The Digital Divide, the UN, and the Computing Profession

This essay is an examination of and a commentary on the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society in 2003 December held to adopt a declaration that embodies, in its draft form at least, "the ambitious vision" of "bridging the Digital Divide". It is critical of the Summit and applies the traditional principles of systems analysis to reach quite different conclusions than those foreshadowed for the Summit. The problem is seen as inequity and the Digital Divide merely as a symptom of the problem. George Soros' views on the global capitalist system's deficiencies are taken as a starting point for an examination of the role of digital technology in the poorer nations of the world