The Internet in Asia

Bullies post videos online

Six student bullies were remanded by Malaysian police after they posted a video of them beating up their school mate on-line. The attack received worldwide attention when the footage – purportedly showing the entire incident, which lasted four minutes – was uploaded onto an Internet site and received thousands of hits. The boys are aged between 13 and 15. Although police have not yet determined the motive behind the attack, they have not ruled out the possibility that the bullies were angered when the victim refused to join a secret society.  The bullies have been expelled from school and will be released on bail to their parents.

Such occurrences are becoming more frequent now. A similar incident occur ed in Singapore a few weeks ago, and received the same amount of coverage as people from both countries are asking why are such incidents are so common today?

World Cup increases online sales revenue

Online consumption of sports information has increased significantly in India over the past 4 years. The 2006 World Cup in Germany has contributed to a further 15% increase in online ad revenues.  Indian Yahoo! Sales Director expects  an estimated 32 million unique users to consume over 4 billion pages of the 2006 official FIFA world cup site.  Yahoo! hosts the official World Cup site.

Mobile telephony and militants

It was only in 2003 that New Delhi allowed mobile services in war-torn Kashmir, banning it in fear that militants would use this service to plan terror attacks. Now, security officials say troops have eliminated many militants by tracking their mobile phones and tapping conservations. For example, when a senior member of an Islamist rebel  called a newspaper office a few minutes after a bomb blast from his mobile phone in Kashmir. Little did he know that this single act would lead to him being captured, by way of tracking down his mobile phone signals.

Militants and governments in other parts of the world are more aware of this potential threat to their activities. The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka for example have banned the use of mobile phones for this very reason. Instead they use satellite phones that are harder to track. In Nepal, the now ousted royalist government of King Gyanendra  shut down mobile phone services when these instruments were used to plan big rallies against him.

In addition to helping track down militants, mobile phones have also helped save lives in another way in Kashmir- both citizens trapped in building controlled by suicide bombers and hostages kidnapped by militants have used mobile phones to help alert authorities of their where-abouts.

Google CEO predicts that India will be the largest Internet market

Google CEO Eric Schmidt  has predicted that India, and not China will be the world's largest Internet market in the next 5 to 10 years. Interestingly, he also predicts that Hindi and not Hispanic is likely to become one of the 3 leading languages on-line along with English and Chinese in the near future.  Unsurprisingly, his remarks have left analysts searching for answers to what Google plans to do in India soon. 

He also predicted that on-line mobile telephony would set the stage for the next social, political and economic impact.

Mobile phone technology to be localized.

Motorola researchers based in Bangalore are examining usage patterns there in an attempt to understand how those in rural areas use their mobile phones, with the aim of making their phones more user-friendly for these folk.  They are not alone - Microsoft in India is attempting to do the same thing, but at a slower pace. One modification that may be put into use soon is to simplify the main page, making it easier for users to access the specific application they want to use. Speech recognition (in different South Asian languages) is another option that is on the table.  Looks like mobile phone technology may become more  'local context friendly' quicker than computers or the Internet!

Indians go online to search for jobs

Searching for jobs on-line is one of their top 5 activities when logged on to the Internet among Indian Internet subscribers. The other four activities are e-mail, surfing, chatting, and web searches. Both recruiters and job seekers use it as it is an effective way of accessing a large pool of candidates/organizations. India currently has 38.5 million Internet users and the, maintaining an annual growth of 60%.

India set to be next online gaming centre

By 2010, India's on-line gaming industry is expected to exceed USD 200 million dollars, largely due to the increase in the number on cyber-cafes with more than 100,000 outlets, increasing use of broadband and a size-able middle class with money to spend. Most importantly, game operators are promoting and educating consumers about on-line games including MMOGs and increasing investment in this area.

Currently India has over 39 million Internet users amd os epected to emerge as one of the top online markets in Asia, along with China, Korea and Taiwan.

Nonaligned nations strike back through new news service

A joint effort by the 114 countries that are members of the Non-Aligned Movement have started an on-line news service aimed at providing an alternative to what they consider unfair coverage by the Western media. The news site can be accessed here.

Online Campaign Against Cartoon of Bush as Hindu God

A caricature which ran in the March 3 edition of The International Herald Tribune, a daily owned by the New York Times of George Bush depicts the U.S. president in a suit, holding in one hand a sign that says, "India Nuke Deal," and in another hand a sign that says, "Stop Iran Nukes." Bush is holding a club in his third hand, and what appears to be a hangman's noose in his fourth hand.

Unsurprisingly, the caricature has riled many Hindus who have started an on-line signature campaign to protest its publication in a daily newspaper.Rajesh Gooty, the U.S.-based founder of Indiacause.com, a Web-based portal whose stated purpose it is to safeguard the interests of India, initiated the protest campaign March 22. So far, close to 1,200 people have signed the petition, which he plans to send the NYT demanding that the cartoon be retracted and an unconditional apology be given.

This is not the first time that Indiacause.com  has made its point through on-line campaigns. In the past, it has succeeded in forcing Microsoft to remove the word "disputed" from a map showing the state of Jammu and Kashmir, forced CNN and Fox News to remove an India map drawn without the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and forced the Toronto Star to apologize for publishing an image of a nude Goddess Durga.

Online learning distance has taken a different spin in India today.

Its nothing new for a  16 year old high school student  to be tutored in Chemistry by someone who has a Masters degree in the subject - such arrangements have been going on for a long time. The only difference here is that the student is based in the US, and the tutor in Cochin, India and that they are 'connected' through broadband and their learning is facilitated by and software that lets him sketch chemical formulas onto a computer screen.  Although the Indian accents may be hard for students to understand initially, this barrier is significantly reduced with the help of real-time white boards and other software. Thus, there is little difference between this tutoring method and face-to-face tutoring sessions. Parents too like the flexibility afforded by these online tutoring arrangements.

India has score of math and science scholars who are willing to work for a fraction of the price charged by their US counter-parts. Students are usually charged between USD 47 and USD 52 an hour by companies that employ US based tutors. Those that employ Indian based tutors on the other hand only charge between USD 18 to USD 25 an hour.  Entrepreneurs from the US have taken advantage of this, and with the help of high speed broadband connections have linked the two parties up, making a profit for themselves in the process.  One example is Studyloft.com which currently links 5,400 students in the US to tutors in India.