Ufone Karachi Offer: Free Call After 2 Mins: ProPakistani

Ufone Karachi Offer: Free Call After 2 Mins
PTCL Buzz Revitalizes its Broadband Entertainment Portal
‘Kick Now’, an App from Pakistan, Wins 1st Round of MEA Windows Phone 7 Challenge
VimpelCom Board Locks Orascom Deal, Ignoring Telenor Opposition
Cyber Security Regime in Pakistan, Still a Lot to be Done!
Wiki Leaks Revolution
Atif Aslam Continues to Sing for Glow

Ufone Karachi Offer: Free Call After 2 Mins

Posted: 17 Jan 2011 10:31 AM PST

Ufone Karachi Offer: Free Call After 2 Mins is a post from: ProPakistani

Ufone has tried to match Zong's Location Based Charging approach by offering free Ufone to Ufone call between 9 PM to 6 PM for those Ufone subscribers residing in Karachi.

Offer comes with a daily rental, that is Re. 1 per day, in addition, there are one time subscription charges of Rs. 20 plus tax. However while subscribing to Karachi offer you will also get 5000 free sms.

This is no way near to Zong's offer, as Zong gives away free unlimited on-net calling, 24 x 7, against a daily rental of Rs. 7. It merits mentioning here that Zong's LBC offer covers over 150 cities.

On other hands, Ufone is offering first two minutes for Rs. 1.20 plus tax per min after which the call will go free, and that too between 9 PM to 6 PM.

Nevertheless, a good offer for Ufone customers who are living in Karachi.

Note: Calling party should be in Karachi, while receiving party can be anywhere in Pakistan.

Tariff:

Call Rates:

Ufone to Ufone (9 PM – 6 PM next day): Rs. 1.20 plus tax / 60 seconds and free call after two minutes
Ufone to Ufone (6 PM – 9 PM): Rs. 1.20 plus tax / 60 seconds
Ufone to PTCL: Rs. 1.60 plus tax / 60 seconds
Ufone to Other Mobile Networks: Rs. 1.6 plus tax / 60 seconds

Daily Service Charges:

Rs. 0.99 plus tax

SMS Charges:

Ufone to Ufone: Rs. 0.50 plus per SMS
Ufone to Other Network: Rs. 1.00 plus tax per SMS
Ufone to International: Rs. 2.50 plus tax per SMS

How to Subscribe:

Subscribe to Ufone Karachi Offer by dialing *444*25#
Subscription Charges: Rs. 20 plus tax

Terms & Conditions:

The validity of 5000 Free SMS is 10 days
Subscribers can only avail the tariff rates in Karachi area
Opt In fee of Rs 20+ tax will be charged.
Daily Subscription fee of Rs 0.99+tax will be applicable
Calls made to free numbers and short codes will not be eligible for the offer.
Calls made using Buckets will not be eligible for the offer.
There will be no FnF on this package.
Limited time promotion

PTCL Buzz Revitalizes its Broadband Entertainment Portal

Posted: 17 Jan 2011 09:51 AM PST

PTCL Buzz Revitalizes its Broadband Entertainment Portal is a post from: ProPakistani

PTCL Pakistan which pioneered the concept of broadband entertainment in Pakistan has completely revamped its broadband entertainment portal called PTCL Buzz.

Buzz Portal has been one of the most popular broadband portals with over 250,000 visits every month. This is a huge number considering that the portal is only limited to PTCL Broadband Subscribers.

PTCL Buzz Portal features full length movies, hundreds of music albums, a new lifestyle channel and a devotional channel. The popular gaming section which is a complete gaming portal in itself remains unchanged.

Featuring Junoon, Vital Signs, Alamgir, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; the music section is loaded with leading Pakistani artists. It was a treat to go through the complete music collection and rediscover the best of Pakistani music.The songs are also available for full length downloads to all PTCL Buzz users.

