Technology And The Whistleblower

As the meeting comes to a close, your boss smirks with an self assured arrogance. He then says that you should seriously consider his offer, because he has it on good authority, that there may be a very localized downsizing in your department. Wouldn’t it be nice to smirk back and just say “no thanks”.

This scenario plays out more often then most people realize. With all of the recent business and government scandals there were a lot of people who knew that books were being cooked, laws being broken and the health of the public being put at risk, just to keep profits high and investors content. Many people felt that there was nothing they could do against powerful executives and corrupt bureaucrats. The credibility of a low level employee compared to that of a ‘successful’ corporate executive is a huge hurdle to overcome. Also, corporate lawyers are there to defend the company, even from internal hazards. So, once a person decides to speak up, they must be prepared to have their credibility brutally attacked and the onslaught of legal preceding from an all-star team of corporate lawyers.

Just the thought of legal proceedings can stop a person from making the ethical choice. It’s easy for people to be vilified by their employer, at which point the credibility of the person speaking out is destroyed. How is possible for a single person to fight a company or government with infinite resources? Many years ago, it was practically impossible. However, the “digital revolution” may have changed the balance of power. For a “whistleblower” to be effective they need proof of wrong doing and a method to communicate those issues to the public. The availability of compact electronic devices such as digital audio recorders and digital cameras allow an individual to document many of the issues and bring the power back to the whistleblower.

The first piece of technology that should be in every whistleblowers repertoire is a digital audio recorder. These devices are so small that they can be put in a shirt pocket without being noticed. Once you decide to “blow the whistle” you should start recording all of your conversations. Keep a log of the items discussed, so that you can refer to the appropriate recording when needed, otherwise you can spend hours going back over the content. The best part is that these devices are not expensive. A digital voice recorder costs about $100, or many times MP3 players have a microphone built into the device, so they can be used to record conversations.

Another device that is very handy is a voice modem with telephone recording software. This will allow you to, hook up your phone, and record any conversations that occur over the phone. If you get fired before you have all the evidence, sometimes telephone conversations, with the people in power, can help to document important facts, because people very rarely think they are being recorded and say things that they probably should not have.

Make sure you check your local laws regarding conversation recording. In most places it is legal to record with one-party consent. One-party consent means that if you are involved in the conversation, you do not need to notify the other parties that you are recording the conversation. In Canada, one-party consent is the law. In the United States it is a little more complicated, as some states have their own regulations. You can refer to this recording law chart (http://www.snakeoil.ca/docs/recordinglaw.html) to determine what laws affect you. If in doubt, speak with a lawyer.

The third device every whistleblower should have is a digital camera. Many times the violations are in manufacturing or packaging, which could be a public health concern. These can be very hard to document and prove, since the paper records may be manipulated. A picture says a thousand words though, and will help authorities uncover doctored documents. When taking pictures be very cautious as most companies prohibit camera’s on their premises. Many cell phones are now equipped with digital camera’s, so they are easier to conceal. Take as many pictures as you can and try to prove the date you took them. Some camera have a date stamp feature, even though this is easy to manipulate. The best option is to take a picture of the daily newspaper beside the offending subject. This is very hard for lawyers to argue against and disprove that the violations did occurred on that particular date.

The last piece of equipment needed is a computer. When the authorities begin investigating your complaint, you will need to produce your evidence such as documents pointing to the issues. Most corporations are moving towards a paperless environment, which means that these documents will only be accessible by a computer. The other important part your computer plays, is to backup all of those images and audio recordings. Make sure your computer has a CD writer or DVD writer. Take these backups and put them somewhere secure, like a bank deposit box.

One area of concern is the removal of corporate documents from the office. This can violate many legal agreements you may have signed. If you are worried about this, there is a very simple solution. Backup all of the evidence files at work and stash them somewhere in the office. In the ceiling or in duct work is a great place. Basically, anywhere nobody ever looks. When it is time to produce these documents, simply tell the authorities that you have stashed them in a safe place at the office. The evidence is kept safe and you haven’t violated any agreements, a win-win situation.

In the future, companies may begin banning digital devices from the workplace for the exact reasons being discussed here. However, if were are persistent, it may go the other way and corporate behaviour may change, which is the ultimate goal of being a whistleblower. The days of “plausible deniability” and “disgruntled employees” are disappearing quickly.

Writer : Darcy O'Neil
Source : 
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_1811.shtml

What's WiMAX?

WiMAX is a short name for Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access. WiMAX is described in IEEE 802.16 Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) standard. It is expected that WiMAX compliant systems will provide fixed wireless alternative to conventional DSL and Cable Internet.

Typically, a WiMAX system consists of two parts:

• A WiMAX Base Station: Base station consists of indoor electronics and a WiMAX tower. Typically, a base station can cover up to 10 km radius (Theoretically, a base station can cover up to 50 kilo meter radius or 30 miles, however practical considerations limit it to about 10 km or 6 miles). Any wireless node within the coverage area would be able to access the Internet.
• A WiMAX receiver - The receiver and antenna could be a stand-alone box or a PCMCIA card that sits in your laptop or computer. Access to WiMAX base station is similar to accessing a Wireless Access Point in a WiFi network, but the coverage is more.

Several base stations can be connected with one another by use of high-speed backhaul microwave links. This would allow for roaming by a WiMAX subscriber from one base station to another base station area, similar to roaming enabled by Cellular phone companies.

Important Wireless MAN IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) Specifications

Range - 30-mile (50-km) radius from base station
Speed - Up to 70 megabits per second
Non-Line-of-sight (NLoS) between user and base station
Frequency bands - 2 to 11 GHz and 10 to 66 GHz (licensed and unlicensed bands)
Defines both the MAC and PHY layers and allows multiple PHY-layer specifications. 

NetSuite IPO generates $185 million

NetSuite's initial public offering raised $185.4 million, close to double the amount the company originally forecast the IPO would generate and a positive sign for the market of hosted, software-as-a-service business applications.


NetSuite, a provider of hosted applications for small and midsize organizations, sold 6.2 million shares of common stock at $26 per share via auction and its underwriters acted on their option to buy an additional 930,000 shares, the company said Wednesday.

The $185.4 million is a gross amount from which underwriting discounts and expenses will be deducted, the company said. Moreover, 365,000 of the shares bought by the underwriters were owned by stockholders like NetSuite's CEO and chief technology officer, so the proceeds from those shares -- about $9.5 million -- won't go to the company.

In the final IPO prospectus, NetSuite had estimated that, if the underwriters exercised their option in full -- as they did -- NetSuite's IPO net proceeds would be approximately $161.9 million.

NetSuite initially set a range of $13 to $16 per share for its IPO but subsequently raised it and eventually set the price at $26 per share on Thursday of last week, the day when the stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the "N" symbol.

At midmorning Wednesday, the stock was trading at $34.85, down about 10 percent from its previous close. Its highest point so far is $45.98.

Incorporated in 1998, NetSuite sells ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management) and e-commerce applications on a hosted, subscription-based model, in which customers access the software via the Internet and don't need to install it on their premises.

This software-as-a-service model, championed by companies like Salesforce.com and Google, is considered a significant threat to the traditional approach from vendors like Microsoft of having customers implement software on their own PCs and servers.

As of Sept. 30 of this year, NetSuite had over 5,400 active customers, according to its IPO prospectus . In 2006, the company had revenue of $67.2 million and a net loss of $35.7 million. In the first nine months of this year, it generated $76.8 million in revenue and racked up a net loss of $20.6 million, according to the prospectus.

NetSuite plans to use its IPO proceeds to pay off an $8 million balance on a line of credit with Tako Ventures, an entity controlled by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and to possibly make acquisitions.

As of Nov. 30, Ellison controlled about 60 percent of NetSuite's outstanding stock -- some 31.9 million shares -- but Ellison transferred those shares into a holding company, NetSuite Restricted Holdings. The move is meant to "effectively eliminate" Ellison's voting power and avoid potential conflicts of interests, according to the prospectus.

NetSuite also plans to devote between $10 million and $15 million for capital expenditures, including the purchase of property, plant and equipment and the addition of a second data-center facility, and for working capital and other general purposes, including its international expansion. NetSuite currently provides its hosted applications out of a single data center, which the company admits in the prospectus is a risk that could harm its business should there be any service disruption at this facility.

NetSuite also said it may use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire other businesses, products or technologies, although it doesn't have any agreements or commitments for any specific acquisitions at the moment. The money it doesn't spend will be invested in short-term, interest-bearing investment grade securities.

Tropos Networks has set up a network of about 70 meshed Wi-Fi routers in Mecca, providing Hajjis with free Internet connectivity during their annual gathering

The millions of pilgrims in Mecca this week for the Hajj, an annual gathering of Muslims, can stay connected thanks to a temporary Wi-Fi mesh network covering a large part of the city.

Hajjis, as the pilgrims are called, come to the city in Saudi Arabia from around the world for several days of religious rituals. More than 2 million gather each year. A network of about 70 meshed routers from Tropos Networks has been set up to provide free Internet connectivity, according to Denise Barton, director of marketing at Tropos. Users only have to register before using it. Barton believes it is the first public Wi-Fi network set up for the Hajj.

Mesh networks are well-suited to temporary deployments because they need fewer fixed-line connections than do traditional Wi-Fi systems. Packets can hop from one router to another until they reach one that's connected to a landline. The technology has also been used for permanent municipal Wi-Fi networks, including the one Google had built with Tropos equipment in its hometown of Mountain View, California.

Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission appointed an Internet service provider, Bayanat Al-Oula, to provide the temporary network. It was rolled out in less than 60 days with no help from Tropos personnel, Barton said. Aptilo Networks, a wireless-management software and services company based in Stockholm, is running the network as a managed service from its offices in Malaysia. This also helped Bayanat get the infrastructure up and running quickly, said Per Knutsson, Aptilo's co-founder and director of product development. Aptilo is handling user authentication, security, customer-support calls and other features, as well as setting up the portal visitors use to register for the network.

Aptilo and Tropos are no strangers to temporary Wi-Fi networks. Aptilo has managed systems for large sporting events, and in 2004 Tropos built a network in downtown Redwood City, California, for a high-profile murder case. The trial of Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife and their unborn child, drew massive public and media attention. The county court where the trial took place set up a temporary network with five surveillance cameras and five meshed routers for its own security needs and for reporters who descended on the area for several months.

The Mecca network is made up of Tropos 5210 mesh routers, which use IEEE 802.11a for mesh connections and can support users with 802.11a, b and g devices, Barton said. Such networks typically require between 20 and 40 routers per square mile, she said.

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
December 19, 2007
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/19/Wi-Fi-mesh-lights-up-Mecca-for-Hajj_1.html