Priority Tasks

I want to list out the tasks that I need to complete and to prepare for the coming tutorials in school.

1) Finish tutorial 1 for Logic module. 1st tutorial is to identify the missing premises in the sentences. Before identifying the missing premises, first have to list out the premises and conclusions of the sentences in order to be able to see more clearly what is the missing premise.

2) Finish up the essay for the movie "I not Stupid" for Sociolinguistics. Have to list out 1-2 page summaries on 3 major issues that sociolinguists are concerned with and discuss them in relation to the movie.

3) Finish reading the asterisks articles for Geographical Imagination topic in order to do tutorial 1, which is to critically access the PM's Nation Day Message 2005 using the materials from articles.

Important Concept:

Geographical Imagination: The way we understand the geographical world and the way in which we represent it, to ourselves and to others. (Massey. 1995:41)

4) Read the corresponding reading materials for Theories of Communication and New media for lecture 1 again and understand the concepts used.

I want to blog about this issue:

3 arrested for illegal distribution of copyright songs on Internet.

Related news 1:

SINGAPORE : For the first time, three men have been arrested for the illegal distribution of copyright songs on the Internet.
The Intellectual Property Rights Branch of CID (Criminal Investigation Department) acted on information received from the Recording Industry Association of Singapore.

The three suspects, aged between 16 and 22, were found to have illegally distributed songs in digital format on an Internet Relay Chat channel.

They configured a computer programme to send broadcast messages to IRC chatters, inviting them to download songs from their computers.

Persons found guilty of illegally distributing copyright materials are liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000 per article, and a maximum fine of $100,000.

They can also face a jail term of up to five years or both. - CNA/de

Related News 2:

Thursday August 18, 4:06 PM

By Nur Dianah Suhaimi

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Three Internet users have been arrested in Singapore and charged with distributing digital music files in the city-state's first crackdown on illegal file sharing, Singapore police said on Thursday.

The three young men who were arrested, between the ages of 16 to 22, had shared more than 20,000 files in internet chatrooms.

It was the first time Singapore police have clamped down on web surfers who download pirated music and films since new copyright laws came into effect in January this year.

Under the amended Copyright Act, anyone who illegally downloads files on a "commercial scale" could face criminal charges, including five years in jail and fines of up to

S$100,000.

Police were tipped off by the Record Industry Association of Singapore (RIAS), an association representing local and foreign record companies. The suspects used an Internet chat program as well as a music-sharing program to distribute the music files, a police statement said.

RIAS, which conducts constant checks to curb illegal file sharing told Reuters it has sent warning letters to those engaged in illegal file-sharing on the Internet.

"Prosecution was a last-resort measure," said RIAS Chief Executive Officer Andrew Neubronner.

Industry analysts say the rollout of high-speed broadband Internet in Asia, particularly in countries with high piracy rates like China, India and Indonesia, has sent the number of people downloading free music off the Web spiraling up by millions a month -- and recorded music sales to tumble.

Singapore has one of the world's highest Internet penetration rates, with over 60 percent of its 4.2 million people living in homes wired to the Internet.

Related News 3:

Friday August 19, 1:12 AM

Three Singaporeans were arrested for illegally sharing 20,000 MP3 songs over the Internet, marking the first time home computer users who do not profit from swapping digital music are targetted in the fight against piracy, police said.

Acting on a tip-off in March from the Record Industry Association Singapore (RIAS), a trade body representing record companies, police monitored the trio, including a 16-year-old student, before making the arrests in pre-dawn raids Wednesday, a police statement said.

The three men were arrested at their respective homes where police found four computers and one laptop with 20,000 MP3 music files for distribution over a chat channel on the Internet.

"This operation, which is a first for the police, is part of police enforcement efforts with rights owners in tackling music piracy," the statement said.

"The police will work closely with rights owners to take to task persons who think they can exploit the faceless and anonymous features of the Internet to perpetuate such activities."

The Straits Times newspaper on Thursday quoted RIAS chief executive Edward Neubronner as saying the three offenders had ignored repeated warnings from the music trade body to stop swapping music files over the chat channel.

Under Singapore's toughened laws against music piracy that came into effect in 2005, the three could face jail terms of up to five years and fined as much as 100,000 Singapore dollars (60,606 US).

I want to say how can these people still want to be so bold to still serve music files to the public even after the new copyright law is in effect already this year. And they have even received a warning letter before. So they should have stopped the illegal activities already having been warned once.

Well, after this incident of the 3 persons been arrested, all the IRC channels serving illegally copyrighted music has get the message from the authorities. People will stop only when a strong deterrent message is passed to them, in this case the news that 3 youngsters have been arrested for distributing 20,000 music songs to the public. I can't really see any more IRC channels that serve music files in Singapore from now on.

Planning on getting a Benq DW1640 DL DVD burner soon. Because the current burner is two years plus, and some problem in burning dvds, but I can't find out if it's the system problem which I suspect but cannot solve it.