| | Si Zuckerberg était mauricien... | | | | Modifier la taille du texte: | A | | | A | | |
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| | Par:- Rabin Bhujun
On 12/06/2011 |
Derrière le sourire angélique, un redoutable hacker. Ankit Fadia, qui était en visite chez nous cette semaine (voir page 26), aurait pu faire partie de ces individus dont les moindres faits et gestes sont surveillés par la National Security Agency (NSA) américaine. Objet de l’attention permanente des grandes oreilles virtuelles du réseau de surveillance mondial « Echelon ». Mais Fadia s’est placé du bon côté de la barrière. S’il s’introduit dans des systèmes informatiques aux données ultrasensibles, c’est pour mieux en souligner les failles.
D’autres n’ont pas cette vocation et encore moins la même éthique. Ce n’est donc pas pour rien si, depuis le début du siècle, les plus importantes agences de sécurité dans le monde, la NSA en tête, identifi ent le cyber-terrorisme comme étant potentiellement la menace la plus dangereuse qui guette les grandes nations. En Chine, aux États-Unis, en Argentine ou en Inde… une attaque informatique d’envergure pourrait créer une
catastrophe aux conséquences insoupçonnées.
La Bourse de New York incapable d’enregistrer l’achat ou la vente de la moindre action. Aucun avion qui décolle de l’aéroport de Nagoya. Les centres d’externalisation de Hyderabad coupés du monde des jours entiers. Ce sont là quelques-uns des scenarii de « Cyber Pearl Harbour » imaginés par les stratèges américains dès le début des années 2000. Déjà, les informaticiens faisaient tourner le monde…
Depuis, les réseaux se sont développés, la connaissance et les capacités de ces spécialistes se sont considérablement densifiées. C’est ce qui permet d’ailleurs à une guerre virtuelle de faire rage entre deux puissantes nations – les États-Unis et la Chine – sans que le monde n’en mesure l’ampleur. Derrière toutes ces menaces virtuelles et réelles se cachent des clones de Fadia.
Ces as de l’informatique, il ne faut pas nécessairement les chercher du côté des chambres d’étudiants du Massachussetts Institute of Technology ou dans les lotissements bourgeois de Bangalore. Nous en avons également chez nous. Ils sont certes Mauriciens, mais beaucoup de ces génies du 0 et du 1 ont choisi de s’expatrier à Singapour, aux États-Unis, en Europe, voire en Inde. Là-bas, au-delà de l’argent, il y a des challenges à relever ! Loin de cette île Maurice où un de leurs compatriotes sur trois n’a pas accès à Internet. Et où ceux qui surfent sont, pour la plupart, encore réticents à sortir la carte de crédit pour un achat sur Amazon ou Ebay.
Il ne faudrait toutefois pas se lamenter sur ces cerveaux qui ont choisi d’autres prairies. Pensons à ceux qui sont ici et à la manière dont « la culture informatique » leur est inculquée. Voilà une vingtaine d’années que des cours d’informatique sont dispensés au secondaire et dans le cycle universitaire à Maurice. Or, malgré l’expérience acquise, l’enseignement de cette discipline paraît toujours aussi théorique. L’aveu provient du ministère de la Technologie informatique lui-même. Le récent National ICT Strategic Plan (2011-2014) admet que si les diplômés en informatique de nos universités trouvent rapidement un job, leurs employeurs les considèrent cependant comme n’étant pas « job-ready ».
La faute à l’environnement informatique local. D’une part, il y a cette méthode d’enseignement en déphasage avec les réalités modernes. Qui se contente d’initier nos enfants, depuis des années, à Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, Powerpoint, tout en leur apprenant des rudiments théoriques de la programmation. D’autre part, un grave handicap infra structurel. Si Maurice est un exemple en Afrique, il est loin d’être un modèle pour le monde en matière informatique. Le rapport Networked Readiness Index 2010-2011 du World Economic Forum le confirme. Sur 138 pays, Maurice se classe 78e par rapport à l’accès aux réseaux. Nous occupons également la 76e place dans leur utilisation.
Une vraie démocratisation de l’accès à Internet et à l’informatique, à travers des baisses de prix de connexion et du coût des ordinateurs. Une refonte de la manière dont l’informatique est enseignée dans les écoles, collèges et universités. La création d’une vraie fi lière d’excellence capable de produire des Mark Zuckerberg et des Ankit Fadia. La recette est connue depuis que Sarat Lallah a inauguré le poste de ministre de l’Informatique, il y a presque 20 ans. Pourtant, on fait du surplace depuis. Le dernier Strategic Plan national reprend, à quelques nuances près, les mêmes recettes. Mais
pour nourrir en étudiants la future ICT Academy nationale, il faut que tout le système mue. Si, pour l’heure, on ne voit même pas les premiers signes de la métamorphose, osons espérer que cela viendra.
