Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society

Author: ttcsadmin

  • Trinidad and Tobago draft Broadcast Code

    Trinidad and Tobago draft Broadcast Code

    The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) has published a draft Broadcasting Code  containing rules for regulating the content of programmes and material transmitted by radio and TV broadcasters (specifically the free-to-air radio, free-to-air TV and the basic (or general audience) package of subscription TV broadcasters).

    According to the document :

    “the principles which inform the Code are respect for the right of adults to choose the programming they want, while protecting children and young persons from unsuitable
    material through appropriate scheduling and, the need to protect persons from harm or
    unnecessary offence.”

    The Code prescribes specific standards for the broadcast of free-to-air radio and television programmes in relation to a number of issues including the following :

    • Protection of children and young persons
    • Harm and offence
    • Crime
    • Race
    • Due Impartiality and due accuracy in the reporting of news
    • Election coverage
    • Fairness and privacy
    • Right of reply
    • Information and warnings
    • Advertising and sponsorship
    • Religion

    The Code also outlines procedures for receiving complaints and for redress.

    TATT will be holding public meetings (not announced as of August 10th, 2008 ) at locations throughout Trinidad and Tobago between 18th August 2008 and 29th August 2008. Persons may also submit comments in writing to the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago at 76 Boundary Road, San Juan, Trinidad or by email to legal@tatt.org.tt.

    The deadline for the receipt of written comments on the Code and the Guidelines to TATT is
    August 29, 2008    .

    Download :

    Also, see Presentations from TATT’s seminar “Balance on the airwaves ; free speech and responsibility”

  • TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.93 released

    TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.93 released

    The TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.93 (http://ttcsweb.org/osswin-cd), a collection of over 100 Free/Open Source software for Windows is available for download.

    TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.93 details :

    • Date created : Tuesday July 29th, 2008
    • File name : ttcs_osswin_cd_v1.93.iso
    • File size : 695 MB (729,485,312 bytes)
    • MD5 checksum : fec73ecfd687bb84ff7b5de336d51b26 / fec73ecf d687bb84 ff7b5de3 36d51b26
    • SHA-1 : c6003633 59e37802 2d52867f 6d353e26 63cd42df
    • SHA-256 : 369a8c35 451a1d34 869f5b81 a20944a0 7cae1159 dc73c3c0 75430e0d d6e178e4

    Changes from v1.92 :

    • updated Abiword, GanttProject, WinMerge, Wikidpad, Tuxpaint, Portable Puzzle Collection, Sokoban Yasc, Freeciv, Paint.NET, Dia, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Filezilla, Miranda IM, XAMPP Lite, VirtualDub, VideoLAN, TrueCrypt, Launchy

    For more details about the TTCS OSSWIN CD, including links to other download mirrors (including BitTorrent) can be found at https://www.ttcs.tt/osswin-cd/

  • Software Freedom Day 2008 event planning for TTCS

    Software Freedom Day 2008 event planning for TTCS

    Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2008 will be on September 20th, 2008 and the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS ; http://ttcsweb.org/ ) needs your help.

    What is Software Freedom Day?

    Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a global, grassroots effort to educate the public about the availability and benefits of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Local teams around the world organise and have events
    on the third Saturday in September.

    Software Freedom Day is on September 20th, 2008. We need to plan now and

    • decide what to do
    • locate a suitable venue
    • promote the meeting once the venue and format of SFD 2008 is confirmed

    The TTCS wiki page is available to assist with planning at https://files.ttcs.tt/ttcs-wiki-sfd2008-planning.pdf

    Local Linux users, Windows users, Mac users, fans of open source software, everyone is welcome to assist with this project.

    If you :

    • can help us with these tasks
    • have ideas and suggestions
    • would like to volunteer to help with planning SFD 2008 in Trinidad
    • would like to volunteer to help on the actual day(s)

    please go to the planning page for further information and/or to add your contribution : the TTCS SFD 2008 wiki page at https://files.ttcs.tt/ttcs-wiki-sfd2008-planning.pdf and email admin at ttcsweb.org. Notes of meetings will be posted to the planning page with the first virtual one scheduled for July 27, 2008.

    Further details will be posted to the SFD2008-planning page as well as via email to those persons interested in helping with SFD2008.

