Internet and Developing Countries - Pros and Cons

By Uwe Afemann, Computer Center of the University of Osnabrück, Germany
International Workshop
Social Usage of Internet in Malaysia
March 22 - 25, 2000

Internet - another panacea to solve world's problems?
"E-velopment", short for "electronic commerce and development" is the latest bait being offered to induce reluctant and laggard countries into the brave, new globalised world, according to some experts at the UNCTAD X conference in Thailand in February 2000.[1] Nearly all papers and studies about telecommunication describe this technology crucial for the development of economic and social progress in our world. Intensifying the use of telecommunication and especially the use of international computer networks would reduce the gap between the rich North and the poor South and would help overcome poverty in the opinion of the most important representatives of telecommunication firms in the North. In cooperation with World Bank, UNESCO, USAID and other international institutions they try to convince decision makers of the Third World that an investment in the new media would be inevitable for participation in progress and improvement of life conditions for all. Here the particular interest of multi national consortiums of industrialized countries is obvious, because they will mainly participate in implementing telephone and data lines in developing countries. They all will get a big part of a 1.500 trillion dollar cake in the communication sector.[2]
Like the automobile that was celebrated as the most promising achievement, now telecommunication is thought to be the panacea for all problems. Despite the unsolved problems of computer waste and the unforeseeable implications for different societies and communities the use of computer networks is still propagated in an uncritical manner, because it promises great profits for multinationals from the North.