Summary of TTCS Meetings held in 2001

Summary of TTCS Meetings held in 2001

We held two types of meetings : Pizza Limes and Tech Meetings. A Pizza Lime is the name given to our monthly discussion forum which was usually held at Pizza Hut, Roxy Roundabout, Port of Spain.

The tech meeting is when we have computers on site to demonstrate a particular type of hardware or software. Tech Meetings were held at the Cyberstate Cybercafe in Tacarigua courtesy of Shiva Maharaj. (Note: Cyberstate has since moved from this location).

The computers used for the tech meetings were provided by Pcw and/or Dave.

Continue reading Summary of TTCS Meetings held in 2001

Telecommunication Act 2001

Introduced in the Senate in February 2001, the Telecommunications Bill establishes a legislative framework for telecommunications and broadcasting services in Trinidad and Tobago, for the purpose of encouraging new providers to enter the market, thereby facilitating competition in the sector. It also provides for the formation of a Telecommunication Authority to monitor and regulate the telecommunication sector.

The Telecommunication Bill was passed with amendments in the Senate in April 2001. The House of Representatives recived the bill in May 2001 and was passed later that month. The Telecommunications Act was officially assented on the 5th July 2001 but only Parts I, II, VII, VIII and X with the exceptions of Sections 77, 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85 of the bill were in effect from 2001. The remaining parts (Parts III, IV, V, VI and IX and sections 77, 81, 82, 83, 84) were proclaimed on June 30 2004.

An interim Telecommunication Authority was set up in July 2002.

 

Summary of TTCS meetings held in 2000

We hold two types of meetings: Pizza Limes and Tech Meetings. A Pizza Lime™ is the name given to our monthly discussion forum which is usually held at Pizza Hut, Roxy Roundabout, Port of Spain. At the tech meeting, we have computers on site to demonstrate a particular type of hardware or software.

Meetings were held at the Brass Institute at 117A Henry Street, Port of Spain (next to Spectacula Forum), courtesy of Francis Pau.

The computers used for the meetings were provided by Pcw and/or Dev while refreshments were provided by Francis Pau and Raul Bermudez.

Thursday 24th February 2000

As one might guess, we ate lots of pizza and “ole talked” about computer technology.

Mr David John, director of Information Systems for Bayerische Landesbank, New York, NY, (visit his website at www.caribone.com), was in Trinidad at the time but was unable to attend. However, he arranged to have several copies of a report documenting global Y2K problems which occured within the first week of this year delivered to those members who attended the “meeting”.

The TTCS thanks Mr. David John for his valuable contribution.

Sunday 9th April 2000, 1pm – Installing GNU/Linux on a Win 98 machine

The meeting was a demonstration of how to install a second operating system on an existing Windows 9x machine using only freeware tools. The demonstration machine had:

  • A 4Gb hard drive
  • Windows 98 installed as the only operating system as one primary partition
  • A fragmented file system

Dev did the following procedures:

  • Defragged the hard drive (using the Windows 98 defrag software).
  • Allocated space on the hard drive for Linux using the freeware tool
    Partition Resizer.     This allowed the existing Win98 partition to be re-sized without destroying the data stored on it.
  • Installed Caldera’s OpenLinux 2.3.
  • Configured LILO (the LInux LOader included with Linux) to enable the user to decide which OS to use when the machine is switched on (in this installation, Linux was the default boot OS).

Dev and Pcw also used Partition Resizer to help a new member successfully install Red Hat Linux v 6.1 on a Windows 98 machine.

Thursday 11th May 2000

The pizza was delicious as usual but this time around we were there to discuss the various proposed computer laws for Trinidad and Tobago.

Members and other interested persons were given brief overviews of the laws and their implications for citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. They were encouraged to obtain their own copies and let their comments be known on an email list that is collecting and forwarding comments about these bills.

Information about these proposed computer law bills is on our Computer Bills page.

 

Sunday 4th June 2000, 1pm – Internet security for home and business users

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

This meeting focused on the various Internet security threats that may be encountered by both the home and business user.

