NewsForge Tuesday February 17, 2004,
By: Joe Barr
There
are two primary reasons WSIS is doomed. The first is the United States’ position that profit — or even the potential for profit — is more important than the goals of the WSIS. The second reason is procedural. The United Nations prefers to operate by consensus. So as long as any one member of the WSIS objects to a portion of the plan, the plan cannot move forward. Put those two impediments together, and add the fact that the Microsoft/proprietary software/IP lobbies refuse to let the government do anything that they perceive as even a remote threat against future profits, and you have a greater barrier to WSIS success than the digital divide it attempts to span.
Related posts: