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Only One Quarter of the Planet To Be Online By 2012

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the that's-not-really-that-much dept.

Stony Stevenson writes "Researchers are predicting that one quarter of the world's population will be connected to the internet within the next four years. According to the report by Jupiter Research, the total number of people online will climb to 1.8 billion by 2012, encompassing roughly 25 percent of the planet. The company sees the highest growth rates in areas such as China, Russia, India and Brazil. Overall, the number of users online is predicted to grow by 44 percent in the time period between 2007 and 2012." Is it just me or does that seem incredibly small?

18 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. It may be small... by scubamage · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It does seem small, but you have to consider that most of the world doesn't live up to 'industrialized' and 'information age' standards of living. Its actually a pretty incredible number.

    1. Re:It may be small... by defnoz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In other news, 1/3 of the world's population don't have access to clean water and/or enough food. If only they could write about it in their blag.

    2. Re:It may be small... by aurispector · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously! Doesn't anyone read the news? Most of the world's population lives in abject poverty compared to western standards. All you need to is see that pic of the world at night from space - lights visible in the US, Europe, Japan and a few scattered major cities - everything else is dark.

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    3. Re:It may be small... by cunamara · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But then again, roughly one half of the Earth's population lives on $3 per day or less. I would imagine that their priorities aren't broadband and a laptop. Not dying today from malnutrition might rqank a little higher on their priorities.

    4. Re:It may be small... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yeah, great idea. Then the world's population would EXPLODE. What we really need to do is fill up thousands of crop dusters with contraceptives and start spraying. Either that, or genetically engineer a human-terminator virus (preferably, several, so as to reduce the chances of a cure being found) and release it. That's the only thing that can save the entire planet and its biosphere. IMPROVING conditions for humans will not help the situation one bit.

      --
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    5. Re:It may be small... by IWannaBeAnAC · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They try to, but most countries discourage (at the point of a gun) such mass immigration. What do you think would happen if 2 billion poor people tried to enter the USA? Firstly, how would they get there? Secondly, would the USA let them in?

    6. Re:It may be small... by benwiggy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you fail to understand how difficult it is to move out of the sort of extreme and dire poverty that persists in the world.
      Try moving to a more abundant farming area, whose inhabitants look upon you as an outsider who is muscling in on their scarce resources.
      Try moving from a rural existence, where your food comes from your labours, to the city, where you must buy your food with money. (Where unskilled labour is dirt cheap.
      Try getting a passport without spending a large amount of money.
      Try getting a visa to Europe or US if you come from Africa.

      Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.

    7. Re:It may be small... by westlake · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Civilians in areas requiring aid could...report the movement of warlords...that might interrupt food shipments.

      How do you keep the lines of communications open against the opposition of either the local warlord or whoever represents legitimate - centralized - authority? It can shorten your life to be in possession of a radio. The mesh network has the potential to expose everyone who is part of the mesh.

    8. Re:It may be small... by T-Bone-T · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You are right about the military being able to set up advanced communications in a war zone but I doubt those systems are meant to stay for very long. It is a noble goal, but there are goals that should be reached first. The Internet is a luxury, not a basic necessity. Once the basic necessities are taken care of in a place, only then can we consider helping them acquire luxuries.

    9. Re:It may be small... by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >> What if we did get people without food and clean water online?

      C134n H20 4 ch34p!!! G3+ h3r w3t and h341thy!!! Fa5+ 5h1ppi4g, 10w pr1c3z!!!

    10. Re:It may be small... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1, Insightful
      One word: Zimbabwe.

      When you have a cell phone, or Internet connection, and the ruling thug doesn't want you to use it, a few well-placed bullets by the thug's goons pretty much dissuades you.

      The problem is you assume others have respect for human life of their fellow countrymen. As a person who's been on all 7 continents and 94 countries, I can tell you that for much of the world those assumptions are worthless. Neighbors and fellow countrymen are simply obstacles to me getting whatever I want, when I want it.

      Infrastructures in many of those dirt-poor countries are bad not because they don't have money or food or water, but because the ruling thugs WANT it that way. Easier to repress the masses. Keep them struggling to feed themselves or get a mouthful of water and you can more easily rule them.

      And because they do not require their "people" to work to build an infrastructure and economy. No, we in the Western World simply give the government all they want. So they can supposedly build that infrastructure, and feed the masses. But that doesn't happen. The ruling thugs get fat on our well-intentioned (but entirely misplaced) funds, and they let more people starve, and plead more poverty so we send more...

      And if this sounds like a rant against foreign aid - you read it completely right.

      You want to know how to help out the shitholes of the world? Drop in a few special ops teams and blow off a few skulls. Seriously. Because these places WILL NOT CHANGE without cutting out the cancer that is the thugocracy running the place. Current ruler dies? Nothing changes - a crony steps in. And on and on. You want to change and better the lives of the people? It'll take a few 12.7mm sniper rounds, not dollars and flour (or flowers).

      - Rants of a guy who's been to several of the shitholes of the world to at least work directly with the people, when possible.

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  2. 1.8 Billion with a B by sweatyboatman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously, it's just you.

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  3. Is it just me... by debest · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... or do you not realize how poor most of the planet is?

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  4. It is small, but... by tidewaterblues · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Without seeing the survey I can't confirm this, but I would suspect that they are only counting Internet connections to the home or office. The number is much larger when you consider the number of people in developing and 3rd world nations who access the Internet in public venues, like cafes and libraries. But getting a good count here would be very complex.

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    ...En að Besta Sem Guð Hefur Skapað Er Nýr Dagur
  5. Not small at all by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's easy for us 1st world Westerners to forget what life is like most people in China, India, Africa, etc. Sure, things are getting better in those places, but that's only for the middle and upper class.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Not small at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      its only getting better here for the upper classes too.............

  6. IPv4 by smitty97 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So then 4,294,967,296 addresses should be enough for everybody

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  7. It's just you... by bushboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... in reality, it's incredibly large!

    Having lived in what is effectively a third world country, South African, for about 15 years, one thing is painfully obvious when compared with life in a first world country. The vast majority of people have little to no access to electricity, let alone the internet!

    It's very hard to understand this unless you witness it first hand - it's all to easy to think "but surely everyone needs to be on the internet?"

    The reality is for most of humanity, the struggle to put food on the plate and shelter themselves is the main driving force in their daily lives.

    I'm therefore suprised at how many people are online, not how few - completely the opposite reaction to the parent.

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