Barcelona, Spain: Google’s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt cautioned the world against the ‘Digital Caste System’ in his keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress gathering in Barcelona. Schmidt is worried about the growing disparity between the rich and the poor in the use of internet technology and is calling the world to act upon it.
Schmidt said that web technology is still a “scarce resource” for a lot of people in the world. According to him, the digital revolution hasn’t arrived yet for many as they don’t have access to technology. He expressed his fears over how the limitations in web infrastructure might affect the advancements in connectivity that are yet to happen in the next two decades.
According to Schmidt, there are 2 billion people across the world that have an internet connection. But there are still many who don’t have access to internet technology. His ideas focused on how we have to find solutions for this category of people.
He also went on to give suggestions on how to fill these gaps with ‘mesh networks’. He said that mesh networks are the “stepping stone for getting communities connected”. Using solar energy for charging mobile phone systems, and fiber to connect people across the world, were also among the many solutions he offered to act upon the widening gap.
The keynote speech by the Google CEO came as a surprise to many, as it was expected that he would be speaking about the latest changes Google’s made. More on this can be found in a recent article by CNN.com.