Challenges in 2010

Thomas Friedman, the American columnist says that there are three main challenges facing the world in the year 2010. The typically U S -centric list consists of regulation of banks, China- Google relationship and nuclear ambitions of recalcitrant Iran. The underlying theme in all these issues is ethics.

Banks in the U S and because of them the American financial system got trapped in a crisis on account of absence of ethics among the bankers who did not think twice about misselling their products, the credit rating agencies which readily rated and alchemised the investment options which they themselves scarcely understood, the regulatory agencies which turned a blind eye to the developing miasma, the Fedbank that kept the interest rate at perniciously low levels for too long and the hedonistic American public that was only too eager to grab any loan offer unmindful of repayment requirements.

Google whose much-vaunted motto is "Don't be evil" seems to have realised that Chinese censorship and cyber-espionage borders on evil and therefore not consistent with Google's business philosophy (one cannot so confidently say business practices). Though it remains to be seen who loses more - Google or the Chinese- in this imbroglio, one thing is certain. It is unethical to deny a vast section of humanity the benefits of digital progress by succumbing to the autocratic policy of a paranoid government.

American government considers Iran's nuclear threat as an unethical exercise of an "evil state". But Obama should know better than his predecessor that it is never too late to negotiate any hostile country into a dialogue of reason and fairness. Threats and counter-threats only lead to a more vicious environment.

Though these three are major challenges as of now, power of uncertainty is so colossal that we may be drawn into a more intractable , and as yet little understood, challenge before the year draws to a close.

Cyber-terrorism

There is a lot in common between jihadi terrorism and the Chinese intrusion into Google emails. The source of jihadi terrorism namely Pakistan consistently denies it has any role in terrorist attacks on India and elsewhere. Similarly the Chinese government have nonchalantly told the cyberworld that it has nothing to do with Google China's misery.

Both terrorism and cyber espionage are a frontal attack on humanity. Unless the victims of these two crimes get together, speak with one voice and engage in joint counter-attack, there is no solution in sight.

Pathological Online Dependence (POD)

It is now accepted in medical circles that cyberspace addiction is a real (as opposed to virtual)condition that needs to be treated ("warrants intervention" in medjarg). Cyber-somatic disorders are encountered to the maximum extent in S.Korea which has the distinction of being the "most connected country".De-addiction and rehab centres for the internet-obsessed are fast coming up in Korea and to a lesser extent in Taiwan and China. The disorder is predominantly masculine and if diagnosed in early stages eminently curable. About 30% of Korean students are deemed susceptible. Surprisingly, though Finland is almost as cyber-intense as Korea, very few cases have been spotted there. Would this malaise result in these POD-prone countries losing their academic edge over others?

Apple's updated Operating System

True to its tradition, the unconventional Apple has named its latest updated operating system after yet another animal in the cat family. It is now OS X Leopard. Its predecessors were OS Cheetah, Puma,Jaguar, Panther and Tiger. Would Mac soon run out of cat names? Perhaps only Lynx remains now. But its similarity to Linux may cause an identity crisis.

Apple is also exposing itself to legal problems.When OS X Tiger was unleashed, Mac was dragged to court by Tiger Direct, an online retailer of computers, for infringement of its trademark. Tiger Direct claimed that its goodwill too suffered an erosion because OS Tiger caused a demotion in the ranking of Tiger Direct in search engines including Google. What a neat way to define goodwill! Accountants' proverbial search for goodwill definition and perhaps calculation ends in Googlesearch.

Who will sue Apple over OS X Leopard? How aboutLeopard, an Ogilvy company engaged in B2B Marketing and Communication?

The Digital Delusion

Recent events in Estonia are a cause for global concern. Estonia is among the most hardwired countries.One may call it as a cybernation.The pun here is very much intended.Cybernation also refers to a process where everything is controlled by computers.

Many important computer systems were knocked down apparently by Russians.(Russia denies this).What happened is called DDOS-an acronym for Distributed Denial of Service.There was a simultaneous avalanche of mails to many critical email ids.The cyber system could not cope with the Black Swan traffic and broke down.

