Friends of Ethiopia asks us to “beware of the white elephant” – The WSIS in Tunis this week will be discussing the “digital divide” between the “north” and “south” and call for a Digital Solidarity Fund. However without substantive changes in trade restrictions and barriers then it will just be another one of those “talking shops” and everyone gets to have lots of fun in Tunis.
“Dazzled by the allure of e-commerce, the global information society, e-learning and other buzzwords, they believe that new technology will allow them to leap-frog decades of incompetence and corruption and achieve rapid development. But the barriers to technological development are exactly the same as the barriers to any economic development: market restrictions, lack of contract law, state controls, customs duties, bureaucracy, and corruption.”