Entre-temps, au lieu de découvrir avec stupeur – mais aussi avec un brin de fi erté – que nos collégiens ont piraté le site d’une grande entreprise… contentons-nous de savoir que les gangs rivaux de deux collèges des Plaines-Wilhems se sont illustrés…
en décidant de faire la paix cette semaine !
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| chitchat | | | @Honky Tonk,have I insulted you in some way than I'm not aware of? If I have then my
apologies are for you. I'm very appreciative of the recent courteous responses. May I please
mention that the Mauritian journalists use French as it's the country's second most spoken
language. The mamed individuals you depicted as heavyweights who can ONLY write in French,- I
view as an affront. Civility calls for no punches, thanks for your time.
| | | MBCTV | | | RE ,my previous comment: PLease read about the barber's new plastic as being NON-FLAMMABLE and not flammable. as I have mistakenly stated.thank you. | | | Honky Tonk | | | I've been in this business for a very long time Chit Chat ,i'm not a newcomer here so please stop bothering me with your remarks.What i meant to say is that the English language is the official language of Mauritius and it's very weird that all the journalists keep on hammering only in french.I'm a Catholic just as the whole France and i'm not anti -French as you assume. | | | MBCTV | | | Honky Tonk and others are absolutely right with their comments about the English language,being that of business and the science worldwide.
Still a twelve year old,British boy,some two weeks back,has designed a doorbell,which when activated,alerts the mobile phone of the house owner wherever he or she may be on the planet.For his effort that boy has already amassed some 450 thousand pounds for himself,while awaiting his device to be patented on a worldwide basis.Again in Britain a barber has ,a few years back,developeda new type of plastic by combining flour with another chemical.His new plastic is inflammable!So far he has turned down a three billion pounds sterling offer from industry,interested in producing the new plastic for the world market.The barber has turned down the financial offer on the ground of it being too low an offer,while asserting tha industry will make trillions from his invention.Bill Gates was only thirteen when him and his friend Paul Allen wrote a computer programme in the garage of his father.It is not known what what type of Bsc's,Msc's,Phd's,Doctorates,MBA's are held by these people!Interestingly,Indians are considered to be world leaders in IT and computing,for the way their minds work and not because of degrees!Their brains have been accustomed to problem solving from a tender age,trying to overcome adversity due to their very modest background!The have become natural problem solvers!One well known hacker managed to penetrate the top secret,highly protected servers of the American military,by using the computer of an internet cafe!A degree holder?The computer courses dispensed in Mauritius are not necessarily bad as they may prove helpful to someone,who choses another profession other than IT.For example,people dealing with electronic medical nachines,like scanners etc.What's really lacking in Mauritius,is a culture for research on all fronts!At least the encouragement for research, is sadly lacking! | | | Elvis | | | Honky Tonk is right. English is the universal language and Mauritius has been a British colony.5 decades ago we had the very same arguments why the newspapers, radios or TV were only in French? we were told that time that it was because of the oldies and now the oldies of that time have passed away a very long time ago and now we are still thinkung about the oldies of today.French is much easier for mauritians to learn and that's why they prefer it.I've never failed in French at school as it was the easiest subject for me. | | | Shail | | | I still do not see how the languages we speak/practise offers a hindrance to someone's computational skills. Get real comrades, a computer language has nothing to do with your own language skills and only has to do with your ability to understand and write in a computer language: in terms of 0s and 1s as Rabin points out. Computer programming is not about understanding how to write documents in word or excel, but rather to understand how computers read and process data, how databases are managed and displayed on a website to cite a mere example. There are several very computationally astute Mauritians around. Some of the younger generation might remember the likes of Mr Nilesh Dussoye who created "MOKAMARADE.COM" a website very mich like facebook back in the year 2000. It did not receive the hype of facebook only because it was created locally ..now probably extinct....but it just shows u the astute of some Mauritians... they are there, they are simply doing what they do best.... in their virtual world. | | | Lélio Wong | | | @ Honky Tonk. If you only compare the name "Zuckerberg" a German word which means " Sugar Mountain" you may ask yourself why Mauritius still produce sugar ? You may