If the omnipresent terrorists take to this cyber crime, the worst form of terrorism namely cyber-terrorism will be unleashed in the digital world.More than half the world is virtual and any disruption here will be disastrous. Cyber-jihadis will paralyse the entire world taking us back to pre-1950s.Not a welcome prospect!

Yesterday, computer systems in New York airports were affected leading to delays in air schedules.

This digital fragility enjoins us to go soft on hard copies: Let us preserve hard copies.

I tend to expand DDOS as Digitals Die,Others Survive.

Digital divide and digital dividend

Mr.Deve Gowda's recent outburst against InfosysTechnologies and its Chairman and ChiefMentor,Mr.N.R.Narayanamurthy indicates that there is aneed for introspection by IT companies regarding theircontribution to society.Deve Gowda has faulted Infosysfor its penchant for owning land and buildings;he isalso not satisfied about employment potential createdby the company.He wonders what can be the worthwhilecontribution from a peripatetic mentor to companies ofwhich he is a director.A dispassionate discussion on(a)how to bridge the digital divide,(b)ways to promotefair distribution of digital dividends among allstakeholders and (c)prevention of degeneration of'overboarding' into 'sinecures' is called for. Digital divide:There is doubtless a politicalagenda behind Gowda's carping criticism.But it is alsoto be recognised that growth of IT industry has notmade any difference to the lives of countless peoplewho feel alienated from the development process.Apartfrom the traditional 3R-s,computer literacy has becomea sine qua non for gainful employment.The haves andthe have-nots have been redefined as thecomputer-literate and the computer-illiterate.Onaccount of higher levels of remuneration in ITindustry,the incidence of relative poverty (thedifferential between the incomes of employed andunemployed)has increased leading to greater socialtension.Apart from the age-old urban-ruraldivide,there is now an intra-urban divide between theIT-savvy and others.With business and communicationturning more and more online every day,thecyber-challenged are becoming increasinglymarginalised.This polarisation is an invitation topoliticians to fish in troubled waters.Therefore,ITcompanies in their own interest and in the greaterinterest of society would do well to provide ITeducation to as many people as possible,be they inurban slums or in the remotest rural areas.Hardwarecompanies can also play a significant role innarrowing the digital divide by introduction ofinexpensive computers and peripherals. Digital divide is defined as the the socialinequity in the access and the opportunities forgaining competencies with information andcommunication technologies.Government and IT companiesought to work together towards amelioration of thisinequity instead of criticising each other. Digital Dividend:Society gains in a variety of wayswhen IT sector grows.Software is a major strength toour economy by virtue of its exportpotential.Employment opportunities are augmentedthanks to outsourcing of IT jobs to India.But equityand even enlightened self-interest of the industrydemand that benefits (dividends)accrue to all sectionsof society.Fair distribution of these dividends is asure way of bridging the digital divide.Instead ofcontinually harping on poor infrastructure,the ITcompanies may make a beginning by helping to construct nearby roads.Corporate socialresponsibility(CSR) is not a fetish.It should beviewed as an essential part of strategy to sustainbusiness growth.N.R.Narayanamurthy rightly points out,"The primary purpose of corporate leadership is tocreate wealth legally and ethically.This translates tobringing a high level of satisfaction to fiveconstituencies--customers,employees,investors,vendorsand the society-at-large.The raison d'etre of everycorporate body is to ensurepredictability,sustainability and profitability ofrevenues year after year."This underscores the factthat society-at-large also is a significantstakeholder in growth of any industry.Sustainedprofitability of IT industry in the long run ispossible only if digital dividend is fairlydistributed.Many IT companies are now admittedlydarlings of the stock market.They need to becomedarlings of society. Though CSR practised by IT industry cannot bebelittled (for example,Infosys contributed Rs.5 croretowards tsunami relief),society expects a lot more.The most prestigious award for excellence in CSR isthe TERI (The Energy and Resource Institute)annualaward established in 2001-02.In the first threeyears,14 Indian companies have qualified for this CSRaward.It is revealing that none of these companies isfrom IT industry.(All Indian registered companies areeligible to apply for this award.) Overboarding:IT industry has produced many capableleaders/managers.Naturally,their service as directorsis desired by many companies.Narayanamurthy'scontribution as chairman of Bangalore InternationalAirport Limited(BIAL) has been questioned by DeveGowda.Gowda's implicit assumption is that such a busyperson cannot devote required time and energy forBoard meetings.While it is likely that a person who isa Board member in several companies may not be able todo justice to all companies,Narayanamurthy's record interms of attendance is good.Albert Brunner,CEO of BIALhas confirmed,"Despite his hecticschedule,Narayanamurthy chaired all the board meetingsof BIAL barring one."Gowda's criticism regarding BIALseems to be misplaced.However,overboarding(thephenomenon of a person serving too many boards hascome to be called as 'overboarding')should be avoidedif the person concerned is not able to perform forwant of time. To sum up,though Deve Gowda's fulmination is undulyharsh,it is a warning signal to IT industry that it isrequired to improve its image as a sociallyresponsible sector.

