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Some
governments or organisations seek to address these problems
by allowing public use of network connections and computers
in schools, libraries and community centers. Others have
encouraged the growth of “pay by use” commercial
provision through Internet cafés and similar ventures.
In India, a group of academics and companies have developed
the Simputer for use by the illiterate: the device
is relatively cheap (cheap enough for a group or village
to purchase) and uses icons, speech production and translation
software that allows the illiterate to access English
web sites in and have them translated and “read”
to them in Hindi. The Simputer has potential
for widespread use in the less-developed world, including
for the sight-impaired.
Privacy and security
Public surveillance has been revolutionized by computers:
computer programs can, for example, “recognize”
faces on CCTV displays or scan telephone conversations
for certain words. This can aid law enforcement, but also
raises fundamental questions about the balance between
achieving security through technological means and violations
of personal rights and privacy. In the West there is an
emphasis given to personal rights and privacy. But in
other cultures collective rights may take precedence over
individual rights and there may be broad agreement with
the concept of surveillance for crime prevention. |
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