| Chapter 1: | A Global, Low-Cost Network Thrives |
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
“While costs will come down and accessibility will increase, barriers of literacy—both with written language and technology—will become the greatest barriers to access for ‘anyone anywhere.’ ” —Mike Kent, professor of social policy, Murdoch University
—Edward Lee Lamoureux, associate professor, Bradley University
“Mobile wireless com-munications will also be available at an extremely high cost (and all points in between). It will do you no good to have cheap wireless access if you can’t live with less than 10 gigabits to the desktop.” —Fred Hapgood, author and consultant
“Three factors will impede the growth of interoperable networking: political resistance within some countries where elements wish to reduce citizen access; legal/economic issues that cause interoperability and access restrictions in the name of copyright protection, or protection of the underlying ISP’s economic interests; and difficulties with authentication and traceback needed to provide access while also preventing fraud and identity theft.” —Eugene Spafford, director of CERIAS (Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security)
“There will undoubtedly be ‘holes’ in network coverage, even by 2020, in remote parts of the world. In parts of interior Africa or Asia, for example, wireless coverage is likely to remain expensive and spotty, if available at all.” —Gary Chapman, director, The 21st Century Project, LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas–Austin
“The stride of development has been very evident in the time I have been working on the Net and related technologies. There is no reason to expect it to slow down, but availability will still be a major issue for billions of people. More people will have access, but for those who do not, the digital divide will grow and they will be left lagging increasingly behind. Some of the reasons will be infrastructure, but most will be political restrictions. Centers of power are shifting and transfer of information will be hampered to try to maintain stability.” —Amos Davidowitz, director of education, training, and special programs for Institute of World Affairs; Association for Progressive Education