Deve Gowda on Infosys

It is obvious that there is a political agenda behind Gowda's attack on Infosys.But,his reference to the company's penchant for owning land and buildings is worth analysing.

In 2004-05,the company spent more on capex than on R&D.

It is food for thought that no IT company so far has bagged the TERI corporate social responsibility award.

More on Data (in)security

There are atleast two reasons why we should not worry too much:1)In a country where an army commander would sell war plans for $500,anything can happen.2)An inexorable law of Globalisation is :"A problem that occurs somewhere in the globe can manifest itself anywhereelse also."It is too early to forget what happened in CardSystemsSolutions where data (encashable data) relating to 40 million credit cards were compromised.The famous courier UPS lost unencrypted data of Citicorp customers.Prior to this,Time Warner lost precious data concerning its ex-employees in a similar fashion.The present scandal will be under discussion till the next one occurs.Another law of Globalisation is :"The time gap between any two successive global scandals is progressively on the decrease."In a different context,it is interesting to compare two parallel events namely S.Korean Posco's $10 billion investment (the largest one-time FDI in India sofar) and CNOOC's $18 billion bid for Unocal.Posco is investing in the Paradip steel project in return for a 30-year right to export alumina-rich iron ore from India.This was well received in India barring some resistance from left fringes.But the mainstream US seems to be paranoid about CNOOC's offer.Tatas who would be adversely affected by the Posco move,maintained a dignified silence.Chevron,onthe other hand,is throwing tantrums.To top it all,Unocal's reserves are mainly in the Asia-Pacific region.The US energy system,surprisingly 50% dependant on coal,benefits less than 1% from Unocal.Srivarahan

Data Security and Identity Theft

Identity Theft (IT?) is rare in Europe except in the UK where last year 100,000 people i.e. 0.17% of the population fell victim to account hijacking etc.The comparable figure in the US last year was 10 million ID theft victims i.e.3.39% of the population.

Though many reasons are given for relative insecurity in the US, the following recently reported cases explain why we must not be surprised:

Time Warner and CitiFinancial lost personal data of their employees and customers when computer tapes were lost by their couriers,Iron Mountain and UPS resply.The tapes contained names,social security numbers,payment history etc.TW and CF clarified that the mishaps occured despite enhanced security! (What would happen if security is lowered?) Ofcourse,the missing tapes were not encrypted.They were therefore sitting ducks.Both companies have promised that,in future,data will be sent electronically in encrypted form.

Identity thefts do not just happen;they are facilitated by corporate action!

Google,Stanford,Brin and Page

The word 'google' is already accepted as a verb meaning 'to search'.Brin and Page were supported in their efforts to set up a search engine by their university-Stanford.Stanford and its profs helped them with money and even encouraged them to get leave of absence .

Should not 'stanford' and 'brin and page' be recognised as verbs meaning as follows?

stanford: to extend extraordinary support to its (institution's) constituents to optimise their potential;

brin and page: to bring about revolutionary changes ,usually with support from one's institution.