The Movie Section of the Buzz Portal is loaded with classic Pakistani movies like Aaina, Jawab Do and Naseeb Apna Apna. Bollywood movies are also available on Buzz Portal ranging from classics like Kaalia to the more recent 15Park Avenue.

Lifestyle channel has video highlights from around the fashion and showbiz industry. Highlights from movie launches, fashion shows, meet the press, music premiers fill this section. However, this section needs to be constantly updated to keep the viewers interested.

The revamped buzz portal also seems to focus on visitor interactivity. There are various pods including Popular Movies, Top Artists and Top Songs which are updated on the basis of user feedback. The inspirational design of Buzz portal is also a breath of fresh air and marks a major improvement. In addition, the navigation has been greatly simplified.

Another notable addition is the inclusion of Buzz Radio which plays non-stop music around the clock. Currently the Radio has two channels but according to sources other channels are planned for it too. The devotional section of the website also contains a large catalogue of religious content available.

The audio content on the website is available for free downloads for all Buzz users. PTCL must be applauded in taking the pain to provide legally downloadable audio content for all its users. Although, the cyber laws in the country are not adequate enough to stop music piracy, yet the efforts of PTCL management must not get unnoticed.

Visit: entertainment.ptcl.net

Note: PTCL Buzz is only available for PTCL Broadband subscribers.

‘Kick Now’, an App from Pakistan, Wins 1st Round of MEA Windows Phone 7 Challenge

Posted: 17 Jan 2011 03:23 AM PST

‘Kick Now’, an App from Pakistan, Wins 1st Round of MEA Windows Phone 7 Challenge is a post from: ProPakistani

167460 1779585534129 1374144635 1911175 4447430 n Kick Now, an App from Pakistan, Wins 1st Round of MEA Windows Phone 7 Challenge Kick Now, an application for windows powered phones, developed by Niyaz Noor Ali and Amir Ali Jiwani has won the first round of Middle East and Africa Windows Phone 7 Challenge.

Both Niyaz and Amir are students of National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES Karachi Campus), Pakistan.

'Kick Now' is a Window Phone 7 app that is the highway for football followers with almost a full score on user interface and Windows phone 7 metro style graphics Boost.

It allows customization for people coming in from around the globe according to their language. With statistical biographies of all the champions and of angry managers, live scores, News details, team schedules, Special news, Top stories, 24/7/365 news coverage and more, all to pamper your appetite.

Niyaz Noor Ali said:

"that Microsoft's Middle East & Africa Challenge was a great initiative of bringing together developers of the region on one common platform, which, for me, proved to be an excellent opportunity!"

Here's a demo for the application:

Here are few screenshots of Kick Now:

Via Microsoft Feed

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

VimpelCom Board Locks Orascom Deal, Ignoring Telenor Opposition

Posted: 17 Jan 2011 02:49 AM PST

VimpelCom Board Locks Orascom Deal, Ignoring Telenor Opposition is a post from: ProPakistani

VimpelCom Ltd.'s board has approved the purchase of Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris' telecom assets for revised USD 6.5 billion merger deal, said a statement issued by the group.

This approval from VimpelCom board came despite of Telenor's opposition for the deal for merger, which holds a 36% voting and 39.6% economic interest in VimpelCom Ltd.

“We did not support the original proposal because it did not make strategic or financial sense. The revised proposal makes even less sense as the consideration now being offered is even more generous to the owners of Wind Telecom", said Telenor spokesman Dag Melgaard.

Telenor's directors voted against the deal, with the remaining six directors voting in favor, VimpelCom said the statement issued by VimpleCom.

"While we acknowledge Telenor's divergent view, we believe the majority of our shareholders recognize the strategic and financial merits of this transaction," said VimpelCom Chairman Jo Lunder.

Under the new terms, VimpelCom will pay $1.495 billion in cash and 325.6 million new common shares and 305 million new convertible preferred shares to Naguib Sawiris after previously agreeing to pay $1.8 billion in cash and 325.6 million new common shares and 305 million new convertible preferred shares.

