The Weekly Round-Up: 07.01.05

We would have hoped that it was on a more positive and upbeat note that we kicked off the first Weekly Round-Up of 2005 but sometimes events take over.

It would be impossible for the Round-Up to address the past seven days without focusing on the terrible tragedy in Southern Asia which has put everything else into perspective.

The real story of course is firstly of the incredible loss of life and secondly about the subsequent efforts to make sense of events and somehow ensure those affected regions to some degree can recover from a disaster which has forever changed their societies and their very national identity.

The latter element includes the phenomenal reaction worldwide to the disaster and the incredible fundraising efforts which can never turn back the clock but can help those scarred by the tragedy to recover some semblance of the life they previously enjoyed.

Those of us living and working within an industry and societies which will never know the heartache and abject horror of such a catastrophe must do whatever we can.

silicon.com is encouraging all readers to give generously to the Disasters Emergency Committee though we appreciate many of you will already have done so or will already be specifically supporting one of the many other charities involved in the relief effort.

The Round-Up also pays tribute to those companies in the technology sector who have given generously to the appeal and are leading major fundraising efforts.

Amazon customers have already given more than $12m. Michael and Susan Dell have donated $3.5m through their charitable foundation. Microsoft has given $3.5m. Cisco has donated $2.5m, including almost $500,000 raised by its own employees. IBM has donated more than $1m as well as providing 1,000 much-needed laptops, batteries and country-specific power supplies which will now become an integral tool in bringing order to the recovery process. Computer Associates has donated around $850,000; Verizon, nearly $2m; Vodafone £1m and the list goes on.

The expertise and infrastructure available to BT has also played a pivotal role in ensuring the DEC website is available and able to process the vast number of donations it is receiving each hour of the day.

Brendan Gormley, CEO of the DEC, said: "The DEC would urge people to donate online if they have the choice. All donations are of course welcome but online donations reach us immediately. There are more than 11,000 online donations an hour at present and we are hopeful that many additional millions of pounds will be donated in this manner."

For the first time ever the UK's mobile phone companies have also joined forces in order to let customers donate via text.

Simply by texting 'DONATE' to 83321 customers of 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin and Vodafone will give £1.50 to the DEC appeal. That money will be added to their bill or deducted from their credit and will go in full to the disaster relief fund.

The Round-Up wishes all human nature was moved to such cooperation and generosity.

Sadly the tragedy has also brought out the worst in some people - perhaps most disturbingly evidenced by a number of emails which have been circulating over the past week.

Within a few short hours of the earthquake the silicon.com inbox had seen the first scam email arriving as spam and purporting to come from a charitable foundation urging recipients to give generously. The individuals behind such an email are simply hoping to extort money from those looking to donate.

Next came the emails from the 419 scammers - those criminals, based largely in West Africa and the Netherlands at present who have traditionally limited themselves to liberating large, non-existent sums of money out of Africa with the assistance of a duped Western victim.

Many of these con-artists are now claiming to be the sole survivor of a bank or large firm of accountants who has control of millions of dollars but needs a Western bank account and its co-operative owner in order to get the money out of Thailand, Indonesia or Sri Lanka.

Others are claiming to be victims of the disaster, begging for donations and offering up their tale of hardship and suffering. Many claim to be the only surviving member of their family, others claim to have seen their livelihoods wiped out.

All are scams. All are in abominably poor taste.

While such plights are sadly commonplace in the aftermath of the tsunami, these scam emails, which tellingly usually provide bank accounts with Dutch street addresses, are diverting much needed funds from the genuine victims.

But perhaps the most sickening email campaign to come out of the tragedy was that launched by UK citizen Christopher Pierson, a 40-year-old father of two from Ruskington in Lincolnshire.

Appearing at Horseferry Magistrates Court earlier this week Pierson pleaded guilty to charges of malicious communication and causing a public nuisance after he sent emails to relatives of missing persons caught up in the tsunami disaster, informing them their relative/s had been confirmed dead.

Pierson appears to have harvested his email addresses from a message board hosted by broadcaster Sky News where concerned friends and family members could share information, leave contact details and post messages in the hope of hearing something of their missing friends and relatives.

Pierson then emailed the individuals, purporting to be from the Foreign Office. Pierson's email stated: "The UK government regretted to inform the victim that the missing person they were inquiring about was confirmed dead."

The UK government has issued a statement saying no relatives will be contacted with such news via email. Pierson's defence attributed the emails to "a moment of madness".

In the face of angry public reaction Pierson is being remanded in custody for his own safety ahead of sentencing later this month.

One silicon.com reader from Singapore wrote in expressing his disgust at Pierson's actions.

"I know four people, two of whom are family, who barely escaped from this disaster in Thailand and Sri Lanka with their lives," wrote the reader. "When we heard the news of the disaster we were unable to contact them because the mobile phone masts were down. It is not something anybody wants to experience.

"When the whole world is pouring out compassion for the thousands of victims it is incredible that this idiot is adding to the grief."

Indeed. It is that fear and uncertainty upon which Pierson must knowingly have preyed which make his actions all the more heartless and unforgivable.

Another individual who came in for fierce criticism was a US college student who attempted to sell the domain name TsunamiRelief.com for $50,000.

The domain was originally registered by a profiteering freelance journalist by the name of Michelle Tirado who got in there the second news broke of the earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

Tirado has a sideline in registering and selling domain names - clearly identifying the potential, if not the tastelessness, of snapping up the TsunamiRelief.com web address.

However, Tirado was approached by 20-year-old Josh Kaplan who told her he was a representative of an international fundraising effort. Tirado then agreed to hand over ownership of the domain free of charge.

Even if Tirado's initial motives were dubious she certainly came through in the end.

Kaplan on the other hand, it has been suggested, told a lie or two. Certainly that appeared to be the case when the domain name appeared as a lot on eBay - with bids starting at $50,000.

The auction led one US newspaper, the New York Post, to label Kaplan a "Wave Rat" - a phrase applied to one looking to profit from the disaster in Southern Asia.

However, Kaplan's mother claims it is all one big misunderstanding and said her son was "completely shocked" at the suggestion he had done anything wrong.

Was he really? The Round-Up would love to know which bit of trying to sell a fundraising domain name for $50,000 he thought would win him overwhelming public approval.

But that wasn't his intention at all. Apparently.

"His intention was solely to give to tsunami relief," added Linda Kaplan, with an observance of the parental 'my little angle wouldn't do anything wrong' code.

"It was all a gross misunderstanding," added Mrs Kaplan. "He wanted to sell it and donate the money to tsunami relief. My husband and I said, 'That's a good idea, Josh'. But it all turned into a nightmare."

Aha. So, to clear things up, Kaplan was going to charge fundraisers at least $50,000 for the domain... and then he was going to give all the proceeds of the auction back to the fundraisers.

Sounds reasonable.

But far be it from the Round-Up to question this laudable soul's charitable savvy but surely if the net proceeds on his part were going to be $0 and the prize for the fundraising effort was to be the domain name he would have just donated the domain name free of charge and cut out the eBay auction altogether.

Perhaps he was just too busy being altruistic to consider such logistical simplicity.

The Round-Up makes no apologies for the mirth-free edition of the newsletter this week.

Everybody at silicon.com extends their heartfelt best wishes to all affected by the events of the past fortnight and to all who have dug deep to provide whatever help and assistance they could manage.

Until next week... here's some news:

• Indian IT outsourcers escape tsunami damage
• Brits smash New Year text messaging record
• Microsoft to debut first anti-spyware app this month
• Spam king shuts down spyware
• Trojan attack threatens Symbian handsets
• Voice recognition to replace costly call centres