Zestful One

My two cents on the #NajibCNY issue and how they got your email (and SMS?)

Posted by IcedNyior on January 31, 2011  |  17 Comments

A few days ago, a couple of people received and email from our Prime Minister @NajibRazak wishing them a happy Chinese New Year. Naturally, many were concerned on where he obtain their email addresses.

At first I thought it was sent to people/bloggers who signed up for his tea parties and dinners that he has organized to meet and greet his online friends. This was not the case. Neither was it sent out to people who registered to vote.

Amanz.my (full article in BM here) later reported that the email was obtained from “media prima database and others”. This information was in fact given by the CEO of Media Prima himself @FaridRidzuan stating “Congrats! Its from our media prima database and others. He just want to reach out to as many malaysian personally from now on! Please reply to him” (source).

It’s surprising how Malaysia’s leading media investment group who owns numerous tv stations, press and radio stations could blatantly ignore or forget about confidentiality and privacy issues. Not to mention that, on the Terms of Use page of TV3, it states the following :

• Information Use
  • • The Personal Information you provide will help our team deliver user support (including processing any complaints or enquiries) and for any other purpose related to the operation of our websites, its services and its advertising.
• Passing on Your Data to Third Parties
  • We will not sell, lease or share your Personal Information except as set forth in this Privacy Notice.

Sadly…..

For some, its not a big issue. In fact, I came across my MrKay’s facebook posting where his friend was saying or implying that its not a big deal and that we were blowing it out of proportion. In fact, she said, and i quote “if you think emel is privacy and you dont think uninvited people can send it to you…stop using email..just use snailmail.”

My response to this was was below:

“Adda, the issue here is not about him emailing the greetings. If he emailed it to all the people who signed up for something like the Tea Party then it’s understandable how he got your email.

In this case, it’s clearly stated that it was taken from the media prima and other databases. When you sign up for these sites, they usually have a disclaimer that your info is private and will be not shared to a 3rd party.

What if other info is also shared? Your phone number? Your mailing address? Would you like to receive spam SMSes? Or tons of letters? The other question is, who else has media prima shared this information to? Other companies? Other government bodies?

According to your logic of “takyah la Pakai email”, then why be online at all? No néed to FB, chat, surf. The thing is, we can’t. Coz that’s whr the future is. Also, isn’t it ironic that the govt is pushing for maximum Internet penetration in the country when they can’t guarantee the privacy of the data?

Please Try to think Beyond your little scope and think of the implications of what this information sharing means to you and the privacy of your data.”

p/s: Urgh, I hate this “you tak suka, you keluar” mentality

Edit : 01 Feb 2010

Some update for today. Apparently some people received an SMS with NajibCNY wishes as below:

Salam 1Malaysia. Selamat Tahun Baru Cina kepada semua rakyat Malaysia. Ikhlas dari Najib Razak & keluarga. najib@1malaysia.com.my

Screenshots below from @nicklwc and @ChelsiaNg

Apparently not every mobile user received it. I’m also not sure if there is any correlation between receiving the email & receiving the SMS. Some people who received the SMS did not receive the email or vice versa. (re: @hewyk @atreyustrange @hawkstah). Some people received both (re: @nicklwc @azrinarizz @wernshen @saldali707 @spectreoutreach).

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Jothy’s Fish Head Curry sues Blogger SixthSeal & Google for Defamation

Posted by IcedNyior on January 26, 2011  |  16 Comments

Just saw this on twitter:

Google, blogger sued by fish head curry restaurant operator in KK

Jothy’s Fish Head Curry restaurant director Tharumaraj Sivaperumal filed a RM6mil civil suit at the Kota Kinabalu High Court here Monday, naming blogger Poh Huai Bin as first defendant and California-based Google Inc as second defendant.

The suit is arising from some allegedly defamatory statements about Jothy’s Fish Head Curry restaurant posted in May last year by Poh, originally from Sibu in Sarawak and now residing in Kuala Lumpur.

Jothy’s is also seeking an order from the court to remove the offending articles from Google and other popular search engines used on the Internet.

As a result of the defendants’ action, the plaintiff claimed it had suffered loss and damage, and its reputation had been affected both locally and internationally.

Source : TheStar Online

So apparently Huai Bin @ Sixthseal wrote about how he didn’t like the food in Jothy’s in his blogpost (way back in May 2010 mind you) even though it is recommended in Lonely Planet. In his words he called it “The Worst Fish Head Curry and Banana Leaf Restaurant in the Known Universe” and “a tourist trap. Avoid it like a bad case of herpes.”

His post – http://www.sixthseal.com/2010/05/jothys-fish-head-curry-banana-leaf-restaurant.html – is currently down (and/or a bit slow). You can get his post in Google cache here – http://bit.ly/gWJKeW

If that is a bit slow, I also have a screenshot of the post with images below. Click for a bigger pic (thx april!)

Edit : Just realized the screenshot wasn’t complete. Fixed.

