The Tiger walks tonight…
Thanks to riptari for this analogy related to giving Internet to people who don't want it
Tigers eat meat, so if you talk loudly and repeatedly about how great it is that you're offering them bigger and bigger mountains of spinach salad every day, I think your behavior deserves some criticism, you shouldn't be surprised by that disinterested look the tigers are giving you, and most importantly that you need to be open to the possibility that the tigers are going to starve despite your generous efforts
Peter is of course right on, in pointing out the fact that providing access to information in itself is most likely to be a useless goal. Here are some useful goals in comparison:
Making sure everyone who needs or has use for the internet has the opportunity to purchase that access at a reasonable price. I don't want to be the judge of who can make good use of the Internet, but I do know that it is unreasonable that such a valuable resource is so much more expensive in the developing world than here. Especially since I am convinced that new technologies like wireless can help make it more affordable to at least some of those people.
Making sure that the kmowledge about how to get on-line is available to those that really need it, ie. doing research and providing knowledge and specifications under an open license.
being prepared when a project shows up in which access to the Internet does make sense. Just like giving Internet access to someone who has no need to it makes very little sense, and puts us in a position of arrogance, so does denying Internet access to someone who really needs it. And let's not kid ourselves about the western countries power in that matter. All the global infrastructure, and most of the technology is developed, designed and owned by western corporations for western needs.
This matter could be compared to the matter of medication for serious diseases. Western corporations develop aids mediacation, and price it so that only the welathy in the west can get to. At the same time very little research is done in developing solutions to huge problems such as malaria, because they don't affect people in the west. Let's make sure this doesnøt happen with the Internet, ie. we design and develop technologies that are applicable to western situations only, then we patent and protect them to make it difficult for others to adapt them to their needs. At the same time we refuse to spend money on researching technologies that are inherently more suitable to the challenges of the developing world.
I know the comparison is stretching it at best, but to me it's a good indication that we need to start looking at new approaches to developing new technologiues under open, adaptable licenses.