In return, VimpelCom will hold 51.7 percent of Orascom Telecom and 100 percent of Italy’s Wind.

The number of common issued shares for the deal remained unchanged.

VimpelCom and Wind last year delayed the signing of a shareholder agreement as Orascom tried to resolve a dispute with the Algerian government over its local unit, Djezzy.

The Algerian government, which wants to buy Djezzy, ordered Orascom to pay more than $800 million in back taxes and banned it from transferring money abroad, penalties that Orascom has contested. The Egyptian company has said it could be in international arbitration by the second quarter of this year unless it can resolve the dispute.

VimpelCom, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was formed from the consolidation of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group and Telenor's holdings in Russian and Ukrainian mobile-phone operators.

Cyber Security Regime in Pakistan, Still a Lot to be Done!

Posted: 16 Jan 2011 08:17 PM PST

Cyber Security Regime in Pakistan, Still a Lot to be Done! is a post from: ProPakistani

cyber Cyber Security Regime in Pakistan, Still a Lot to be Done! The revolution of ICTs has fundamentally changed societies and sectors and would probably continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

These developments on one side of the coin have given shape to unprecedented economic and social development, however they have also given birth to new type of crimes called 'Cyber Crimes'.

These types of threats are more vulnerable in a sense that they are not restricted by geographical limitations or national boundaries. Along with encouraging the use of Information and Communication technologies from their inception, economies are looking at ways to counteract the consequences simultaneously.

Technical measures to protect communication networks are being implemented with a support of required legislative measures to prevent and deter cyber attacks.

History of Cyber Crime

The origins of cybercrime can be traced back to early 60's, the days without Microsoft Windows, the Internet, or even the Personal Computer. In 1964, Stewart Nelson, a student at MIT, used the university's computer to generate the tones needed to access their long distance phone service also called as 'Blue Boxing'.

General Types of Cyber Crimes / Attacks

The following table depicts general types of cyber crimes / attacks.

Type	Description / Examples
Financial	Lottery announcements, cheating, credit card frauds, money laundering etc.
Intellectual Property	Software piracy, copyright infringement, trademarks violations, theft of Source code etc.
Email spoofing / Spamming	Sending e-mails that appear to originate from one source but actually is sent by another source.
Hacking	Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks, Stealing information on computer hard disks, making control over websites.
Virus / worm Attacks	Flooding viruses inside a network to produce associated damage to resources.
Denial of Service Attack	Causing the network resource to crash in response to a flood of requests by an attacker resulting in denying authorized users access to the service. A variation to a typical denial of service attack is known as a Distributed Denials of Service (DDoS) attack wherein the perpetrators are many and are geographically widespread.

Cyber Security in Pakistan

Pakistan has developed a strong institutional and legislative framework with regards to Cyber Crimes / Security. However, there is a huge room available when it comes to implementation and execution of security in the cyber world.

Moreover, our telecommunication and Internet service providers have also laid required procedures for securing their infrastructures. Following text highlights the present status of Cyber Attacks / Crimes mitigation at National level.

Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002

ETO was passed by Government of Pakistan with the objective to recognize and facilitate documents, records, information, communications and transactions in electronic form, and to provide for the accreditation of certification service providers.

The ordinance also addresses Legal and safe trading aspect in order to protect the interests of both the buyers and the sellers in the process of electronic sales and purchases.

Prevention of Electronic Crime Ordinance 2009

PECO was passed by Government of Pakistan with the objective to define cyber crimes and associated fines / punishment for the criminals.

The Ordinance addresses and lays down legislative terms for the following cyber crimes:

Criminal data access
Data damage
System damage
Electronic fraud
Electronic forgery
Misuse of devices
Misuse of encryption
Malicious code
Cyber stalking
Spamming
Spoofing
Unauthorized interception
Cyber Terrorism
Waging cyber war

PECO has completed its age as given in the Constitution of Pakistan. The Ordinance was required to be re-promulgated in February 2010 which has not yet been executed.

