The Digital Divide: Information Technologies and the Obligation to Alleviate Poverty
Kenneth Einar Himma, Maria Canellopoulou Vrachliotis Bottis · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · 2014
In this chapter, Kenneth Himma and Maria Bottis discuss the obligation of affluent people in wealthy nations to help to close the digital divide by promoting dissemination of information and computer technologies (ICTs) to those in poverty who currently do not have access to them. They begin with a discussion of global economic inequality and the relationship between poverty and ICT access. They then ague that according to almost any western ethical and theological tradition the affluent have an obligation to assist the very poor. Given this, the question is whether expanding access to ICTs is an effective and efficient way of doing so. After reviewing several studies relevant to this question they conclude that promoting access to ICTs will not by itself greatly reduce poverty, but that it can be a crucial component of an integrated approach to doing so.