Razor described the ways in which:

  • viruses (email, macro, etc)
  • trojan horse programs
  • “spyware” and “adware” (programs that install themselves on your system and track your Internet activities without your knowledge and report to some central server/”homebase”)
  • vulnerabilities in the Win 95/98 networking components

can compromise system security and even your privacy while your computer is connected to the Internet. The emphasis was on preventative measures that both home and business users can take to protect themselves from such breaches in security. Razor also gave demonstrations of:

  • how to uninstall the Windows Scripting Host in Windows 98;
  • what the Zone Alarm personal firewall software fromZone Labs looks like and how it works;
  • where to find the Windows 95/98 networking components and how to modify/uninstall them to improve the security of your Internet connection.
  • how the Shields Up web site at grc.com works and why everyone who uses the Internet should test their machine for security loopholes at this site.
  • a known spyware program

The material presented in this meeting has been downloaded from our
Internet Security page.

Thursday 29th June 2000

There was no formal agenda for this meeting (except, of course, to eat pizza!) so members in attendance discussed various issues such as:

  • The Napster vs RIAA issue; software and other intellectual property copyright issues;
  • New cellular telephone based web browsers, MP3 players and who would use them
  • The current state of international E-commerce and the lessons locals can learn (and in some cases the mistakes they should avoid) in order to benefit from it;
  • Microsoft’s network computing strategy (microsoft.NET)
  • The sudden closure of CECP (a veteran local computer company)
  • Various internet access strategies e.g. caridirec’s satellite download services, cable modems, efreenet and local ISPs
  • Gamecon 2000 – a Starcraft and Quake 3 multiplayer tournament organised by the Gaming Association of Trinindad and Tobago (GATT)
  • The popularity of “retro-computing” e.g. many people are reviving or emulating Commodore 64, Amigas, DOS and arcade games
  • The recent scandal in which Oracle hired private detectives to invesitigate lobby groups affiliated with Microsoft
  • TSTT’s proposed rate change (25 cents per minute anywhere/anytime in Trinidad)

 

Sunday 23rd July 2000, 1 pm – LAN party

The TTCS had its first official “LAN party” at this meeting held at the Brass Institute, Port of Spain. We had three networked PCs running Quake 3 Arena and members in attendance (some of whom never played Quake before) were able to play “deathmatches” against one another and with additional bots. Equipment for this meeting were as follows:

  • 3 PCs with 10/100Mb network cards (“NICS”) and AGP graphics cards
  • 1 Ethernet 4 port hub
  • 3 Cat-5 ethernet cables
  • Network protcol: TCP/IP

The gaming was intense but in the end, Wayne emerged as the undefeated champ in the various death matches. Machines were provided by Dev, PCW and Wayne; hub and cabling provided by Dev.

Thursday 10th August 2000

Eating pizza and “ole talk” were on the agenda for the evening. Topics covered included:

  • Internet security.
  • The new breed of “spyware” based on the infamous Netzip Download Demon program.
  • C and JAVA programming.
  • The launch of linux.co.tt.

Members in attendance were also told about the Java Consortium, a group of local university graduates who program in JAVA to create both open source and custom projects.

 

Sunday 27th August 2000, 1:30 pm – BeOS Personal Edition v5

The focus of this meeting was the BeOS Personal Edition v5operating system from Be, Inc which is free for personal, non-commercial use.

Dev gave a brief history of Be, from its origins as an alternative to the MacOS to its rejection by Apple CEO Steve Jobs and ultimately as a GUI for the x86 platform (there are versions for both Win 9.x and GNU/Linux).

He then showed members how to install BeOS version 5 Personal edition on a Windows 98 machine (a Pentium II 266Mhz, 64MB RAM, 32X CDROM drive, 3Dfx Voodoo 3 video card, 100Mb Iomega IDE Zip drive) and demonstrated some applications.

BeOS has been designed for multimedia work and Dev highlighted this capability by simultaneously playing 2 MP3 files and 2 Quicktime (.mov) files DIRECTLY from the CDROM drive. There were no pauses, skips or slow downs in the music or the video. There was a brief discussion afterwards about the availability of both robust applications for BeOS and development tools for those programmers who wished to create programs for this OS.

Razor then provided an update for the 4th June internet security meeting. He recapped the topics covered at that meeting for those who were not there and then talked about the latest threat: the Netzip file download manager and its derivative spyware; the Java security flaw in Netscape Communicator (all platforms and all versions up to version 4.74); the new personal firewall product from Sybergen; the latest trojan/script based email threats.

