[kictanet] News from Davos:Digital Convergence Continues

[alice]

*Update 2009: Digital Convergence Continues*

*http://www.weforum.org/en/knowledge/KN_SESS_SUMM_26735?url=/en/knowledge/KN_SESS_SUMM_26735
*

*• Esko Tapani Aho • R. Marcelo Claure • Alexander V. Izosimov • Rafael 
Ramirez • Paul Twomey*
Moderated by *• Elizabeth Daley 
*Thursday 29 January

Internet use has exploded globally – more than 300% since 2000 – and 
mobile telephony has captured just over half of the world's population. 
There are 1.4 million Internet users and 3.6 billion people use mobile 
telephony. The two trends are the drivers of digital conversion, which 
is having profound effects on business models and transforming social 
networks and consumer patterns globally. This intersection – where users 
access the Internet from their mobile phones – maps a revolutionary 
digital paradigm shift proffering a multitude of opportunities. However, 
it also has a dark side with potential for unintended consequences. 
Panellists cautioned against "sleepwalking" into this new era, but 
remained upbeat about the potential for digital convergence to change 
people's lives in both the developed and the developing world.

The bright side

• Mobile phones are coming down in price. At the same time, netbooks – 
light-weight, economical energy-efficient laptops designed for wireless 
communication and Internet access – are becoming affordable at US$ 300. 
Soon, users will be given free netbooks and the world will change 
forever. Some panellists and participants called for free Internet 
access worldwide. With more than 70% of the planet covered for mobile 
telephony and ubiquitous coverage on the horizon, the world will be 
changed forever. In this context, digital convergence brings universal 
access and democracy of information.

• These new technological tools provide opportunities to improve 
productivity in developing and developed countries in both the private 
and public sector. Mobile technologies have been the most important tool 
to promote growth in developing countries. Mobile Internet will be the 
next step.

• Times of crisis present opportunities for innovation. As the global 
economy is being reformed, a window is being opened to use these new 
technological tools to expand knowledge creation capacity and to make 
huge leaps in the areas of science and health. For the private and 
public sector, such tools can help create future growth by driving down 
costs through increased efficiency.

The challenges

• Digital convergence ushers in opportunities for increased transparency 
and participation in government decision-making. However, in a networked 
world, it is important to view technologies as quickly changing social 
actors. Governments should run experiments to learn more about the 
industry. For example, how does this technology change a society where 
people are still productive well into their 80s and 90s?

• Governance and data protection are key issues. Today, there is 
seamless data transmission between industries and users. Because this 
underlying common technology holds potential for good, but also for 
danger, what role for governments? Some panellists called for zero 
intervention, while others advocated a light regulatory framework or 
architecture that at once protects citizens and encourages R&D, but does 
not throw up obstacles to a very dynamic and entrepreneurial sector.

The dark side

• In the hugely popular "The Dark Knight" movie, Batman converts every 
mobile phone in the area to capture the villain. Is this too much power 
for one man? This scenario is perfectly plausible today as cooperating 
sensory networks can provide instantaneous feedback to users. In the 
movie, it was technology for good, but what about its potential for 
terrorism?

• The offline world is characterized by natural limitations to scale, 
for example to money launderers. Such boundaries are erased in a 
networked world, which could provide opportunities for those who operate 
in the shadowy netherworld of cybercrime.
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