ALKHOBAR, 15 April 2003 — I saw reports last week stating that United Nations aid agencies were about $80 million short on the funding needed for relief efforts in Iraq over the coming 3 months. This information came to my attention almost immediately after I finished reading a book about the amount of venture capital thrown away on start up dotcom companies. The numbers are staggering and must be believed since they are backed up with accounting records filed by the dotcoms in bankruptcy courts.
As the dot-com boom was coming to a close, Philip J. Kaplan created a website, f**kedcompanies.com, to document the impending meltdown. The site started out as a joke, but was chosen as “Site of the Year” by Yahoo! Internet Life in 2000.
In 2002, Kaplan published a book, “F’d Companies: Spectacular dotcom flameouts,” in which he featured more than 100 dotcoms that crashed and burned, wiping out huge amounts of venture capital along the way. There was the online grocer Webvan that managed to go through $1 billion (yes, billion) in investors’ funds by “PAYING more for products than they were SELLING them for.” Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen convinced investors to put up $89 million for Mercata.com. This dotcom was a group buying site that was supposed to save people money — but didn’t.
Sporting legends such as Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzsky funded MVP.com in the amount of $65 million to sell overpriced sporting goods. Sadly for them, their fans weren’t stupid enough to buy the stuff. Some other impressive losers include Buildnet.com — $142 million, RX.com — $350 million, Charitableway.com — $43 million, imotors.com — $139 million, pets.com — $100 million and eToys.com — $200 million. The list is long and the huge amount of money thrown away is sickening, especially when it is considered that for humanitarian aid to Iraq, nobody will give the UN 80 million measly bucks.
The F’d Company website is still up and running and continues to highlight the hurtful, ridiculous, immoral and sometimes illegal practices of global businesses, as well as providing information on issues likely to harm a company’s bottom line. The site does not operate on innuendo or rumors. News items, internal memos and corporate reports are either posted or linked through the site to allow the public direct access to relevant information on the companies in question. While the reports are generally not about Middle Eastern companies, since so many international firms operate in this region, news at the website is important to Saudi investors and businesses.
For example, F’dcompany.com pointed out the April 8 Reuters story which showed that IT companies may use the SARS virus to justify poor earnings:
“NEW YORK — Companies seeking excuses for missing earnings expectations have a new one to add to the tried-and-true list of terrorism, weather, war and sniper attacks: the mysterious respiratory illness known as SARS. While the disease has clearly hurt airlines and hotel operators as travel to Asia is pared, semiconductor maker Microchip Technology became among the first US companies outside the travel industry to list SARS as a reason for an earnings shortfall.”
There is also a reference to the April 10 Reuters report on the sale of the DirecTV to Fox Entertainment Group. As analysts criticized the structure of the takeover of DirecTV, the No. 1 US satellite television service, shares of Fox Entertainment Group, which holds the US entertainment assets of News Corp., plunged to their lowest level in nearly six months.
Fox Entertainment is a company loathed in the Middle East due to its consistently negative news coverage of Arabs and Islam. Consequently, in the region, the news that an influential analyst with Merrill Lynch had downgraded shares in Fox Entertainment from a “buy” to a “sell” was greeted with delight.
Another interesting piece of information posted at the site concerned control of the media during the war in Iraq. In an internal memo put out by MTV Networks Europe, the broadcast standards manager gave lists of music videos that should not be played due to “heightened public sensitivity” of their content. Among others, Bon Jovi’s “This ain’t a love song,” which contains war scenes and victims in distress was forbidden. Megadeth’s “Holy Wars,” Outkast’s “B.O.B (Bombs over Baghdad)” and Radiohead’s “Invasion” were all issued stop play orders because their song titles might be offensive. Additionally, the memo instructed MTV Networks Europe to ensure that the programs they broadcast treated the issue of war in Iraq with “due accuracy” and “due impartiality.” MTV Networks Europe were advised that their programs must deal fairly with each opposing view and any facts included in a program must be accurate and verified by an official source. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I read the MTV memo. I only wished that in covering the war in Iraq, news outlets had followed the recommendations put forward by a music channel.
