Article: Information Technology is Best Spurred by Private Sector, U.S. Official Says

02 October 2000

Article: Information Technology is Best Spurred by Private Sector, U.S. Official Says

Under Secretary Larson speaks at IIP PDNet Conference

By Jim Fisher-Thompson

Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Comparing the potential of modern information technology (IT) to the Cold War era's discovery and use of nuclear technology, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs Alan Larson told a U.S. State Department conference October 2 that "unlike nuclear technology, information is not a monopoly of the state; in fact, development of the technology is being driven by the private sector."

Larson made his remarks at the opening of the October 2-4 "Net Diplomacy 2000: Conference on the Internet & Diplomacy." The conference is being sponsored by the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), which is charged with operating overseas information programs.

More than 500 U.S. government officials, academics, private sector representatives from companies like Sun Microsystems and foreign service nationals are participating in the conference.

Referring to the widening information technology gap between developed and developing nations, Larson said "it appears we stand at the beginning of a promising new era; one that is starting to dramatically reshape society." U.S. policy makers hope to extend "the reach of the technology to as many people as possible," he said. Developed wisely, he added, the technology "can broadly advance prosperity, democracy and the richness of our cultural fabric."

However, Larson said that it is up to the private sector to be the engine of development for IT expansion worldwide. He said that the biggest spur to growth is "low-cost access" to the telephone, computers and Internet that are at the heart of the change.

The role for government in the process, he said, will be "to judiciously remove barriers to private sector activity" while also "creating an 'enabling environment' and in ensuring that the benefits of the information society are widely shared."

The U.S. government is contributing to closing the digital divide gap, he explained, with programs like the Leland Initiative, begun by Vice President Al Gore to bring Internet access to 20 African nations; and the "Dot.force," a State Department intra-agency group that started up September 29. The latter's job is "to help coordinate the digital divide bridging efforts and expertise of national governments, the World Bank, UNDP (United Nations Development Program), U.S. and foreign firms, foundations and NGOs (non-governmental organizations)."

Larson said he and other U.S. government officials realize that information technology is not a panacea. Furthermore, he said, many developing nations are faced with "huge problems" of poverty and development. But "we want to work with them on a range of issues including HIV/AIDS, health and education and so forth," he said. "We cannot let this [IT] be the only thrust of our development initiatives."

Asked if he was concerned about the U.S. government falling behind in information technology, particularly in wireless phone technology, Larson said that he was "not particularly worried" about the situation.

The important thing to keep in mind, he said, is that "we want a creative and healthy" openness for IT expansion and not "some bureaucratic legitimized process."

IIP Coordinator John Dwyer, a foreign service officer who formerly served as chief public affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, told a Washington File reporter that a major goal of the conference is "to create a whole consensus for change in the way we do [information] business within the Department of State."

Another important aim, he said, is "bringing in private sector colleagues and teachers to share experiences, because we see the globalization of information affecting the way we do business. There is a paradigm of doing business in the Internet age which we have a lot to share about."

Dwyer said, "Our business is really creating a space of understanding, a context of reference, in which foreign people can understand not only where we [Americans] came from, but also where we are going and how we see the rest of the world. So, this is an interactive relationship; it's not just telling our story, but getting their stories to create a community of ideas, in conversation with each other, that will lead to change."

According to Tim Bennett, a State Department consultant, IIP and private sector partnerships are already paying off. During the last Kosovo crisis, he said, seven information centers were opened "throughout Europe and the United States where refugees could get access to Albanian-language news and information on the Internet. They could also download an Albanian newsletter that we put out three times a week."

As the refugees were repatriated, Bennett said, "we redirected all of the computer equipment that we had gotten from our partners and sent it back into Kosovo, where we have seven Internet centers that are basically part of the grassroots democracy-building now in that area of Serbia. Ten thousand people a week now use those information centers and are getting real, accurate and unbiased information, and I think that is the essence of public diplomacy."

Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.
Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov