| > "Jobs that pay enough for them to afford the internet" A strong argument for getting the third world online is to help create more jobs. This sounds like a corporate sound bite, but it's a complex issue where job opportunities are a few degrees removed from providing broad access to the internet in and of itself. In a lot of developing countries the only jobs that are available are supporting existing industries that are heavily dominated by mega-corporations that are much more focused on resource extraction/profits than they are on developing human capital: Clothing industry in India, Tourism in Mexico/Caribbean, Mining Natural Resources everywhere. While much of the initial profits and use cases for bring a country online are frivolous and tend to mirror 1st world consumption patterns, the internet access is critical infrastructure for supporting a more decentralized economy. As adoption of the internet, and telecommunications infrastructure more generally take hold, economic opportunities that didn't exist before will start to emerge: Mobile payments in Kenya, Bitcoin merchants in Chile, or even the selling US produced content in Cuba (the "paquete"). Access to decentralized communication networks enables people in developing countries to participate in the economy on more favorable terms and enables people to work and start businesses without having to work through existing gatekeepers (I think this is why people have responded so negatively to the internet.org model). I would love to see some studies on internet or network driven economic development, maybe as an alternative to Import Substitution. |