Other topics discussed at this meeting: the disappearance of local computer company American Computer Express (ACE), the newly formed Webmaster Association of Trinidad and Tobago and on a lighter note, alternative computer case design.

Thursday 14th September 2000

The meeting began minutes after 6pm after the various introductions. Members in attendance held a lively discussion on the following topics:

  • The advantages and disadvantages of computer networks and internet access in local primary schools.
  • Can computers really “make kids smarter”? or is the money better spent in a more traditional manner? e.g. better training and pay for teachers, school repairs, better school transport etc
  • The american court cases against both Napster andMP3.com
  • Local copyright issues
  • The disappearance of ACE (american computer express) and its impact (if any) on the local computer reseller market
  • The release of Windows Me (released on the same day in the U.S) and the beta of Mac OS X
  • Would the local telecom market benefit or suffer from the introduction of another telephone company?
  • The advantages and disadvantages of the free StarOffice v5.1 and how StarOffice v5.2 to be made available under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
  • The reasons why so many american dot com companies have failed or have yet to turn a profit and what lessons can be learned by locals to avoid such failure.
  • The current and future possibilities for e-commerce in Trinidad and Tobago
  • Violence in both computer and console video games and how these M rated games are being marketed to children
  • The possible advantages of wireless communications in the local market
  • What are the best sci-fi movies ever made 🙂

This meeting is certainly one for the record books: it ended at 9:30 pm!!

Thursday 12th October 2000

On the agenda for this meeting:

  • The Computer Misuse Bill 2000 (which is now before Parliament!).
  • The alleged “hacking” of a local bank.
  • An update about the Infoline Intranet server.

The Computer Misuse Bill 2000 inspired the most discussion. See the Computer Bills page for the points/issues raised.

The second most popular topic on the night’s agenda was the the alleged hacking of a local bank. Members in attendance debated the technical aspects of the claim and concluded that the incident was more likely an “inside job” rather than some one obtaining confidential information via a dial-up connection.

Finally, members were updated on the status of the Infoline intranet server: the machine is up and running, content is being uploaded and the completed project will make its debut on at the next TTCS meeting on Sunday 22nd October 2000 at the Brass Institute.

Sunday 22nd October 2000 – Freeware image tools, short films, GNU/Linux intranet server

The first item on the agenda was a demonstration of the FREEWARE Windows 9x software used for the Trinbago Scenes section of the TTCS website.

Dev demonstrated:

  • Irfanview, an image viewer/converter with basic editing facilities, free for personal use.
  • Digital Camera Enhancer, which easily enhances and clean digital images.
  • Pixaround, the stitching and VR creation program used to create the 360 VRs on the Trinbago Scenes page.
  • JPEG Wizard, a tool for compressing JPEG (and other image formats) without losing quality like traditional compressing prgrams.
  • Imageforge a freeware image editing program with features similar to the shareware Paint Shop Pro.

There was a short pause for refreshments and during that time we showed the two short independent films

  • “Troops” (a Star Wars parody) and
  • “Killer Bean 2” (Note: KB2 was created by Jeff Lew).

After the refreshments, it was time to debut the “new Infoline”. Dev and Pcw used a Windows PC to login over a null-modem cable and demonstrate the capabilities of Infoline, the new dial-in Intranet server which will replace the old BBS.

The GNU/Linux-based server (powered by Red Hat Linux version 6.2) supports many Internet-style features:

  • web page server (using Apache)
  • DNS (using BIND) (so you can enter URLs like infoline.org , ftp.infoline.org, etc )
  • FTP (with resume capability so you can resume an aborted download)
  • e-mail (standard POP3 and SMTP protocols)
  • browser based public forums/message board (using PHP3, Postgres and Phorum)

 

Thursday 9th November 2000

This time around, members in attendance discussed the following topics:

  • Microsoft being “hacked”.
  • The First Citizen’s Bank (FCB) e-banking venture at https://www.fcb-e-bank.com which allows registered users to perform many traditional “counter” transactions online. A representative from FCB was present to answer questions.
  • Electronic commerce, credit card use/misuse, local bank credit card policies and the future of e-commerce in Trinidad and Tobago.
  • BMG’s parent company investing in Napster.
  • The “Starworx”satellite download service being offered by Opus Networx.
  • The Computer Misuse Bill issues which were raised at the ITPS breakfast seminar that was held on Tuesday 7th November 2000.
  • The release of the Sony Playstation 2 and the impact it would have on both the local and foreign game markets.
  • The recent closure of several popular “dot com” companies including Pets.com (remember the sock puppet??), mother nature.com and furniture.com.

