wondering why you can’t reach my website.