| Chapter 1: | A Global, Low-Cost Network Thrives |
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“I agree that this would be possible but wonder whether the Third World and developing nations will really have the wireless communication networks posited by the question. The basics of life must take precedence over the technology in those nations.” —Jill O’Neill, director of planning and communication, National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services
“Network neutrality and corporate control of networks will be major issues. Besides centralized corporate control, nations—China, India, Germany, and other countries—will control what their citizens can see and do online, and in some cases, who can get online.” —Nicco Mele, U.S. political Internet strategist
“The digital divide will increasingly apply to communications. You can already see this with the varying degrees of broadband speed available. In the U.K., broadband is concentrated in the wealthier neighborhoods. Mobile voice connectivity will be quite widespread with 3 billion users worldwide—if not more. Universal service may apply to broadband by 2020, but this will be in rich countries only and for a basic degree of connectivity.” —Paul Lee, a respondent who chose not to share further identifying information
“The actual challenge is about billing issues among countries and currencies as opposed to technical issues, which have already been sorted out to date.” —Fabio Sampaio, Brazil; Internet user since 1994
“I am optimistic. The handheld devices used will become more and more like small computers. I do not believe that AOL’s e-mail stamps will have a future. People will want such services for free. Older adults and those with chronic disease will have their vitals automatically monitored.” —Sturle J. Monstad, University of Bergen, Norway
“The Internet will continue to grow and more devices (and individuals) will become interconnected. I don’t think that all aspects of this will be ‘smooth,’ i.e., the security issues we are seeing are not easily solved and will not just ‘go away.’ However, significant progress toward the goal of a global, low-cost network will be achieved. This will be driven by the huge benefits of connecting people together.” —Thomas Narten, IBM open-Internet standards development