
Silicon Valley tech firms exacerbating income inequality, World Bank warns - techaddict009
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/14/silicon-valley-tech-firms-income-inequality-world-bank
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mc32
This article is all over the place. First it equates income inequality with
protests against gentrification, and second, it's ambivalent about technology.
On the one hand it "democratizes" on the other hand it "eliminates no-skill
and low skilled jobs". It doesn't know what it wants. It only knows something
is "not normal".

It offers one possible solution in regulation, but regulation will not be able
to protect no skill and low skilled jobs, which is the bigger issue over
things like "access to the internet".

Basically tech is creating problems; we don't understand things completely,
but in any case, technologists are at fault for creating this new transition
period fraught with uncertainty and also for being indifferent about what they
do.

~~~
nefitty
Unions were the only way unskilled workers could get leverage in negotiations
with capital holders. Those systems have slowly been dismantled. That's one
place governments can begin countering the rise of inequality. Another is
guaranteed basic income, which will be vital once these tech companies begin
wiping out inefficiencies throughout all industries.

~~~
malandrew
I don't think we need governments to address this problem except for
guaranteed basic income or a negative income tax. Technology can be used to
address many of the problems created by technology. What I don't understand is
why technology hasn't been used to help unskilled workers negotiate?

Tech is a lever and it looks like only one side is using it effectively. The
only explanation I can think of is that anyone who spends the time to learn
how to use that lever effectively, simply moves to supporting the other side
of the issue because they feel entitled to the rewards that come from their
effort learning their newfound power.

One of the most maddening things we have yet to use technology to solve is
eliminating all the middle men in the banking industry. Banks borrow at
ridiculously low rates, but tack on a significant amount of interest when
lending to final consumers. I don't see why we couldn't reasonably automate
lending directly from the government at a few percentage points above the
risk-free rate. Obviously, such lending would have to begin with the lowest
risk loans with land as collateral.

~~~
mc32
>Banks borrow at ridiculously low rates, but tack on a significant amount of
interest when lending to final consumers

A large chunk of that is governed by risk. That's to say you need to make up
for defaults.

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zatkin
>Technology firms such as Google and Facebook are working on projects to offer
free internet to parts of Africa and India.

Um, no. Facebook is not offering free internet. They are offering "Facebook
internet", where website maintainers must abide to their guidelines in order
to be part of the internet that they offer.

More on the atrocious limitations that they're imposing is outlined here:
[https://info.internet.org/story/platform](https://info.internet.org/story/platform)

There has been a lot of traction in the news about this too, so it's worth
reading about this before labelling it as "free internet":
[https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q="free+basics"](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q="free+basics")

~~~
intherdfield
It goes on to say, referring to the report,

"For those projects to work, the companies need to offer internet access with
no strings attached, the World Bank says. At one point, it calls out
Facebook’s recent efforts to provide free internet access to consumers in some
countries – but only to access Facebook."

~~~
zatkin
GOOD. Thank God that it's not just tech people yelling at Facebook now.

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PhaseMage
I've been looking for something like this quote from the original World Bank
report:

“The economics of the internet favor natural monopolies, the absence of a
competitive business environment can result in more concentrated markets,
benefiting incumbent firms. Not surprisingly, the better educated, well
connected, and more capable have received most of the benefits –
circumscribing the gains from the digital revolution.”

My assertion is that this is actually due to the nature of the TCP/IP
protocol. IP addresses are assigned hierarchically and packets have a hop
limit. Together, this makes a mesh network impossible. The TCP/IP Internet is
an engine that centralizes power. I'm working on a side-project to create a
(free and open) scalable (wired) mesh network protocol.

I'm really glad I saw this, it'll make a perfect citation for my requirements
doc. Anyone disagree with the above? I'm looking to try to strengthen my
arguments.

~~~
Flammy
I feel like its going too far to point at TCP/IP as a or the root issue behind
growing inequality (especially inequality between 3rd world countries and 1st
world countries).

To look at the larger historical perspective, we're still headed in the right
direction. How much did it cost to copy a book by hand? How much did it cost
to print a copy with Gutenberg style printer? How much does it cost to
distribute a book's worth if internet in the day and age of the Pony Express?

Even within the digital age, we have a lot of alternative methods when issues
arise... just look at the growth of community owned ISPs or network end
points. And things like P2P transfers, Tor network, or the ad-hoc, informal
cuban data sharing network.

My point is other factors seem to be significantly higher impact than cost to
distribute, or technical limitations behind the access to information. Devices
and access are getting cheaper (despite what most of those monopolies would
wish) and with that comes expansion. Will pure access to the internet solve
all of the problems? Of course not, but I think we'd all agree it will help.
And if TCP/IP isn't cost effective (or has another issue) in serving the 3rd
world, something else will pop up to fill the gap.

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vjeux
Link to the World Bank report: [http://www-
wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServ...](http://www-
wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2016/01/13/090224b08405ea05/2_0/Rendered/PDF/World0developm0000digital0dividends.pdf)

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EGreg
So pg was onto something with his article?

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tjmehta
Anyone know where to find the full report?

~~~
prostoalex
[http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016](http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016)

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refurb
I didn't have time to read the original report, but I hope it's better written
than this article.

Providing free internet to the public will offset the income inequality? Talk
about a simplification.

~~~
ivanca
Many people who have access to internet is still in extreme poverty. There is
no clear map from being poor-with-internet-to-middle-income.

I know this to be true because I know some of them, they use Facebook to
gossip and YouTube to listen music but that's about it.

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ajitk
It is worth repeating:
[http://paulgraham.com/ineq.html](http://paulgraham.com/ineq.html)

