Digital Divide
The Economist has it right in its identification of the mobile phone as the best near term option for addressing the digital deficit.
One key obstacle to successful spread of mobile phone technology is the lack of markets without moats. The U.N. should focus its services on creating market conditions that welcome private investment, and should work with developing countries to break through neglected and state-owned telecom systems and cushion their transition to the free market.
Sounds like the U.N. would prefer to dump loads of money into an inefficient set of programs with no real means to measure success or assign accountablity. Not shocking.
Mobile technology can be a transformational societal force. There is a real threat that transformative technology can destablize established order and the construct of power. This dynamic is critical to bear in mind in today's global threat environment, particularly as the fate of the developing world tracks much closer to the fate of our own.
One key obstacle to successful spread of mobile phone technology is the lack of markets without moats. The U.N. should focus its services on creating market conditions that welcome private investment, and should work with developing countries to break through neglected and state-owned telecom systems and cushion their transition to the free market.
Sounds like the U.N. would prefer to dump loads of money into an inefficient set of programs with no real means to measure success or assign accountablity. Not shocking.
Mobile technology can be a transformational societal force. There is a real threat that transformative technology can destablize established order and the construct of power. This dynamic is critical to bear in mind in today's global threat environment, particularly as the fate of the developing world tracks much closer to the fate of our own.
posted by Capitol Hill Rentals @ 7:34 PM
1 Comments:
At 4:46 PM,
jd said…
You seem to place some blame on the U.N. here, while ignoring the fact that they are in a lose-lose situation. Due to the nature of most of the governments in these countries the choice isn't between the UN creating market conditions etc..to improve the lives of locals, it is between doing nothing and "dumping loads of money...with no real means to measure success." The problem is that the introduction of this technology has to be in the best interests of what are almost universally corrupt regimes. As we are learning from Iran and South America, mobile technology is not always in their best interest. Therefore, they set up the moats. What does the UN do? Nothing, or something far from perfect. I don't know the answer, but please put the blame on the shoulders of those who bear the most responsibilty.
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