<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Jan 7, 2012, at 11:46 AM, Narine Khachatryan wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Sylfaen","serif";color:#404040">Dear all, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Sylfaen","serif";color:#404040"><br>
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Sylfaen","serif";color:#404040">I fully support the
opinion of </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif;background-image:initial;background-color:white;background-repeat:initial initial">Divina Frau-Meigs</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color:white;font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif;background-image:initial">.</span> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif;color:rgb(64,64,64)">There
are a number of researches saying that the spread of ICTs results in increased
inequalities in the societies and new forms of </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif">inequalities, since </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif">only people able to gain
from the new opportunities benefit from Internet and ICTs.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Sylfaen, serif; font-size: 16px; "> </span></p></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Imagine, that due to something (lets call it mutation) small part of the humans obtain the ability to communicate with each other, at any distance without any external (to their body/mind) tools. In essence, these humans will have no use of 'Internet'. Now, the rest of the 'society' will be hugely disadvantaged. How bad is this?</div><div><br></div><div>It will be very bad, for those wishing to control them, for they will be using a 'private' medium, one that is not offered as an external service.</div><div><br></div><div>Even today, there are individuals that are better at certain things, than others. It has been so ever since human society exist.</div><div><br></div><div>The concept of 'human rights' is here because not everybody is equal. It is here, because some human beings ARE 'better' than others (at the same time, others might be better than those in a different scope).</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Sylfaen","serif";color:#404040">One of the arguments is
that law-income countries often have scarce resources for investment, if those
investments are directed to ICTs, basic needs still may not be addressed. I put
a link to a research paper by Mansell (LSE), who demonstrates, that ICTs can bring ‘destabilizing
effects on the economies’ of poor countries.
</span></p></blockquote><div><br></div><div>This is not because of investment in ICT, but because of how this investment is made.</div><div><br></div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif; font-size: 16px; ">The question is <b>how</b> these ICTs are introduced in developing countries, having, for
instance, less than 1 per cent of broadband penetration and less than 4 per
cent of Internet users. </span></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Everything has a price. If you want to 'very quickly become as good as that one' and the gap is wide, you need to pay more (in whatever resources). With regards to broadband penetration, the key is to find the balance -- available resources, user needs, local content etc. History (in other countries) shows that a good balance can result in extremely fast closing of the gap and generally better Internet (broadband) penetration than that of 'developed' countries.</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Sylfaen","serif""><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Sylfaen","serif""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt">ICTs are recognized as tools fostering inclusion
in the society on one hand, and promoting greater participation of people in
decision-making processes, on the other hand. However, being tools of empowerment, in
authoritarian regimes ICTs can be turned into instruments of censorship,
surveillance and oppression. </span></span></p><div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Sylfaen","serif";color:#404040"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif;color:rgb(64,64,64)">Access to ICTs means
increased access to information and knowledge, but it does not necessarily mean
that people who receive the access will <b>use</b>,
<b>process</b> and <b>multiply</b> the knowledge.</span></p><div><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Yes. Internet does not develop by mandate. Internet, and the associated knowledge is one of these things that grows by itself. It is very wrong to push it. You just need to create adequate environment and these things will happen "by miracle".</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif;color:rgb(64,64,64)"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif;color:rgb(64,64,64)">Developing countries often have very poor
local content, Internet resources consumed by people are mostly of external
origin and mainly serve entertainment purposes. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Sylfaen,serif;color:rgb(64,64,64)"> And t</span><span style="color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Sylfaen,serif;font-size:16px">he divide is growing </span><b style="color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Sylfaen,serif;font-size:16px">not only</b><span style="color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Sylfaen,serif;font-size:16px"> because the access to ICTs are unequal, but mainly because the </span><b style="color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Sylfaen,serif;font-size:16px">ability</b><span style="color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Sylfaen,serif;font-size:16px"> to process information become unequal (</span><span style="font-family:Sylfaen,serif;font-size:12pt">critical thinking skills and the ability to
create own content</span><span style="color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Sylfaen,serif;font-size:16px">). </span></p><div><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I have not observed, that people in 'less developed' countries are less able to process information. My observation is exactly the opposite.</div><br></div><div><br></div><br></body></html>