Bridging the Digital Divide

Lecture by Sir Gigo Alampay
*GR is that information/communication development is private effort. But when there's digital divide, Gov't has to butt in
Rich-poor
Urban-rural
Last Mile Initiative
-madali makakuha ng internet access, ang problem eh ang last mile
LAST MILE: connection between households and infrastructures
-effort to bridge digital divide in rural areas
-identify best practices in the Philippines
-best way to do this is shared facilities (internet cafes, community e-centers)
-US Aid funded
COMMUNITY -depends on commitment
-1 year to set up
How to choose where to set-up
1. Where you have connections
e.g. Teacher Neric in Bukidnon
-Many donations as to computers but no one knows how to use it + no internet connection
Pano magkakainternet: contact the local telecom
---apparently, the whole of Bukidnon is already lined with fiber obtics…mas mabilis na connections as compared with Manila
2. How to sustain it?
-it's not just a matter of setting up
• Multi-stakeholder support is important, but not enough
• CeCs must be sustainable, i.e. it must provide services that the community is willing and able to pay for
• Demand for use of CeC facilities must be increased
WHAT WILL PEOPLE PAY FOR
"Usual" Services
3. Web browsing
4. Prductivity suits
Other Services
5. Photocopying
6. Fax
7. Telephone
8. Research
3. Trainor's training (out of school youth)
-train those who are somehow knowledgeable about computers
-these people do not really go to school, but they are intelligent (out of school youth)
-they themselves determine who would run the community e-center
After setup community E-center
Best practices
1. Facilitating Job Interviews
-since it was in the provinces, the employers from Manila or somewhere else won't need to travel to the province, or vice-versa (less costs)
2. Promoting Ecotourism
-in Ice's territory up north
-tourism and promotion of organic farming
Problem: bundok eh! Pag plain, walang sagabal sa signal, pede magset-up ng wireless internet
Here: the only way to do it was through satellite
>more expensive than DSL
>pag-umuulan, naaapektuhan ung signals
3. Telemedicine
-outskirts of Cebu
-meron nang Engineer - sya ung point person ng project
-talked with UP OU and PGH to create training videos for health workers, etc.
Other Best practice models
E-governance
Education
e-commerce - pero masyadong maraming hassle
Lesson 1: setting up sustainable CeCs IS POSSIBLE
4. Awareness of internet possibilities is high, even in remote areas
5. People are willing to pay
Lesson 2: Documentation and data is important not only to share best practices, but also for public policy
-CECs are usually used by women, for social networking sites - to search for husbands
Social policy standpoint: you cannot stop them from doing online dating
-there are many foreigners who are kind naman
-so WEBCAMS needed: if wala silang webcam, di sila kakausapin ng kausap nila
…mahirap open source kasi pag open source, kelangan pang maghanap ng driver ng webcam. If Microsoft, plug and play lang
Lesson 3: Remote and small communities with CeCs are still remote and small
6. Service providers are reluctant to provide services (mahirap maabot so pag nagkaproblema, mahirap sevice-an)
7. even with CeCs, the community is still a very small market
e.g. sa Banaue experience, even if they promote organic farming, how to bring the products to the restaurants who wanted to order from them
Other issues
Online purchase and real world purchase
-buyer's point of view: nakikita mo binibili mo
>protection: peer reviews
-for e-commerce to develop, you need to promote a community of trust
How do you pay?
>protection from credit-card fraud
Online transactions using your credit card are far more secured than actual transactions
-basta may ATTS, it cannot be hacked
How to protect privacy
Risk misuse of personal information
Balancing of interest
Overprotection: if protect consumer too much, you might be straddling e-commerce
-internet is a cheap way to market (information vs. spam)
-giving up some of your privacy to facilitate e-commerce
8. Identity theft
9. Fraud
10. Loss of privacy
*Important for Philippine to have data protection laws
Balancing of interests - the challenge of IPR

Developing countries	Developing countries
Gusto libre	Gusto maybayad kayo

TRIPS: we protect intellectual property rights!
11. Copyright holders vs. educators/scientists/general public
GR: entitled to IPR
X: interests of other people - fair use
…end of certain time, give it up so that society benefits
*at what point does it become infringement of IPR
e.g. Spoof of Manny Villar video - "Money" Villar
Dancing baby - baby danced to a tune, the record company who produced the music sent letter to mom of the baby arguing that the background picture is copyrighted
12. SMEs
Effort to shift to open source so that less costs
Challenges posed by new technologies
13. Identifying authorship
14. Identifying infringement - maraming computers involved, sino nag-iinfringe dun?
15. Enforcement of rights
16. When is use private?
17. Integrity: when you borrow something to use, then binago mo, what is the impact?
e.g. Spiderman: there was a scene where Spiderman swinged in front of billboards - those who owned the billboards argue that they have protection…
The need for cross border cooperation
18. Privacy of data protection
19. Cybercrime and security
20. Intellectual property rights
Eg. Virus created in Russia
Virus sent online, to multiple computers
Trail passes through several states, but no damage is done in other states
States' cooperation needed - but on voluntary basis - you cannot force them to cooperate
Case study: one internet, many copyrights
21. Project Gutenberg- Australian effort to put literature online
22. When they put up "Gone With the Wind" online, they were sued by the owners of the copyright in US (US extended the copyright through Sonny Bono Act)