Not long ago there was a huge crisis that technology people and politicians claimed would separate the first world and third world by even a greater chasm. Indeed, it was predicted to divide the rich and poor in the United States even more and cause many in the Middle Class to plunge into the abyss and even put them out on the street, as our society turned into a Knowledge Based Society. None of this ever materialized.
Now we see that the One Laptop Per Child or OLPC program is gaining momentum and they have the price down to $199.00 which if anyone has noticed has caused quite a stir at the bottom end of the PC World with Toshiba selling laptop basics for $299 with rebate. So, it appears that the digital divide never materialized and as the Christian Science Monitor noted, it never added up in the first place.
With WiMax and WiFi becoming more and more common, the Internet is all over and available almost in every nation. There are Internet Cafés and access to the Internet nearly everywhere, even in remote regions of the Planet. The digital divide is simply no longer an issue.
The biggest problem now is not with the ability to gain access but rather the fact that some nation's governments want to censor the information to prevent their citizen from getting the knowledge available. So the real challenge is not with the availability of the technology rather the selective moves of some third world leaders to limit access, in order to maintain control over the people.
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