E-Government

The implementation of Electronic Government started since initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysia Government. The implementation of e-government is to provide a better service to the public, bring benefits in businesses and the government itself. As for the public, they can save time and money by using the e-government services. In a recent survey, e-government in Malaysia is growing but at a slow pace. As shown in the study, more than 15% of Malaysian have used the Internet to access online government services.

MyEG Services Berhad is a concessionaire for the Malaysia E-Government MSC Flagship Application. MyEG roles is essentially provides the electronic link between the Government and citizens and businesses. The portal provided by MyEG enables Malaysian to interact with numerous agencies within the Federal, State and the Local Government machinery providing services ranging from information searches to licence applications. The main Services Supplier that currently adopts MyEG E-Government services and solution are Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL), Jabatan Insolvency Malaysia (JIM), Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ), Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TMB). MyEG’s businesses are categorized into two strategic business divisions:

Government to Citizen (G2C)

G2C services refers to services such as renewal of driving license, electronic bill payment, traffic summons and so on.

Government /Enterprise Solution (GES)

GES are non-Internet based services such as software and enterprise solution, system development and maintenance as well as services rendered at the E-Services Centers.

To learn more about MyEG services, click the following links:

http://www.penang.gov.my/index.php?ch=19&pg=515&ac=311&lang=eng&format=

eng&format=

http://www.myeg.com.my/overview.htm

Advantages and Disadvantages of Corporate Blogging

A corporate blog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. Many businesses have launched corporate blogs in an effort to better communicate with customers and capture a little attention from web users. However, there are advantages and disadvantages in using corporate blogs.

Advantages:

1. Organization can build its relationship with its customers and promote their products at the same time
   
2. Encourage communication and allow businesses more easily reach their customers, develop stronger relationships and brand loyalty with its customers
   
3. Allow employees to display their expertise on a particular topic, become an excellent way of sharing knowledge and showcasing the organization as having talent and expertise
   
4. Allow a positive way of getting feedback, and better understanding towards customers’ needs, as they react to certain pieces, suggest ideas, comments and etc


5. As compare to other communication strategies, blogging is relatively much more cheaper
   

Disadvantages:

1. People may be talking out of the topic or may use blogs to write negatively about the company which can lead to bad publicity


2. If a blog failed to comply with all applicable local, national and foreign requirements for doing business, it can lead to legal liabilities


3. Most people don’t have very much to say and/or are unable to write down their ideas in a compelling and clear manner
   
4. Since writing coherently is very time-consuming, many blogs are not updated, and thus, affect the reputation of the organization
   
5. When the degree of openness is low in the organization, the blog tends to represent an anonymous corporate identity (only one voice is allowed)
   

To read more regarding corporate blogging, click the following links: http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/06/30/most-corporate-blogs-are-unimaginative-failures/
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/28/news/companies/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm
http://www.helium.com/items/254062-the-pros-and-cons-of-corporate-blogging

Review on Legal: Piracy in Malaysia: Fighting through Education and Enforcement!

According to the blog posted at July 25, 2007 (Click here to view the post), government implemented two approach " Enforcement (Ops Tulen) and Education (SikapTulen)", in order to reduce the piracy rate to the world average of 35%.

The approaches are working, proven by the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus Report 2008, Malaysia become numbet 8th compare to 2007 report where Malaysia was number 4th of the top 10 lists of software piracy level. However, we still remain in top 10 lists. So the issue here is, are the two approaches really working effectively?

News on July 25, 2007 said that several IT mall have been raided for past few months, but now consumer will have the opportunity to purchase piracy software in most well-known IT mall - Lowyat Plaza, and other shopping malls too. This proves to us that the enforcement was being enforced during the few months of the year 2007 only.

Besides, the enforcement is not strict enough, only the sellers will get caught excluding the buyers. So, wherever there is a demand, people will try to sell.

For education, according to streamyx broadband report, 80% of the bandwidth is being utilised by 20% of users, most probably are teenagers and adults. They are the one who are going to become professional in near future. So teaching the professional doesn't seem to be working.

Other factors such as high cost software which are main software of a computer for basic use will approximate RM1000+/- (microsoft Window XP and Microsoft Office), although hardware price are dropping dramatically, but majority of Malaysian will not afford to buy a computer with full original software. (Check on Malaysian average income per year/month)

Therefore, the ways to really fight software piracy are still myths; we still need some time and effort in conjunction with economic environment of the country to cope with software piracy.

Escrow Services of e-Bay

The largest Internet auctioneer, eBay, has introduced several measures in an effort to reduce fraud. As a result, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the transactions at eBay was fraudulent in 2001 (Konrad 2002). Escrow service is one of the fraud prevention method provided by e-Bay.

◗ Escrow services
For items valued at more than $200 or when users feel the need for additional security, eBay recommends escrow services.

An escrow service is a licensed and regulated company that collects, holds, and sends a buyer's money to a seller according to instructions agreed on by both the buyer and seller. Typically, once the buyer receives and approves the item from the seller within an agreed time frame, the escrow service then sends the payment to the seller. Escrow is available for any purchase, but typically is used for purchases of $500 or more.

For e-Bay users, e-Bay recommends using only services provided by Escrow.com (http://www.escrow.com/), the e-Bay’s approved escrow service. If seller or buyer encounters any trading partner that refused to use Escrow.com and insisted using other service provider, they are advised to decline the transaction and report this person to e-Bay. This is because there are many fraudulent escrow services.

To avoid being perceived by fraudulent emails, users also advised to directly sign in to http://www.escrow.com/ to verify any information. Users also advised not to let the browser auto-type the site address as it could auto-type a fraudulent address.

For more information, visit http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/payment-escrow.html.