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Yikes! I've turned into a cartoon...
Just checking how to spell 'insidious'.
Some people will watch anything -- even filing.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair
says that he wants everyone in Britain to have access to a computer and the Internet,
within the next five years. He doesn't want anyone to be excluded.
The cost of computers and telephone calls are often given as reasons why more
Britons aren't online. Although you can pick up a basic reconditioned Pentium
PC for around £75 if you know where to look.
In reality, there are other big obstacles for the poor. A percentage of the British
population don't have a bank account or a credit card and they can't get either.
This means they are unable to sign-up to the many cheap access offers that require
payment by direct-debit. Even British Telecom requires direct-debit payment for
its Internet services. Which is bizarre... Why can't it just go on the telephone
bill?
What's more, without a credit or debit card, it's very difficult to buy goods
and services over the 'net.
This doesn't just apply to people who have a bad credit record. There is plenty
of evidence that, increasingly, British banks are not interested in having poorer
people as customers.
They refer to them as 'lemons' and there have been cases where accounts have been
closed for no good reason other than the fact that the people concerned didn't
have much money!
Imagine if high street shops only allowed entry to customers who had a credit
card. How insidious that would be and what a divide it would create in society.
What's needed is a more flexible attitude towards methods of payment for services,
enforced by law if necessary. Plus some kind of web currency -- perhaps a pre-payment
card -- that is available to everyone.
Finally, there is the infrastructure. Companies are not interested in cabling
up poorer areas or renewing the ancient wiring there.
Tonight I have written a letter to Tony Blair, raising these points. Well, he
may not have time to surf the site and read them here ;-) |
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