Update to this issue : Google to retain ‘offensive’ contents on fish head curry outlet

Disclaimer to save my ass : All the contents of above post are content reproduced from relevant sources. All comments below are owned by the commentators themselves and do not reflect the opinions of this blog’s author.

Berita Harian : Blogger Untung RM 1 Juta (Blogger earns RM 1 Million)

Posted by IcedNyior on January 24, 2011  |  17 Comments

So last sunday, the weekend pullout of Berita Harian called Berita Minggu ran a huge headline titled “Blogger untung RM1 juta” which loosely translates as “Blogger earns RM1 million” and featured a blogger (Mira Abu Bakar frm redmummy) with the caption “Blog saya pernah mencapai jumplah tertinggi kira-kira RM12,000 sebulan” (The highest my blog has gotten is RM12,000 a month).

The full article had quotes from Nicholas Chay, head of Nuffnang Malaysia, Blogger Aimie Harmelia from jejariruncing, gf of Malaysia’s football star – Khairul Fahmi Che Mat – and a Lecturer (Pensyarah Kanan?) from UM’s Media Studies department talking about (in general) how popular blogs can make money and how blogging is part of the Malaysian lifestyle.

Interesting thing to note that along with that article, was another one about how bloggers are also required to pay taxes to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) under the Income Tax Act (Akta Cukai Pendapatan) 1967, Section 7 where it states that income made online are also subject to taxes.

What I really disliked was how BH sensationalized the piece, giving the impression that a singular blogger made the RM1 million. There was no mention at all in the article(s) about how this number came about. Was it accumulative of all the bloggers? Or one blogger over the course of xx years?

Anyway, I know some people might not have Berita Harian so I have reproduced the article here. Please feel free to share (and link back if possible? :P) Thanks Kazwan for editing the pic for me! Click the image below for a bigger version

I have a feeling that there will be an influx of new bloggers with less-than-desirable quality blogs just so that they can make money. *sigh* What do you think?

Malaya Optical, Uptown Damansara

Posted by IcedNyior on January 17, 2011  |  No Comments

I got invited to a blogger event organized by PlusSizeKitten & hosted by Malaya Optical in Uptown Damansara. We were all allowed to bring a couple of friends but my friends weren’t free / was lazy to go so I went alone.

Malaya Optical is a brightly light store with rows upon rows of eyewear ranging from specs frames to sunglasses. Its on the same row as Uptown 37 (where there’s Starbucks, Umai-Ya & HSBC) and before the Satay Haji Samuri.

Left: The hard working people at Malaya Optical. Right : Tammy welcoming everyone and giving away the prize for best FB post/comment/slogan

There were a lot of people in the shop but Ryan – the owner (I think), Optometrist & Professional Eyewear Stylist/Designer – was very friendly, asking if I have already registered and if I wanted coffee/tea (they have a small dispenser right at the corner, cute!) or a lollipop. They also had some refreshments outside (sandwiches and kuih).

Upon registering, we were required to line up to purchase our contact lenses. Oh, on the same day, they had a special one-day promotion on Facebook (join here!) where if you printed out the voucher, you can get the “Logic BigEyes” contact lens for RM15 a box (1 pair inside). Usual price is RM90. I picked up 2 boxes for myself (brown and black) and a couple more boxes for a friend. Will be reviewing this in my ShoestringBeauty blog soon!

Besides the special RM15 contact lens offer, we were also given two vouchers:

• a Comprehensive eye exam (worth RM150)
• Voucher for 1.50 Super Multicoated UV Protected worth RM150 (valid to 31 March 2011)

The eye test machine on the right is different from most machines I’ve seen in the sense that they have these rings around your iris which are differently coloured. I forgot to ask what the rings mean. They also did the usual round of Eye test with the different lenses. I found that my power/degree is pretty much the same but my astigmatism seems to have gone up a little. I asked about the astig and the guy said that, mine is not that serious as its less then 1.0, so that means I don’t have to change to toric lenses.

As you can see from the many compartments and boxes stacked up high, Malaya Optical is surely where you can get a lot of brands of eyewear. In fact, Ryan mentioned, “whatever brand you want, we have it.” I even saw high end brands like Miu Miu, Marc Jacob, CK and the like. Even for the contact lenses, they have a whole cupboard (with glass cover) of the different lenses – non-coloured and coloured. Even some really cool ones like the Glow in the dark and Jewel series types below.

Oh I’m also pleased that they carry Biomedics55 which is this really awesome non-coloured contact lens that I usually wear. It’s a bit more pricy but its super comfortable especially during long wearing times.

I left pretty early as I needed to go off someone and I made an appointed to do my eye test the next day as there were way too many people in the store on that day. But all in all, I found that all the staff in Malaya Optical were friendly and patient in explaining and answering questions – even when they had a lot of people in store.

Check out their history printed at the back of their card, their first store was way back in 1957! Explains the name doesn’t it? Pic frm Sugar Coated Muffin.