Tom Friedman, NYTimes - Winds of Change?, 6/14/09
On this, Friedman is dead on. I’ve long believed that mass distribution of technology, specifically the open broadband Internet, is the key to helping alleviate the geopolitical divisions that so plague us today.
In the Muslim world especially, which is controlled by limiting access to information, the Internet is the antidote.
When people of any race, color or creed have unfettered access to information and communication tools, all is possible. Forgive me while I channel @howardlindzon here for a moment, but I’ve often joked that if you give the third-world broadband plus unlimited porn, the walls will quickly come down.
The Internet democratizes access and information, and it does so internally and externally. Case in point: the coverage of Iran’s election. The press and the people are exposing internal divisions in Iran to the world that would otherwise never see the light of day.
For my money, I’d wire the whole third-world before I ever contemplated bombing any of it.