 

Sunday 3rd December 2000, 2 pm – second LAN party

The second LAN party at the Brass Institute, Port of Spain. We had two networked PCs running Quake 3 Arena and members in attendance were able to play “deathmatches” against one another and with additional bots. The equipment used was the same used at the first LAN party.

Thursday 14th December 2000

This was the final Pizza Lime™ and the last official TTCS meeting for the year 2000.

Members focused on the following topics:

The TTCS was fortunate to have in attendance, Simone Penco, a commercial manager for the EScotia CardPoint Merchant Service to explain :

  • How the service works (from the time customers enter their credit card number on the secure website, to the processing and finally the acknowledgement that the credit card has been accepted).
  • The various security requirements that businesses must have in place to ensure that both the customer and the merchant can have secure transactions at all times.
  • Why Scotiabank decided to offer this service.

The TTCS was also fortunate to have in attendance Kevin Stewart, an Economic Development Officer from the Tourism and Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) to discuss matters related to the local techpark project.

He spoke about

  • the reasons for establishing the park;
  • what sort of investors TIDCO was hoping to attract to the project;
  • what sort of industries were best suited for the park;
  • what TIDCO and the government hope to achieve with the park (e.g. increased employment for citizens, transfer of technical knowledge; diversification of the economy).

Both guests held impromptu question and answer sessions which allowed members at the meeting to ask about material not covered in the general discussions.

It was yet another meeting for the records: it finished at 10 pm!

Electronic Transfer of Funds Crime Act, 2000

The Electronic Transfer of Funds Crime Bill 2000 was introduced in the Senate in October 2000 at the same time of the Computer Misuse Bill. in the House of Representatives. The Bill was passed with modifications in October 2000.

The main purpose of this Bill is to regulate the transfer of money through an electronic terminal by means of a card for the purpose of instructing or authorising a financial institution to debit or credit a cardholder’s account when anything of value is purchased.

The application of the Bill is limited to bank cards, credit cards or smart cards or other similar type of cards used for purchasing anything of value.

It doesn’t address the use of credit cards online.

Electronic Transfer of Funds Crime Act 2000

The Electronic Transfer of Funds Crime Bill 2000 was introduced in the Senate in October 2000 at the same time of the Computer Misuse Bill in the House of Representatives. The Bill was passed with modifications in October 2000.

The main purpose of this Bill is to regulate the transfer of money through an electronic terminal by means of a card for the purpose of instructing or authorising a financial institution to debit or credit a cardholder’s account when anything of value is purchased.

The application of the Bill is limited to bank cards, credit cards or smart cards or other similar type of cards used for purchasing anything of value.

It doesn’t address the use of credit cards online.

Computer Misuse Act 2000

The Computer Misuse Bill, 2000 was introduced in the Senate in October 2000 in the House of Representatives. It was passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in October 2000.

The main purpose of the Computer Misuse Bill 2000 is to prohibit the unauthorised access, use of or interference to any program or data held in a computer and to a computer itself.

The Bill therefore seeks to enhance computer security by giving protection to the integrity of computer systems and by providing stringent penalties for specified computer related offences.

The Computer Misuse Bill also provides enhanced penalties in case where the offence results in damage, which includes financial loss, injury, or harm.

Some of the points/issues raised by the TTCS :

  • How does one ensure that computer data presented as evidence in court was the same evidence that was originally collected? Computer logs are text files and can be easily modified.
  • Re: Clause 16, Police or authorised persons can contaiminate data while conducting their investigations. What is to prevent or protect against such problems?
  • It is possible for someone to easily frame another person for a computer crime.
  • The proposed Bill defines various computer-related offences as criminal acts. This means that the case will be tried before a jury. Would such a jury understand the technical aspects of the case?
  • What happens to minors (persons under 18) under this law?
  • Re: Clause 12,13, If a Trinbagoian runs a e-commerce site hosted in the U.S and a offence is committed against the site, causing momentary loss to the Trinbagoian. Under what jurisdiction is the crime prosecuted? Trinidad and Tobago The U.S?
  • Email viruses such as the Love Bug can be spread by unwitting users to other computers including protected computers as defined in clause 9. Would such a person be liable under clause 9?
  • Re: Access code in Clause 8, Computer hardware and software are sold with a default password that should be changed by the owners when they install it. If they don’t change the password, and an outside person notices this and notifies the owner of the hardware/software, would the someone be committing an offence under clause 8?
  • Re: Clause 17, Arrest by police officer (without warrant) is controversial. This clause was removed from the final act.

