Is Tricubes a Trojan Horse?

Users will initially be able to use this account to receive government notices such as income tax assessment, driving license renewal and quit rent reminders as well as Employee Provident Fund statements and notices of summons. This is not an exhaustive list of services and more can potentially be offered to users in the future.

The above is an answer given by the CEO of Tricubes, Khairun Mokhtar. Tricubes has been appointed by the Malaysian government as the e mail domain host. Hence instead of say xx@yahoo or xx@gmail, you will have xx@myemail.com. Something like that.

The former two e mails, you get them for free. With myemail , you will pay through the government. Tricubes gets a concession to be the email host for some amount. The CEO says, the government will pay 50 sen per e mail. The government says, this is a private sector initiative. It doesn't pay anything.

One of these people is lying. Since its impossible for the PM to do so, then Khairun Mokhtar is the liar. But then the CEO of an ETP approved company can't be a liar.

Let's just say, Tricubes is the project delivery partner to the government. It's easier that way rather than getting embroiled in semantics.

What does it deliver? It delivers a possible means where the government can control a communication tool, reaching the subscriber directly and discreetly.

Others have said abundantly about Tricubes getting this concession. It says it was selected by an ETP selection team and possibly because the ETP people think, Tricubes has all the qualifications, it has been selected.

People have disputed the selection criteria. TRicubes is a loss making company, the result caused by the nature of the investments it undertakes- so it says. It's dependent on getting government projects such as exclusive licenses for a number of years.

So, if people are interested to read about the technicalities of the TRicubes issue such as financial and technical capabilities and so forth, I am sure there is a vast volume of literature on this.

As for me, I am more intrigued at the prospects of the government big-brothering us, through assessing our e mails. Although Tricubes says it will have security features and encryption features and what not, what if Tricubes acts in concert with government departments by sending unsolicited 'information' over the net, surreptitiously to the e mail addressee? You get for free other than information about summonses, income tax, quit rent reminders etc.?

Sometime in April , 2010, an important person in the CPC, Wang Chen, outlined China's vision on internet usage. Wang Chen is regarded as the highest government official responsible for managing online information in China. He is also the Party's top official in charge of external propaganda work.

Wang delivered a speech laying out what seemed to be the official strategic vision for the "scientific, healthy, and orderly development of the Internet". The speech contains what amounts to an official battle plan, complete with outlines of the risks, campaign objectives, command structure, and legislative reform agenda, for how to bring the Internet under control while accelerating its development.

Wang's report also stresses the value of the Internet as a crucial propaganda tool for guiding correct public opinion, "unifying thinking," and countering "the hegemony of Western media." As long as our country's Internet is linked to the global Internet, there will be channels and means for all sorts of harmful foreign information to appear on our domestic Internet. As long as our Internet is open to the public, there will be channels and means for netizens to express all sorts of speech on the Internet.

In other words, the Chinese authorities view the most intrinsic values and role of the Internet—as a vehicle for the unprecedented spread of information and knowledge across national boundaries and a mechanism that can bring people together and promote diversity and openness—as dangers to be strategically tackled and managed.

A former PM of Malaysia who is credited to have ICTied Malaysia has said, the government will never censor the internet. The current PM repeats the same promise. But the government is wary of the potential of the internet being used as the communications tool for netizens and eventually the people, inducing them to act in some ways detrimental to the government. Despite these promises then, we cannot discount the government big-brothering us is some creative internet-compliant ways.

And so, here in Malaysia, we are debating how come a little known company has been appointed and awarded the Goebbelsment's contract to provide an e mail address for Malaysian citizens.

Already, the government has started on the wrong foot. Whether a person chooses to use an e mail as a communication tool, it is a private voluntary decision. The government has no right to authorize others to get his/her name as an e mail addressee even if it is government who pays for the service. Everyone can get an e mail address for free. So why should the government use taxpayer's money to have a company provide an e mail address?

The only way Tricubes can get the names of people is for them to get people's name through the registration department or some other government departments which are custodian of records. On whose authority will Tricubes get these names? They will get them without OUR approval.

The purpose is nothing else but a disguised attempt by the government to dominate the cyberspace. Its future depends on control of cyberspace. Just like in China, it is widely believed that the Internet poses an insurmountable threat to a government's rule.

But it is not insurmountable after all. Tricubes can help for example.

All over the world, governments are finding ways to control and counter the political impact of Internet use. And they have found some disingenuous ways to do that. Such as using a Trojan Horse.

Tricubes can be the gift the Greeks left behind.