    In 2007, the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society’s entry for SFD 2007 received a “highly commended” award from the Software Freedom Day organisation! Information about that event can be found here:

  • Fix found for net security flaw in DNS ; multiple DNS implementations vulnerable ; DNS testing tool available

    Fix found for net security flaw in DNS ; multiple DNS implementations vulnerable ; DNS testing tool available

    From the BBC News Article : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7496735.stm :

    Computer experts have released software to tackle a security glitch in the internet’s addressing system. The flaw, discovered by accident, would allow criminals to redirect users to fake webpages, even if they typed the correct address into a browser. Internet giants such as Microsoft are now distributing the security patch. Security expert Dan Kaminsky said that the case was unprecedented, but added: “People should be concerned but they should not be panicking.”

    “We have bought you as much time as possible to test and apply the patch,” he said. “Something of this scale has not happened before.”

    Mr Kaminsky discovered the error in the workings of the Domain Name System (DNS) about six months ago.

    Other links :

  • MPA releases Draft National Policy on Electronic Business For Trinidad and Tobago

    MPA releases Draft National Policy on Electronic Business For Trinidad and Tobago

    The Ministry of Public Admin (MPA) has released a “Draft National Policy on Electronic Business for Trinidad and Tobago” (PDF ; 648K). According to this 23 page document, the aim of the policy is :

    To develop a vibrant and sustainable e-Business industry that will contribute to the
    transformation of Trinidad and Tobago’s economic paradigm towards one that has a
    significant knowledge base, through:

    • Strengthening the Nation’s infrastructure;
    • Clarifying market place rules;
    • Developing networks;
    • Increasing participation;
    • Developing the Nation’s human resources; and
    • Developing the Nation’s R&D and Innovation Capacity.

    The objectives :

    This policy paper intends to identify actions that the Government of the Republic of
    Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT) will need to take in collaboration with the private
    sector and academia, in order to create an economic, infrastructural and human
    resource environment in which e-Business opportunities are relatively easy to take
    advantage of by businesses and individuals.
    In this regard, the proposals herein are structured to minimize the direct intervention
    of Government in taking these proposals forward; this is to encourage increased
    competitiveness of the ICT sector in Trinidad and Tobago.

    The document also gives a glimpse of planned government policies :

    • Fastforward II Trinidad and Tobago’s National ICT Plan, 2008–2013
    • Government of Trinidad and Tobago e-Legislative agenda
    • Hosting policy (presumably related to the Internet Bandwidth Management policy)
    • e-Payments position paper
    • National Broadband Action Plan

    The deadline for comments has not been announced as yet but the TTCS will update this entry along with a link to where we can co-ordinate our response to this policy.

    Download :

  • Google MapMaker enabled for Trinidad and Tobago

    Google MapMaker enabled for Trinidad and Tobago

    Wow :

    Google Map Maker is a Google Maps service that allows you add or edit features, such as roads, businesses, parks, schools and more. Using Google Map Maker tools, you can visually mark locations and add detailed information about these locations. Once you have submitted content, this information may be edited by other users or moderators. At a later time, this content may be published in Google Maps for others to see and use.”

    Google Map Maker is enabled for Trinidad and Tobago (and several other Caribbean islands). Read the Google MapMaker Getting Started Guide and begin adding content to Google MapMaker Trinidad and Tobago

    screenshot of GoogleMapMaker showing Trinidad and Tobago

    (Hat Tip : Digital Inspiration)

  • TTCS meeting on Saturday 28th June 2008 – IPv6

    TTCS meeting on Saturday 28th June 2008 – IPv6

    The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS ; http://ttcsweb.org/) will be having a meeting on Saturday 28th June 2008 at Engineering Consultants at 112A Edward Street, Port of Spain (corner of Oxford and Edward Streets) from 2PM (Doors open from 1PM).

    The topic of the meeting will be IPv6 – What is it? Why do we need it? How do we use it?

    At this meeting, we will be having a presentation from Mr Andre Thompson
    who attended a recent ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers) meeting. See our http://www.ttcsweb.org/ipv6 page for more information on IPv6.

    Contribution of $20 towards refreshments is expected. Please CONFIRM if you are ATTENDING OR NOT at http://mobaganda.com/ttcsmeetingonipv6. Thanks!

  • TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.92 available for download

    TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.92 available for download

    The TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.92, a collection of over 100 Free/Open Source software for Windows is now available for download and includes Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and OpenOffice.org 2.4.1.

    • Date created : Tuesday June 17th, 2008
    • File name : ttcs_osswin_cd_v1.92.iso
    • File size : 690 MB (723,623,936 bytes)
    • MD5 checksum : 7780c52fb4957fa4cc0f32c63ea7a6f4 / 7780c52f b4957fa4 cc0f32c6 3ea7a6f4
    • SHA-1 : b74d7b6f af26662a 0acb8f88 b4b96009 1fcb24c5
    • SHA-256 : 025a1ab8 846d854b 07040fa2 75d655b2 8c664c88 10afe73a d37e3bb1 c1343d02

    Changes from v1.91

    • added wxDownload Fast
    • updated OpenOffice.org, Sumatra PDF, ConvertAll, Treeline, Maxima, Portable Puzzle Collection, Sokoban Yasc, GIMP, Mozilla Firefox, Filezilla, Halite, Miranda IM, VirtualDub, CoolPlayer, VideoLAN, ClamWin Antivirus

    Visit the TTCS OSSWIN CD page for download locations.

  • Trinidadian charged for turning off computer

    Trinidadian charged for turning off computer

    Spotted in the Trinidad Guardian Thursday June 12th, 2008, pg A3 :

    Charged for turning off computer

    Could turning off a computer be a criminal offence? It was for Ministry of Legal affairs cashier Avinash Bahadoor who appeared in the Port of Spain Magistrate’s Court, yesterday.

    The charge said Bahadoor intentionally turned off a computer in the Register General Department, knowing full well it was unauthorised. Bahadoor of Tableland, was also charged with intentionally stopping the lawful operation of the computer.

    The incident allegedly occurred at the ministry’s South Quay, Port of Spain, office on August 21, 2006. Bahadoor pleased not guilty to the charges.

    I assume this was under the Computer Misuse Act, which would make this case the third time someone was charged under this act.

  • Business Software Alliance Trinidad ads

    Business Software Alliance Trinidad ads

    The Business Software Alliance (BSA) recently began an ad campaign in the local Trinidad and Tobago newspapers. The text from the two ads are below :

    Do not put your business at risk by using PIRATED SOFTWARE

    Would you trust the information technology security and and quality provided by pirated software?

    Pirated software is not secure. Apart from technical mishaps, it can allow viruses and malware to infiltrate, which could damage your PC or even your business’ entire network

    Do you know that using pirated software reduces your employees’ productivity and efficiency?

    Your employees will spend time and effort in solving technical problems deriving from the use of pirated software, which will impact their productivity and efficiency; increasing your costs and decreasing your profitability

    Do you know the legal risks you and the company you represent face by installing pirated software?

    Pursuant to the law (In Trinidad and Tobago unauthorized copying of software is considered a violation of the law that could lead to civil and criminal penalties of up to $100,000.00 [T.T] for each computer program copied and imprisonment for up to 10 years), if a company uses software unlawfully, it may be liable for violating copyrights. This is so, even when management is not aware of the unlawful use at their facilities.

    Don’t hesitate to contact us
    Telephone : 1-868-623-1272        Fax : 1-868-624-9877    email bsatt@softwarelegal.net

    The second ad :

    Do not put your business at risk by using PIRATED SOFTWARE

    Effective 10th May to 30th June 2008, companies interested in participating in the campaign “Don’t put your business at risk by using pirated software” should, together with the BSA, coordinate their efforts in order to review and if necessary regularize the software
    installed on their equipment.

    In order to participate, these are the required steps :

    1. Register with the campaign, by sending the registration form by fax or E-mail (the form may be obtained upon request from the BSA).
    2. Develop an inventory of all programs installed on your computers and of the licenses you have, then send this information to the BSA. A compliance analyst will check it and provide feedback on the differences found, as well as assist you in normalizing your situation if necessary.

    This is the best time to get some advice

    Don’t hesitate to contact us
    Telephone : 1-868-623-1272       Fax : 1-868-624-9877

    email bsatt@softwarelegal.net or visit website at  http://www.softwarelegal.net