Internet Security v2.1

Internet Security v2.1 (October 24th, 2000)

The previous edition of the Online Security document, Version 1.2 (released June 2000) was concerned with informing the home and small business user about how to secure their Internet access against intrusion by such malicious software (aka “malware”) as trojan horses, viruses and hostile scripts. Research has shown that many Internet “technologies” are both a security and privacy threat to the home and small business user, as a result several additions have been made to the information contained in this document.

The present threat to Internet users is a combination of the old (e.g. trojans, viruses, hostile scripts) and the new (e.g. web bugs, confidential data being stored in plain-text cookies, unique identification numbers, ad-ware, spyware and unauthorised transmission of the user’s personal data). Most of the problems orginate in the methods by which online advertising companies track and store data about Net surfers in order to compile statistics for more “effective” advertising. They claim it is to make the World Wide Web a better place for everyone but so far they have only caused un-necessary worries for all Net users.

This document will seek to explain some of these problems and where possible, provide solutions. It is important to note that this document is about informing users about potential Internet threats. Everyone who uses the Internet is subject to their influence in one form or the other; the chances of being victimised by these “technologies” and “malware” are directly related to user awareness of their existance.

You can view the security.pdf (228K) or you can download security.zip  (205K) for offline use.

To view PDF files, you need Adobe’s free Acrobat reader

 

 

Digital Signatures Bill 1999

The Digital Signatures Bill seeks to regulate the use of digital signatures and the legal framework to make them work such as the regulation of certification authorities who issue certificates to persons.

The Bill was withdrawn from Parliament. Some possible complaints :

  • The bill is long, divided into 7 parts and has about 90 clauses in all which makes for very tough reading and understanding.
  • The bill focused in detail on only using asymmetric encryption (using public and private keys) for authenticating signatures. What if other technologies could be used (e.g biometric recognition)?
  • Clause 79 “Search and seizure (of police) without warrant” is controversial.

Summary of TTCS Meetings held in 1999

Summary of TTCS Meetings held in 1999

Meetings were held at the Brass Institute #117A Henry Street, Port of Spain (next to Spectakula Forum), courtesy of Francis Pau.
Meetings were held at the Frank Stockdale building at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, courtesy of Curtis Mike.
The computers used for the meetings were provided by Pcw and/or Dave while refreshments were provided by Francis Pau.
Continue reading Summary of TTCS Meetings held in 1999

Summary of TTCS meetings held in 1998

Meetings were held at the Brass Institute #117A Henry Street, Port of Spain (next to Spectakula Forum), courtesy of Francis Pau.

Meetings were held at the Frank Stockdale building at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, courtesy of Curtis Mike.

The computers used for the meetings were provided by Pcw and/or Dave while refreshments were provided by Francis Pau.

 

Saturday 7th February 1998 – Word processing tips

Pcw demonstrated several word processing tips on how to create better looking documents using Microsoft Word 97.

Saturday 6th June 1998 – Spreadsheet tips

Pcw talked about how to create better spreadsheets with Microsoft Excel 97.

Saturday 29th August 1998 – Alternative web browsers

Dev talked about several web browsers that can be used as alternatives to Netscape Communicatorand Microsoft Internet Explorer e.g.

Saturday 26th September 1998 – The Year 2000 problem

Pcw and Dave discussed the Year 2000 problem as it relates to personal computers; they looked at the hardware and the software aspects (the latter includes both operating system software and application software).

Various ways of testing your PC as well as solutions to various Y2K situations were also presented.

The results of our research for this topic are on our Year 2000 page.

Sunday 25th October 1998 – Windows 95 Troubleshooting

Razor discussed various Windows 95/98 error messages that users may (would ? 🙂 ) encounter and how to resolve them.

The meeting was held at the Brass Institute on Henry Street, Port of Spain (next to Spektakula Forum).

Saturday 28th November 1998 – End of Year “Lime”

No formal presentation was made during this final get-together for 1998.