also ask yourself why Bill Gates has chosen India for the development of Microsoft ? You are right to praise it as Indians are the most English spoken folks in Asia. And what interest has India in intiating Cyber City in Mauritius ?Mauritius with its multi languages offers the best platform for softwares translation specially in French, connecting Asia to Africa. How can you classify French as a second class language ? A language is a bridge and there is no superior or inferior bridges. There could be some mauritian Zuckerbergs. It's not a dream. It's a question of language preference and a will. A computer freak is not a genius and needs no national pride. | | | Un electeur de no 3 | | | Devrons nous nous offusquer si le francais est largement utilise par nos meilleurs journalistes? C'est le langage le mieux compris par tous les Mauriciens, toutes communautes confondues. Selon un petit sondage effectué par des amis des décennies de cela lors du lancement d'un hebdo auquel je collaborais, la grande majorite des Mauriciens préféraient le francais. Aux examens de la School Certificate, le taux de réussite est nettement en faveur de la langue de Molière. Aller comprendre. La presse ecrite, produit de consommation par excellence, ne peut aller contre courant. Elle ne peut se dérober à cette regle 'l'offre et la demande'. | | | Sadek RUHMALY | | | We have to question fundamentally the degree of professional integrity, ethical disposition, and Policy clairvoyance of our senior public 'servants' who have usurped the mantle of Godly []untouchable] Mandarins...who have assumed a 'raison-detre' of their own.... job-for-life ..... damn the architecture of our Nation's tomorrow..... every aspect of public policy is stale and archaic.... we must half the public service sector and open the private sector outsourcing tenders to Singaporeans and first world players.... The alternate doomsday Scenario will be a deepening of our status as the cheap and gullible backyard of India.... | | | chitchat | | | @Honky Tonk, I wonder how you could have the gall to write with such venom about the French language and named individuals, suggesting they can ONLY write or perhaps think in French. The editor must have published your comments pour montrer que vous avez mal juge votre coup.(let me help you "shot yourself in the foot" | | | Honky Tonk | | | Mauritius has not taken advantage of the English language like the most succesful ex-British colonies such as the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand,Singapore, Hong Kong, Barbados, Bermuda etc and the main reason why Mauritius is lagging behind is the insignificant French Language.Old French colonies like Madagascar, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Algeria,Tunisia or Morocco etc are far behind their ex - British partners.Heavyweight writers like Jean Claude de L'estrac,Gilbert Ahnee, Raj Meetharban etc can only write in French so how the hell can you expect a mauritian Zuckerberg?? we can keep on dreaming. | | | Vanessa | | | Si Obama etait Mauricien (M capital siouplait), si Zucker etait mauricien (m) (sic), mais non les deux ne le sont pas, ils sont US, et si nos journalistes pouvaient trouver des titres plus originaux? US, CNN, etc, on prend ce qui est bien des States, et puis on leur crache dessus, en essayant un discours entre altermondialisme et un liberalisme social. La verite, cest que la marge de manoeuvre ideologique n'existe helas pas a Maurice. Il n'y aura que des copieurs. Et si Ramgoolam etait Americain, et bien il serait en train de rouler sa Aston Martin tous les jours, comme des centaines de milliers d'autres... | | | Vuvuzella | | | Cher Rabin, well written article and the question to ask is why so many Mauritians choose to work in foreign climes rather than their homeland. I leave this to your own imagination. Here goes my own contribution to this blog.
English language needs a boost from Information Technology and vice versa for success in Mauritius.
If Mauritius is to become a global player in the IT and business sector, we should look towards India's success. Indian IT professionals command respect in developed countries due to their command of the English language. After independence in 1947, India was quick to realise the global importance of the English linguistic legacy of the British Raj. Today, young Indians are benefiting from this far-sighted action and now a new middle class is emerging. Centres of technological excellence have mushroomed in cities such as Pune and Chennai. Successful Indian IT executives will tell you that their success has been down to the mastery of the English language, discipline, and training. In fact, this love affair with computer technology started as an experiment way back in Indian remote villages where children were given the opportunity to access computers from an early age and in the most unlikely places.
A computer was left outside community centres and children started taking a liking to this new found toy. Today the same children find themselves in places like MIT and in most top companies around the globe.
