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>From: Declan McCullagh >To: [log in to unmask] >Sent: 21/06/00 07:20 >Subject: FC: U.N. report says governments should guarantee Net access by >2005 > >********* >Below article is at: >http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/071816.htm >See background from July 1999, "UN wants to tax the Net": >http://www.politechbot.com/p-00492.html >And "UN retreats from email tax": >http://www.politechbot.com/p-00502.html > >Call me heartless, but as much as I'd like to see everyone in the world >hooked up to the Net (which will of course eventually happen, at least >for >97%+ of us), I'm not sure that additional taxation or even partial >government funding is the way to do it. Technologies take a while to >trickle down from the rich to the poor -- who had refrigerators, indoor >plumbing, televisions first? The process is a natural, organic one; it >takes time, and in the end it's the most efficient way. I don't see much > >recognition of this in these U.N. pronouncements (though I haven't been >able to find the actual text of this particular report online). If >anything, the Net seems to be spreading much faster than its related >predecessors, which is a cause for not alarm but celebration. --Declan >********* > >Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 18:07:24 -0400 (EDT) >To: [log in to unmask] >From: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Experts urge U.N. to assure Internet access to all by 2005 > > Posted at 6:33 a.m. PDT Tuesday, June 20, 2000 > > UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- By 2005, everyone in the world should have >access >to the Internet even if they have to walk for half a day to the nearest >computer or cell phone, experts said in a report to the United Nations. > > ``It is incumbent on us, and we feel that it is entirely possible >... >that by the end of 2004 a farmer in Saharan Africa should be able to get >to >a point of access, let's say in half a day's walk or riding on a bullock > >cart,'' said Chuck Lankester, a U.N. consultant on information >technology. > > But Lankester's panel warned that action was urgently needed to >reach >this goal and to stop the rapidly growing ``digital divide'' between >rich >and poor countries. > > The panel, which included government ministers from Africa, Asia, >Eastern Europe and representatives of private businesses and >foundations, >presented its report at a news conference Monday. > > Currently less than 5 percent of the world population is >benefiting >from the tens of billions of dollars of E-commerce, the report said, and > >developing countries risk not ``just being marginalized but completely >bypassed'' by the new global market. > > ``The panel calls on all actors to unite in a global initiative to > >meet the following challenge: provide access to the Internet, especially > >through community access points, for the world's population presently >without such access by the end of 2004,'' the report said. > >[...] > >The world's seven leading industrialized nations and Russia will review >the >report when the Group of 8 summit takes place in Okinawa, Japan, in >July. > >[...] > >Address of original story: >http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/071816.htm > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >-- >POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology >To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html >This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%