Human Rights
A Global
Internet
Policy

Beauty salon owner Josephine macaladad, left, shares a lighthearted moment with merlita Werlan, who converts cash into mobile phone-usable Gcash at the Balayan Public market in Batangas, Philippines.

groups and user segments. It’s also necessary to design phones that support customized applications, such as those running on Java and Ajax, and develop better mobile Web browsers, improved speech recognition, and more streamlined user interfaces that blend voice, data, and Web features into a single, seamless package.

Pho TograPh cour TEsy of microENTErPrisE accEss To baNkiNg sErvicEs (mabs) Program

Researchers are also exploring ways to bring the Web closer to mobile phones, through audio wikis and audio “anthro” features that would allow people to record stories and share them. And while text messaging is inexpensive and easy to use, it lacks the advanced features of custom-designed applications, which come at a steep cost in terms of development and adoption. Finally, there’s the social and psychological element. It’s crucial to confront the implications of “individual addressability” and the changing personal boundaries created by mobile communications.

Yet, research and development marches on. MIT’s Next Billion Network is now working to promote mobile technologies that affect change from the bottom up. The initiative aims to explore the use of mobile phones as more than mere talking and texting devices and to push viable technology solutions from the lab to real life. “Tremendous barriers to widespread adoption still exist,” Rotberg observes. “But the op-

portunities for change and economic empowerment are enormous. We have only begun to unlock the power of mobile technology.”

Promoting change is also at the center of David M. Reich’s universe. The former telecommunications analyst has his sights set on developing a mobile marketplace to connect low-wage workers and employers around the globe. The company, Assured Labor, will roll out its service later this year in an attempt to address the 280 million individuals who are unemployed, underemployed, or toiling in subpar work conditions. “We want to make it simple for employers to find good and trustworthy workers quickly, anywhere, and at anytime,” Reich explains.

Make no mistake, the future of mobile technology looks bright. “What makes mobile phones so remarkable,” Donner says, “is that they connect people to people, whereas landlines connect places to places.” By unwiring the world, people are ultimately able to rewire their minds—and change things for the better. “Mobile technology,” he concludes, “has the potential to help enterprises, villages, cities, and regions connect and conduct matters of daily life more efficiently than ever before.”

 

Samuel Greengard is an author and freelance writer based in West Linn, or.

google, Microsoft, and yahoo! have joined forces to create the global Network initiative, a worldwide set of guidelines to help companies cope with requests from governments that might conflict with individuals’ online privacy and freedom of expression.

Nearly two years in the
making, the global Network
initiative contains three core
documents: a set of principles
that its members endorse;
guidelines for companies to
implement internally that
will detail how they handle
information requests from
governments; and a mechanism
that will give independent
auditors an opportunity to
review a company’s practices
and judge whether they are in
compliance with the program.
in addition to helping
businesses protect human
rights on the internet, the
guidelines are meant to stymie
the private sector or government
from imposing their own
standards upon companies.
response to the initiative
has been mixed, but generally
positive. Mike posner, president
of human rights First, which
was involved with creating the
program, called it “an important
first step in providing standards
for free expression and privacy
that obligate companies to do
more to challenge government
restrictions.” on the other hand,
Marc rotenberg, director of the
electronic privacy information
center, argued that, being self-
regulatory, the proposals let
companies “interpret them as
they wish or back out of them
when they choose.”
a coalition of tech companies,
human rights groups, academics,
and others helped devise the
program, and founding members
google, Microsoft, and yahoo!
have pledged to contribute
$100,000 apiece for two years
to support the global Network
initiative, but several leading
telecom companies are apparently
content standing on the sidelines.
a T&T, verizon communications,
and sprint Nextel in the u.s.
have not joined the organization,
nor has France Télécom and
vodafone in europe.