Nisadas

My regular travel via the privatised modes of public transport is almost the only time that I ever listen to the radio anymore. The fact that this is almost entirely against my will and at ear-splitting volume only means that I either complain and earn the ire of my fellow travellers, or resign myself to total deafness. And Monday evening entertainment on the radio seems to pander to some very strange tastes…

Recently in keeping with the election aura permeating Sri Lankan society, two radio stations began a poster campaign – each claiming to be “The No. 1″ station as per the public’s manape. Since the private bus operators of the country are my only link to these stations, I’m not able to verify the claim.

Anyway, here I am on Monday evening on my way home at around 7pm. I have the misfortune to get a seat directly under a speaker in the private bus I got into. The station being tuned into is one of the two aforesaid ones, playing some pretty catchy tunes. So no complaints, except for the incredible volume that is threatening my ear-drums.

A female voice earnestly (in Sinhala) welcomes the listener to a “show” – a show about the cruel twists of fate, about the wicked ways of real life – all the way upto 10pm. Hmmm….

Then, to my utter shock, everyone listening in (or able to discern anything from the loud volume) is subjected to the story – acted out with dialogue and sound effects – of a young, possibly underaged female in some remote part of the country being drugged and raped by two men.

Why my shock? The “show” is a radio drama “based on a true story” that relates this sordid tale in 3-4 minute bursts. To liven up the otherwise dreary and cruel story, the 3-4 minute bursts are separated by lively songs, which judging from the number of times they’re played – are quite popular.

Somehow, “Rape of an underaged girl, to the accompaniment of Sri Lanka’s hit music” doesn’t sound like the most appealing of radio shows to listen to. Fine, so the sound effects were not exactly very graphic, but still??

Needless to say, I’m very disturbed by this.

As I got off the bus, I wasn’t so much consumed by a curiosity to know what the rest of the story was about, but a sense of bewilderment at the things people will do…

It’s weird. I like the service I get from HSBC. I don’t bother them very much. I have friends who work there.

So why should they (the local branch) have a problem with me switching to a more secure and less crash-prone operating system/web browser?

When I took up my first intern/trainee job, one of the things I did was get an HSBC card. Not only did it look good, but it also meant that come payday, I would be one of the lucky people to get my hands on the cash first. The others would have to wait a day or two longer before their allowance was in their accounts. So I’m happy.

But I stopped using Internet Explorer and switched to Opera. Bad move. The Internet Banking facility doesn’t work for me. But thankfully Firefox came along and things were ok.

Fast forward to 2005: I’ve switched completely to Linux when it comes to surfing the net. This is because I’m paranoid about spyware/adware/zombie networks and frankly I haven’t the faintest of confidence in Internet Explorer’s security.

And then I try to access MY account via Internet Banking. No dice. Opera (even with “Identify as Internet Explorer” enabled) doesn’t work. Neither does Firefox.
I’m told that

To access internet banking, please use

• Internet Explorer version 5.0 or above; or
• Netscape Communicator version 4.72 or above (version 6.x currently not supported)

What gives?

So I inform the bank of the issue. This I do on September 12, 2005.
I get the following reply on September 15, 2005:

We refer to your mail of 12 September 2005.

Please be informed that we have taken your request to consideration and are looking at the possibilty of enabling Linux Users to login to our Internet Banking Service.

However we wish to inform you that we are not preventing any users of Linux from accessing the Internet Banking Facility.

Right.

It’s become common knowledge that Microsoft’s Windows OS and Internet Explorer browser aren’t exactly the most secure software in the world. Even if the developers manage to patch the security holes, the very fact that Windows/IE are so popular the world over make them ideal targets for hackers. This was common knowledge ages ago – that’s why alternate browsers have been able to make such an impact in the global internet community.

While I agree that there is no silver bullet for surfing on the web, I feel that institutions shouldn’t place restrictions on how people access the information they put on the web.

A little searching led me to this email at the Lanka Linux User Group(LKLUG) that seems to discuss the problems in the JavaScript code at the site that seems to restrict users. Note the date: July 19, 2005.

I’m not a coder, but according to the email, it seems that the web site doesn’t consider Linux as an operating system that the potential visitor might be using.

It’s been more than three months since the LKLUG have figured out what’s wrong with the web site’s code. So how come the problem hasn’t been fixed yet?

Ah well.

For anyone interested, there’s a workaround (thanks to Chamindra) . The simplest method (which I’m using now) is to download the User Agent Switcher and install it on Firefox.

UPDATE: As of late 2007, the HSBC site got revamped and now supports internet banking with many different browsers. I have so far had success with Firefox, Opera and Safari (on Windows).

It’s weird. I like the service I get from HSBC. I don’t bother them very much. I have friends who work there.

So why should they (the local branch) have a problem with me switching to a more secure and less crash-prone operating system/web browser?

When I took up my first intern/trainee job, one of the things I did was get an HSBC card. Not only did it look good, but it also meant that come payday, I would be one of the lucky people to get my hands on the cash first. The others would have to wait a day or two longer before their allowance was in their accounts. So I’m happy.

But I stopped using Internet Explorer and switched to Opera. Bad move. The Internet Banking facility doesn’t work for me. But thankfully Firefox came along and things were ok.

Fast forward to 2005: I’ve switched completely to Linux when it comes to surfing the net. This is because I’m paranoid about spyware/adware/zombie networks and frankly I haven’t the faintest of confidence in Internet Explorer’s security.

And then I try to access MY account via Internet Banking. No dice. Opera (even with “Identify as Internet Explorer” enabled) doesn’t work. Neither does Firefox.
I’m told that

To access internet banking, please use

• Internet Explorer version 5.0 or above; or
• Netscape Communicator version 4.72 or above (version 6.x currently not supported)

What gives?

So I inform the bank of the issue. This I do on September 12, 2005.
I get the following reply on September 15, 2005:

We refer to your mail of 12 September 2005.

Please be informed that we have taken your request to consideration and are looking at the possibilty of enabling Linux Users to login to our Internet Banking Service.

However we wish to inform you that we are not preventing any users of Linux from accessing the Internet Banking Facility.

Right.

It’s become common knowledge that Microsoft’s Windows OS and Internet Explorer browser aren’t exactly the most secure software in the world. Even if the developers manage to patch the security holes, the very fact that Windows/IE are so popular the world over make them ideal targets for hackers. This was common knowledge ages ago – that’s why alternate browsers have been able to make such an impact in the global internet community.

While I agree that there is no silver bullet for surfing on the web, I feel that institutions shouldn’t place restrictions on how people access the information they put on the web.

A little searching led me to this email at the Lanka Linux User Group(LKLUG) that seems to discuss the problems in the JavaScript code at the site that seems to restrict users. Note the date: July 19, 2005.

I’m not a coder, but according to the email, it seems that the web site doesn’t consider Linux as an operating system that the potential visitor might be using.

It’s been more than three months since the LKLUG have figured out what’s wrong with the web site’s code. So how come the problem hasn’t been fixed yet?

Ah well.

For anyone interested, there’s a workaround (thanks to Chamindra) . The simplest method (which I’m using now) is to download the User Agent Switcher and install it on Firefox.

UPDATE: As of late 2007, the HSBC site got revamped and now supports internet banking with many different browsers. I have so far had success with Firefox, Opera and Safari (on Windows).