| Chapter 1: | A Global, Low-Cost Network Thrives |
“When you say ‘anyone anywhere in the globe,’ you infer that all Internet users will have equal access. That isn’t true now—why would we believe that it would be any more the case down the road? There are global disparities in income, geography, infrastructure, etc., that will continue to remain unaddressed.” —Christine Ogan, professor, University of Indiana School of Journalism
“There will still be a global Internet, but intranets (localized networks) will be the core hubs for business and universities keen to keep their traffic in local bubbles, away from litigation and ever-increasing surveillance. The Internet at large will still be the share point, but e-mail and other protocols will be routinely encrypted, and prying eyes will have a much harder time in an era of informatic paranoia.” —Tama Leaver, lecturer in digital communication, University of Western Australia
“With all the research in ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence, it is very likely that RFID technology, systems interoperability, ubiquitous information and communication applications, and wireless systems will become part of our everyday lives. I wonder whether they will be available for anyone (since differences between First World and Third World countries will not be solved within 15 years), but do believe they will be available to large groups of people worldwide.” —B. van den Berg, faculty of philosophy at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
“Rural communities in developing nations will still lag substantially behind urban-dwelling, higher income individuals globally. This is one of the most important gaps that needs to be addressed.” —Kathleen Pierz, managing partner, The Pierz Group
“I agree with parts of this statement, but not all of it. For instance, I think authentication will be improved, but there will always be sophisticated criminals who can ‘crack’ the system for illicit reasons. Additionally, I doubt that mobile wireless communications will be available anywhere on the globe at low cost. There will still be problems in mountainous areas, especially where population density is low. Some regions of the world with low population density will still have limited wireless access (e.g., rainforests of Borneo, Gobi Desert) and it will still be expensive to provide wireless communications over the ocean.” —Michael S. Cann, Jr., CEO, Affinio Corporation