Currently there's no cyber law in Pakistan.

National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes – FIA

In order to enforce the Prevention of Electronic Crime Ordinance 2009, Government of Pakistan established an exclusive subsidiary entity under the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) responsible to deal with all types of electronic offences throughout the country. National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes is working under the following set of defined objectives:

To enhance the capability of Government of Pakistan and Federal Investigation Agency to effectively prevent growing cyber crimes.
To build a Computer Forensic Laboratory, equipped with Hi-tech tools for supporting NR3C operations in cyber crime cases.
To establish a reporting centre for all types of Cyber Crimes in the country.
Investigation and prosecution of cyber criminals and to cope with high-tech crimes.
To enforce existing laws to combat electronic crime and to protect consumers.
Develop and maintain expertise investigations of crimes involving high technology.
To provide on demand state-of-the-art electronic forensic services and cyber investigator to Law Enforcement Agencies of Pakistan.
International liaison/coordination with Law Enforcements Agencies of other countries.

The wing has a comprehensive set of procedures available to any citizen of Pakistan for reporting any incident related with Cyber Security / Terrorism.

National Telecommunications and Information Technology Security Board (NTISB)

Previously known as National Communication Security Board (NCSB), the NTISB Wing at the Cabinet Division Serves as Secretariat to the NTIS Board. NTISB performs following functions:

Advise Federal Government on security aspects of the Policies concerning ICT related services.
Regulate induction of ICT security systems.
Periodic inspections of communication centers in the public sectors.
Administrative control of the Department of Communication security.

It's apparent that government of Pakistan has done a lot to tackle this new wave of crime. We have NR3C in place as a cyber police, however, it must be noted that they can't execute anyone without legislation.

It is the need of the hour to legislate a law for cyber world with keeping all the elements in mind.

Wiki Leaks Revolution

Posted: 16 Jan 2011 08:11 PM PST

Wiki Leaks Revolution is a post from: ProPakistani

wikileaks Wiki Leaks Revolution Wiki leaks, an International nonprofit organization which has acquired quite a reputation for publishing sensitive material from anonymous sources has been the center of much debate.

Wiki leaks works on principles that it calls foundation of ethical journalism combining the latest security technologies.

Julian Assange, a 39 year old Australian is its founder who has a long career being a publisher, journalist, internet activist and software developer. Assange has worked as a computer programmer and was a hacker during his youth.

No one had thought about this discovery of 21^st century 10 years ago that shook the capital world and force the sole super power to censor it to the extent of shutting down a website completely. Wiki leaks have exposed the true face of free speech and free information propagators.

Wiki leaks have emboldened the free speech supporters, angered politicians and have provoked unparallel global interest both positive, negative and of great surprise. Wiki leaks revolution have sparked a great debate about freedom of information and questioned the state's right to protect its secrets.

Though website has been around since 2006, but in Pakistan many people came to know about it in Late November 2010 when for the first time it leaked matters related to Pakistani government and its agencies including ISI.

Following are the important events in History of Wiki leaks since it was founded in 2006:

December 2006: Wiki leaks website is launched and published its very first document. Wiki leaks run by the "The sunshine Press" claims to be dedicated to the release of other wise unavailable documents.
January 2007: Julian Assange goes on to identify himself as the editor in chief and founding member of the Wiki leaks.
April 2008: Assange and Wiki leaks win "The Economist's freedom of expression" and "New Media" awards respectively.
November 2009: Wiki leaks published 5, 37000 text messages sent on Sept 11, 2001 which received both praise and criticism for the act.
December 2009: Other than a form to submit new material, all access to wiki leaks website is suspended due to shortage of funds.
April 2010: Wiki leaks released a video showing U.S military pilots opening fire on people killing 12 unarmed men, including two Reuter's photographers.
July 2010: J.Assange announced at a TED conference that submissions on Wiki leaks are once again open.
July 2010: Wiki leaks releases Afghan war diary, making public 77,000 documents about war in Afghanistan.
October 2010: Wiki leaks released nearly 400,000 documents related to war in Iraq, the greatest data leak in the history of U.S military.
November 2010: Wiki leaks along with five other major publications leaks U.S diplomatic cables on Nov 28. Just two days later, Interpol puts Assange on its red notice list of wanted persons. For the first time, major political figures and institutions of Pakistan including ISI are mentioned in the leaks.
December 2010: Amazon and Pay pal cease to offer their services to Wiki leaks, and are accused by supporters of acting under to the political pressure by U.S government.