Now, it’s time to get very serious on the issue of Internet security because lots of folks in the Kingdom are creating potential problems for themselves and they don’t even know it. Due to the war in Iraq, Internet chat rooms, message boards, online newsgroups and mass e-mailings are extremely popular at the moment. I have lurked in the background at a few chatrooms and was shocked at the language in some of the discussions.
Some sites sponsoring message boards are wallpapered with offensive postings. My e-mail is totally packed with nasty messages.
The Internet is only a couple of years old in Saudi Arabia and many local web users have really only logged in online in the last year. As I inspected the postings, messages and chat a bit closer, I began to wonder if somehow people thought that all this digital commentary was private or at least anonymous and untraceable. I did an informal survey of about two dozen people who had recently sent me e-mail that was in questionable taste and found that most of them were clueless as to how much harm could come to them if these mails got into the wrong hands.
I also discovered that the users of chatrooms, message boards and newsgroups were even less likely to know how exposed they were to possible hurt.
It’s amazing, but people give out plenty of personal information either intentionally or through naiveté when using the Internet. I have witnessed the following personal information being made available by people through various electronic services: E-mail addresses, work place information, salary, city of residence, real name, age, occupation, hobby, pets, marital status, vehicle owned, education, health status, family details, religious affiliation and personal appearance. Providing such information is not only crazy, it’s dangerous.
I am not the only one who has recognized that people in this region are placing themselves at risk through their online behavior. A few months before the war in Iraq, I was contacted by Jayne A. Hitchcock, president of the organization Working to Halt Online Abuse (haltabuse.org). Hitchcock is a widely recognized Internet crime and security expert. She urged me to read her book, “Net Crimes & Misdemeanors” and aid in getting out the Internet safety information she has highlighted in the publication.
Hitchcock had never imagined that she would become an Internet security expert. But after a terrible experience in her life, she was forever changed. One morning Hitchcock posted a message at an online newsgroup and a few hours later she became the target of a cyberstalker. The stalker was angry over the message she had posted at the newsgroup and so he decided to punish Hitchcock. He began sending e-mail bombs and impersonating her at newsgroups and in e-mail.
The cyberstalker posted her home telephone number and address to hundreds of sex-related newsgroups.
Even though Hitchcock fought back with her husband’s support, there was little that local law enforcement could do to stop the cyberstalker. The misery went on and on, and many around Hitchcock were pulled into the nastiness. Hitchcock’s lawyer, neighbors and business associates were harassed to the point that some received death threats. It took five years for Hitchcock’s stalker to face punishment in the US courts and even now, after moving to an undisclosed location, Hitchcock has stated that she knows she will never be safe.
Currently, Hitchcock dedicates her life to educating others on Internet safety and security issues. Her book, which is supported by the website, netcrimes.net, is a collection of personal stories and information designed to “outmaneuver the spammers, swindlers and stalkers who are targeting you online.” It is an excellent reference, well illustrated and clearly explained, so that even those individuals with no technical background can easily benefit from the tips, advice and instructions it contains. The site netcrimes.net is loaded with links to online security information in more than a dozen categories. Since there is no local legislation to protect Saudi Internet users, implementing personal online safety measures is essential.
In Net Crimes & Misdemeanors, the following basic points are suggested for staying safe online:
• Create gender-neutral usernames.
• Keep your primary e-mail address private.
• Use a free e-mail account for chatting, newsgroups and people you don’t know well.
• Don’t defend and don’t react when taunted online.
• Don’t post, chat or reply until you are sure it is safe to do so. Lurking is fine.
• Read the frequently asked questions (FAQs) page before posting anywhere.
• Go to moderated forums as they are safer than nonmoderated.
• If you wouldn’t say something to a stranger in an elevator, don’t write it online.
• Don’t ever give out your passwords.
• Don’t give out your credit card number as proof of age.
• Monitor your children’s Internet use.
• Be cautious about posting photos.
• Install anti-virus and firewall programs on your computer.
• Search for online postings about yourself or authored by yourself.
• Don’t fill out user profiles.
• Block or ignore unwanted users in chatrooms or instant messaging.
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