Matsu’s World: The One Less Traveled

Most of you have heard about all of the technology work and call center work from Western countries moving to India over the past decade. But wait, there’s more! Outsourcing has moved to an all new level. Now you can outsource your programming homework to a person in India. (I sure hope my son is not reading this post.)

A recent Slashdot post pointed readers to this story about students who have been outsourcing their coding homework to people in India. I suppose it was just a matter of time. After all, school papers on all sorts of topics have been available for sale on the Internet for a long time, and a lot of global corporations have been outsourcing their software development to India, why not combine the two?

This is not much different than having your roommate do your homework (for a small fee). With the time differences you can literally send your homework assignment to your “homework buddy” in India before you go to bed and while you sleep the programming homework will be written so when you wake up, you are done!

How many more ways can a person cheat? As long as people are creative, there will always be some new trick. This is just a little more high-tech and international than most.

I wonder if someone in India can write my departmental annual report for me…

I don’t know how this slipped by me, but last week at this time (May 17th) was the annual World Telecommunications Day. It seems strange to think that it occurred without proper recognition, so while I may be a week late, let me say, “Happy World Telecommunications Day, everyone!”

Why was one week ago, May 17th, chosen to celebrate world-wide telecommunications technology? Because it’s the anniversary date of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865. And, because that’s what the United Nations decided to do in General Assembly Resolution 60-252.

So, mark you calendars for next year and remember to celebrate World Telecommunication Day on May 17, 2009.

This morning during an informal coffee break at work (well, it’s Friday so it was during the donut break) I mentioned the recent release of all of Charles Darwin’s works online by Cambridge University. That seemed to be news to the group of people I work with so I thought I’d post the information here for them to easily navigate to information about this new online content.

If you want to read about the project and the release of Darwin’s work, check out this Wired magazine article.

Or, you can just go straight to the Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online and begin reading digitized copies of his many writings.

Today I was catching up on some reading and came across this post by Robert Scoble. He said:

Several people have told me about an off line version of Gmail, coming soon. Other people say that Google, or a company working with Google, is going to come out with a new server that will let corporations replace their Exchange servers with ones made by Google.

Now, wouldn’t it be interesting if Google did in fact come out with an e-mail client to rival Microsoft’s Outlook or Outlook Express? And, to take that one step further, what would happen if Google did release a server that could replace Exchange servers allowing all existing Outlook and Entourage users to just continue using the same client software with the new server without ever knowing the difference? Obviously, that’s not something Microsoft wants to see, but it may  be coming.

The world of technology is always interesting and ever changing.

Yes, the crazy idea I wrote about here, the one proposed by Representative Tim Couch, is moving through the state’s political system. To see the official bill, go here. I have downloaded the proposed bill (in the form of a Word file) and cut/pasted the contents below. Here’s what it says…

AN ACT relating to information technology.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

SECTION 1. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 369 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

As used in Sections 1 to 3 of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Information content provider” means any person, business, or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation and dissemination of information through the Internet or any interactive service;

(2) “Interactive service provider” means any person, business, or entity authorized to do business, or doing business, in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation, development, or maintenance of any interactive service;

(3) “Interactive service” means any Internet-based Web site, blog, or message board that allows users to provide information to be viewed by other users; and

(4) “Internet” means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks.

SECTION 2. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 369 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

(1) An interactive service provider shall establish, maintain, and enforce a policy to require information content providers to register a legal name, address, and valid electronic mail address as a precondition of using the interactive service.

(2) An interactive service provider shall establish, maintain, and enforce a policy to require information content providers to be conspicuously identified with all information provided by, at a minimum, their registered legal name.

(3) An interactive service provider shall establish reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name, address, and valid electronic mail address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person.

SECTION 3. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 369 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

An interactive service provider that violates any of the provisions of Section 2 of this Act shall be fined five hundred dollars ($500) for the first offense and one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each subsequent offense.

What do you think? Is it even remotely possible that this will pass?

If you are a Kentucky resident you may want to wander over to read this post by Moose and follow his advice to tell the state legislature what you think of this bill.