The mindset of young Mauritians needs a drastic change if Mauritius is to compete in the global arena. The dominance of French is to the detriment of the English language and speaking French has become a “class” thing as rising middle classes speak this language. There was also remnant of the French history as left behind. The political elite should have decided on a choice of language at independence in 1968. English could have been the made the only language of communication in the sectors of government, education, business, and industry. The freedom to speak and learn other languages left as a matter of personal choice. The political class at the time, mostly British trained professionals had this powerful language tool at their disposal. Of course, there were political strings attached at the time, as there were too many minority communities to please. This was a missed opportunity and an unfortunate start for Mauritius as an independent nation. The older generation could argue that they were at a disadvantage when it came to learning English, as there was a lack of learning material despite the fact that there were excellent teachers in Mauritius. Bless them!
Mauritians could easily excel in English, as there is such an exposure to quality news media (perhaps MBC could purchase BBC International entertainment shows?). It requires a strong political will together with help from the British Council to bring about this change. Otherwise, the younger generation will lag behind in the global economy. It is a pity to learn the British council has drastically reduced its learning resource centre in Mauritius – possibly because of lack of interest in learning the language from native Mauritians. Use it or lose it! France gives more help to Mauritius, but this need to re-valuate in the context of the global importance of French – what other developed nation except for France speaks French? Spanish and Portuguese languages are more widely spoken across the world! In contrast, the US and the most successful Commonwealth countries where work is plentiful including the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all speak English! The business language in India is English and so has the added advantage from a global perspective.
Primary school children should get exposure to International news on a daily basis as part of their school curriculum, with discussions to follow on international topics. By the age of 11, they should be fluent in both spoken and written English. Commitment must come from the Ministry of Education and the University of Mauritius for the future prosperity of this young nation. It is a shame that a country with more than 40 years as an independent nation and ex-British colony is neglecting the English linguistic heritage in favour of becoming Francophone. Consider the consequences with the proposed introduction of “Creole” as a teaching medium in schools. The confusion this will cause in dealing with the technicalities they will encounter in later life will be enormous and leave children at a disadvantage.
The MBC has a major role to play and a social responsibility to bring about this change by adopting a complete re-think, with more screening of good quality English films (no sub-titles) and quality news. Ditch the cheap films that add no value to ones understanding of life. Recruit high calibre native English language speakers and bring back more English cultural shows, classical music, good feature films etc. What is required is investment and political will and hopefully the reward will be huge.
A fast and low cost digital network/super highway to cover the whole island is urgently required to bring this project to fruition. This wide area network should be accessible to every educational institution. This project will eventually become cost effective by leasing extra capacity on the network on a share time basis to smaller start-up high tech companies. Advanced communication technologies should be implemented to cover the whole of Mauritius and Rodrigues.
The University of Mauritius should have full control for managing this project on security issues and access. English should be the sole language of communication on this network, so at the end of the day, every single Mauritian student will be interfacing with each other at every level, learning and helping each other along the way in a common language of communication.
The children from remote villages in the country to have priority access to resources. All under-privileged children given mentoring help to bring them up to a good educational standard. Computer equipment could be located in central places such as schools, village halls, police stations and any other accessible site where children could go and make use of these facilities outside school hours. These computers should be loaded with games and educational software to begin with to give these children a start with computers. Later, once they become more computer literate and have a good standard and understanding, they could be involved with serious computer project work and thus learn English as a way forward. The security of these children should also be taken into consideration with the location of equipment, as there is also a risk about their own safety.
Mauritius will have to move into high technology industries sooner or later for its future survival where more cyber cities should be created with more R&D facilities.
In the global economy, it is worth remembering that China is after your lunch and India after your dinner. With more action, positive change will follow. That little
Zuckerberg might just be waiting in some remote part of the Island.
| | | Lélio Wong | | | Rappellons que la révolte arabe a été propagé " en chain reactions" à travers l'internet. Pas longtemps de cela, Navin Ramgoolam menacait de prendre des sanctions contre ceux qui le critiquaient sur Facebook et ses suiveurs ont dévelopé très vite de l'anthipatie envers les internautes qui veut dire qu'ils ne voyent pas d'un bon oeil le dévelopement de l'informatique, un outil indispensable pour la communication express et mais aussi une arme invisible dangeureuse pour les "hackers". Heureusement comme les systèmes anti-virus on a aussi des boucliers de bonne volonté comme Ankit Fadia . Cher Rabin en retournant du CNN Africa Award, gagnant ou pas, apportez un peu de "Wind of change" pour notre société d'informations paralysés. Bonne Chance ! | | | krishnen | | | The private sector only wishes to exploit its workforce...there should be more investment in R&D to produce people like zukerberg.The UOM produces 150-200 drones each year which are not prepared to innovate in the IT industry. | |
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