I was about
to write my blog this morning when I turned on the television to listen to
CNN’s New Day Anchor Chris Cuomo as he interviewed Mark Zuckerberg, founder and
Chairman of Facebook.
After
listening to them, I decided to write about the internet instead. First,
Zuckerberg claims that most of us have been taking the Internet for granted.
He asks us to think what internet access would mean to 5 billion people
who still do not have it.
Informing
the viewers about the new campaign, internet.org that he is leading, he says,
"We want to make it so that anyone, anywhere -- a child growing up in
rural India who never had a computer -- can go to a store, get a phone, get
online, and get access to all of the same things that you and I appreciate
about the Internet,
"They're
going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to
healthcare for the first time ever, connect with family hundreds of miles away
that they haven't seen in decades.
“More than
4.5 billion of the 7 billion people on Earth don't have Internet access,
according to the World Bank. The biggest gaps are in Eritrea (just 0.8% have
access), Timor-Leste (0.9%) and Myanmar (1.1%). Even in the United States, 19%
don't have Internet access.
“About 1
billion people are already using Facebook.”
Zuckerberg
imagines having a “world in which everyone has the same ability to share their
opinions and speak freely -- I think that would be a much better place."
"Connectivity
is a human right," he added. Knowing that connecting everybody is a
tall order, he signed up big tech companies to join the effort. These
companies are Samsung, Nokia, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Media Tek, and Opera who will
be founding partners with Facebook.
This is
indeed good news for all of us who had been advocating for the 3 A’s
(Accessibility, Availability, and Affordability) of the Internet. This
would universalize local knowledge and information as well as localize
universal data and knowledge.
In this
mission, Zuckerberg claims that he has already invested more than $1 billion
and hopes to do a lot more. According to him the key to the effort will
be mobile – a big part of Facebook’s growth strategy. This explains his
signing up of the big mobile companies.
Others are
aiming to achieve similar goals. Google is reported to be sending
balloons with radio antennas into the stratosphere as part of a project called
“Loon” aimed at connecting people without internet access.
The same
report claims that Alcatel-Lucent is bringing its inexpensive lightradio
technology to small villages without cell towers. Phone manufacturers are
now racing to develop smartphones that will cost less than $15.
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INTERNATIONAL
CES, Las Vegas, Nevada (January 7-10, 2014)
Registration
for the event that generates at least 150,000 people yearly has been going on.
But anyone who plans to go with a free registration has to register
immediately. The deadline is August 31, 2013.
Here is the
complete registration schedule:
Through
August 31
Free
registration
September 1
$100 advance
registration fee begins at Midnight.
October 1
Conference
Program registration opens.
December 27
No refunds on
cancellations after this date.
January 2
$200 on-site
registration fee begins.
The Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA) organizes the event. CEA is the preeminent
trade association promoting growth in the $209 billion U.S. consumer
electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA
membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training
and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of
business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the
International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are
reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Follow CES online at www.CESweb.org and through social media: 
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