Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.96.990718152029.27146A-100000@ux1.cyberenet.net> Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 15:30:12 -0400 From: mailto:tuandbob@CYBERENET.NET Subject: Re: DEVEL-L Digest - 16 Jul 1999 to 17 Jul 1999 (#1999-103) To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Kai,I agree with you, and received the same reply from Mr. Hameed when I questioned the proposal.
What Mr. Hameed seems to be proposing is that the "very rich" countries and people subsidize the "merely rich".
Bob of Tu and Bob
> Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 13:55:51 +0500
> From: "M. A. Hameed" <mailto:mah@BRAIN.NET.PK>
> Subject: Re: UNDP proposal on taxing Internet
>
> Kai,
> When we speak of "one billion people living off one dollar per day," we may
> as well talk of such basic necessities as clean drinking water, which is not
> available to most of them in developing countries. Internet, by definition,
> can be used only with a phone and most developing countries have a phone
> density of just one or two percent.
>
> The people who have phones can also afford to buy personal computers. What
> they need are low-cost connections, when Internet charges are as much as one
> dollar per hour! If the international leased circuits are paid for and the
> charges for domestic circuits are based on actual costs of the telecom
> companies (plus a reasonable margin of profit), the Internet will certainly
> become affordable for most people.
>
> Best regards,
> Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
> GPO Box 109, Lahore, Pakistan 54000
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kai Schraml [mailto:mailto:thekaiser@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Friday, July 16, 1999 10:50 PM
> To: 'M. A. Hameed'
> Subject: RE: UNDP proposal on taxing Internet
>
> One billion people live off less than a dollar a day… I highly doubt they
> will be buying a computer anytime soon. What outlet and phone line do you
> expect them to plug into?
>
> Kai Schraml
>
> Kai Schraml
> Target Earth International
> "Serving the Earth, Serving the Poor"
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