Wiki Leaks Attacks:

The first attack on Wiki Leaks was made within 24 hours of it publishing unclassified diplomatic cables online, when distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacked Wiki Leaks in an attempt to make it vulnerable to users downloading the sensitive information.

(DDoS) attacks forced Wiki leaks to move its hosting onto Amazon's cloud infrastructure but this proved only short term solution as Amazon terminated its hosting contract shortly after, citing reasons of its terms of services.

Alongside these technical problems Wiki leaks miseries were soon enhanced by financial woes when government pressure forced Papal, VISA and Master card stopped their services to the website, thus stopping payments to the website contributors.

Revenge of the Hackers:

These attacks on Wiki leaks did not go unchallenged and soon a group of hackers and activists "Hacktivists" called "Anonymous" announced its support for Wiki leaks. This group declared war on companies and politicians they felt were sources of problems for the Wiki Leaks.

Amazon was one of the first to come under the group's cross hairs for terminating the hosting service of Wiki Leaks. Although group was unable to make very significant disorder in Amazon's internet infrastructure. Master card, Visa, PayPal all were victims of DDoS attacks for stopping their services to Wiki Leaks.

Here is what most power full people of the world said about Wiki leaks:

1. Wile I am concerned about the disclosure of sensitive information from the battlefield that could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations, the fact is, these documents don't reveal any issues that haven't already informed our public debate on Afghanistan.

Barack Obama, U.S President July 27, 2010 Courtesy ABC News

2. "Diplomacy can't be, shouldn't be a reality TV show. Hasn't wiki leaks gone too far"

Khalid al khalifa, Nov 28, 2010

3. "This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy; it is an attack on the International community, the alliances and partnerships, the conventions and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity"

Hillary Clinton, U.S sec of State 29, 2010

4. "I support Julian Assange, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of the government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect themselves from these follies. Some aren't follies. Some are crimes"

Michael Moore, December 14, 2010

Journalism after Wiki leaks:

Wiki leaks have indeed become a new media giant. Over the course of last century journalists became part of their organizations which are part of media conglomerates and thus helping the state in its vicious cycle to press the voice of ordinary people but Wiki leaks have supported the interests of common man on the street and given them a hope that there are ways that they can contribute for the better still in this world. No doubt, Wiki leaks have become a necessity for every Journalist.

As Wiki leaks is still on it mission to make this world a free information world it will be constantly on move both in its location and its logical presence by spreading its online presence in mirror websites in order to protect itself both from hackers and governments alike.

Wiki Leaks also have contributed greatly to make an ordinary citizen brave and standing against injustice and tyranny whether by governments or any secret hands that were use to hide before.

Atif Aslam Continues to Sing for Glow

Posted: 16 Jan 2011 08:10 PM PST

Atif Aslam Continues to Sing for Glow is a post from: ProPakistani

Warid has been busy in doing Atif Aslam powered musical events for its customers. After Lahore, Atif Aslam, who is the brand ambassador of Warid Telecom, amused the audience in Karachi with a concert in recent week.

Atif Aslam performed live at DHA Golf Club, Karachi. It is said that over 1600 youngsters attended this much awaited concert and danced the night away with the thrilling performance of Atif.

Following are few pictures from the event: