Digital Divide –

Professor Netiva Caftori

Definitions

Digitally EnabledWhat is it?

Why is it important?

Digitally DisabledWhat are the forms of disability?Why is it bad to have digitally disabled populations?

RecommendationsDilemmas

Digitally Enabled

Technical Low cost broadband – same as voice phone Low cost computing - !% of one year pay

InfrastructureAvailable and Reliable

Legal – PoliticalPrivacy protectedIdentity Theft considered a crimeContracts made over net enforceableMonitoring requires notification

Benefits for Digitally Enabled

Increased OpportunityWork and results shipped via satellite

India and China among others compete for high pay jobs with US engineers

Worldwide market –First on-line bookstore in Palo Alto, Ca. became international supplier by surprise

Access to educationMIT Open CoursewareO’reilly BookshelfACM and IEEE on-line libraries

Worldwide visibilityTo the situations of the world

Digitally Disabled

Forms of DisabilityNon-existent infrastructure

High cost computing Limited Local Supply

High import duties

Government RestrictionsBureaucracy restricts content

Government monitors what you see and threatens

Where are Digitally Disabled

From now to 2030World Population grows from 6B to 9B

Bulk of growth in 9 countries, 6 of which are poor

Digitally Disabled in poorest countries

Does it matter that large poor groups are Digitally Disabled

Large Poor Groups are inefficientMore Pollution per personLower lifestyle per person per $ expended

Large Poor Groups most subject to radical control

Breeding ground for terrorists

Large Poor Groups are not good customers

But does it matter to the rest of us that large groups are digitally disabled?

We live on a small planetPollution from the poor affects the air of the rich

Radicals can do much damage for small costs if they do not value their own

Property

Lives

Yes – it matters -

Who has noticed in the past?

Gorbachev said in PerestroikaSituation – Soviet Union locked in combat with West, spending large funds on nuclear war materials while its people starved.Gorbachev noted that his bureaucrats were worried about doctrine and instead should worry about empty shelvesGorbachev also noted that a free press and free interchange of information were critical to economic progress.

Nations Opened up to InternetNot because of doctrineBut because of economics –

Greenspan has noted

The increase in productivity has allowed expansion without inflation

News Reports on China’s restrictions of Internet Traffic

NPR report in September 2005 noted that China’s recent restriction on Internet traffic might hamper innovation in that country which has been a land of innovation in the past.

Let’s Say it Again

It is in the self interest of the Digitally Disabled to join the information highway

It is in the interest of the rich neighbors to assist the Digitally Disabled to join the information highway

If we are rich are we OK?

We live in the US, we are rich and isolated, we are OK – Right

Wrong – Much innovation that drives our progress comes from:

– Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Russia, South Korea, and more

For Example

Japan – Innovation in Hybrid cars

Taiwan and South Korea – Semiconductor memoriesApplication specific semiconductors

RussiaSpaceSoftware engineering

Northern EuropeCell phones

Symptoms of Problems here?

Reports that 75% of companies install key stroke monitors

FBI attempts to monitor all Internet traffic – now supposedly abandoned

1950’s attack on academia by out of control Communist paranoia

Recommendations

Encourage exploration of poor countries for outstanding opportunities

Bright people who want to improve their neighbors

Countries and localities that have a plan to attract software industries