What a shame that the Computer Society of Bermuda (CSB) is unable to offer an overseas International Computer Driving License (ICDL) scholarship to a deserving student for the fall semester.

The ICDL, the sole funding source for the scholarship, had a funding shortfall as it restructured the programme last year, the CSB explains in its latest newsletter. There was also not enough locations to train and test students in the programme.

“We have addressed these challenges, but will have a shortfall in funding so we will be unable to offer the scholarship in time for 2007 fall semester,” CSB explains. “We are optimistic that we may be able to announce the scholarship sometime thereafter.” Bermuda students who complete the ICDL program have a certification equal to those in other countries, such as Ireland, UK, Guernsey, US and Canada. Students from Saltus, Mount Saint Agnes and staff from BF&M, Zurich and Marsh have been among those who have completed courses in the ICDL program since it began being offered in Bermuda in 2000.

Don’t despair. Other scholarship programmes are available, with a deadline of 31 of May for most of them. These include the Bermuda College Information Technology Scholarship, the SBI Networking Scholarship, and the William & Christopher Archer Information Technology Scholarship.

The application deadline for the Ewan Sampson Scholarship Trust is sometime in June, 2007. A listing of these is available online at www.csb.bm.

I most also express disappointment in the CSB’s decision not to respond to the Bermuda’s consultation on telecommunications. “No. We did not respond to the consolation document,” the organisation states. “Why? The process was not intended for consumers.” The CSB claims that at the Town Hall meeting in February the Director of Telecommunications, William Francis, “made very clear” that “no changes will be made to the process” and that “process is not open for discussion”.

Whatever the truth of these claims, the fact of having a public meeting is part of an open process. Not to respond is like deciding not to vote in an election because you believe your vote “will not make any difference”.

The organisation added: “You should know that when we were informed the consultation talks had initially started, CSB contacted the department and asked to be advised of the discussions. We were told no, the consumer could not be involved, as they would not understand this process or the issues, so they would be excluded from these matters. We found it hard to believe the consumer would not understand this process, as some of them include CIOs, IT managers and paying residential customers, have brought telecom services in Bermuda and throughout the world, are formally educated on the technology and service, and have a general concept of this industry’s economics.” CSB should have responded. Only then will it have allowed its members a chance to have a voice in the process.

These days clicking on an Internet domain link exposes surfers to a wide variety of ills, including the risks of downloading virus-laden files, of receiving spammy e-mails, or getting caught up in scams.

Now McAfee has released a research report classifying 265 top-level domains like Japan (.jp), France (.fr) and Commercial (.com) according to the risk they pose to surfers for spyware, spam, exploits and scams. The report, “Mapping the Mal Web” estimates that each month, Internet users make more than 550 million clicks to risky Web sites and that even relatively safe domains like Germany (.de) or the United Kingdom (.uk), could pose a problem.

Unfortunately the report did not analyse the Bermuda (.bm) domain, which is both good and bad. A high score of trustworthness for Bermuda could have been a good advertisement for the Island. A bad score ...

“When it comes to safety, it turns out that the Web is no different than the physical world,” said McAfee in releasing the results. “There are safe neighbourhoods and safe Web domains, and then there are places no one should ever visit.” The ranking system colour codes domain names according to whether they are risky (red), nuisance (yellow), or pass (green).

The incidence of red and yellow sites varies dramatically across top- level domains, ranging from a low of 0.1 per cent for Finland (.fi) to a high of 10.1 per cent for tiny Tokelau (.tk). Giving an e-mail address to a random “.info” domain results in a 73.2 per cent chance of receiving spammy e-mail. The most risky large country domains are Romania (.ro, 5.6 percent risky sites) and Russia (.ru, 4.5 percent risky sites). These country domains are also the most likely to host exploit or “drive-by-download” sites, says McAfee.

The study and a map of the world according to the ratings are available at www.mcafee.com. You can also download a free site rating tool, SiteAdvisor, at the site.

Thanks to the reader who sent me in the link to a site that tracks phishing websites. A total of 17 phishing sites are listed, with at least two linked to a Bermuda nexus. All are currently dead.

Phishing sites fake legitimate companies or look legitimate in an attempt to get visitors to plug in their personal financial data. Once that’s done, money starts disappearing out of their accounts.

Go to http://db.aa419.org/fakebankslist.php. A more complete and current list is available at www.antiphishing.org.Contact Ahmed at elamin.ahmed[AT]gmail.com if you have any comments.