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| The new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that is reshaping our world is a powerful tool for social and economic development. It helps in the creation of jobs, education, health care, wealth and more. It can help deliver humanitarian assistance and contribute to peace and security worldwide. One of the most pressing challenges in the new century is to harness this extraordinary force, spread it throughout the world and make its benefits accessible and meaningful to all humanity, particularly to those who need it the most. DIGITAL RIGHT is a non-profit organization created to take on this challenge. As the world economy is being integrated through ICT, policies on development need to be restructured in order to aid developing countries so they can connect to the new information-based world economy. There exists a vast gap in the usage of ICT between developed and developing regions of the world, a gap which is only getting wider. While it is true that in developing regions the ICT base is growing, its limitations are not properly addressed and, worst of all, this growth is heavily dependent on input from developed countries. Developing countries need to build their own ICT capacity. If developing countries do not, they will will remain at the mercy of the industries of developed countries that have proven time and again to exploit developing countries rather than foster their growth and individuality. ICT industry is mostly based on proprietary standards which create de facto monopolies. These de facto monopolies lock in customers and often force them to keep paying out-of-control expenses in order to have problem fixes and obtain acceptable performance. ICT vendors often mask this arrangement under the customer partnership marketing spin. Based on our direct experience, we know that million-dollar systems very often are not functional and of poor quality upon delivery to the customers. Lack of published data makes it difficult to calculate the huge amounts that developing countries are spending in order to improve their ICT level and compare these values with their total gross domestic product (GDP). Developing countries cannot afford to pay such high prices to improve their level of ICT when a large part of their population needs much more basic services. The number of ICT suits and dollars spent on litigation in developed countries related to systems failure to satisfy operational requirements is staggering. Developing countries are in no position to defend themselves and win lawsuits against a powerful foreign corporation. | ||
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