Beyond the Net

Improving the Internet’s technical conditions is an ambitious challenge. It’s an even greater challenge in one of the ten countries in the world with the greatest geographical scope. Internet Exchange Points (IXP) offer a solution. In Argentina, IXPs have been built since 2008, where they’ve covered the major cities. Now they’re extending their scope to reach remote locations.

Today, we read about advancements in technology, including terraforming Mars – yet more than half of the world is still without a proper Internet connection.

It’s not just developing nations that lack access. Rural areas are affected, too.

Kyrgyzstan’s educational system, devastated by the post-Soviet shift in 1991 to a free market economy, continues to suffer from a severe shortage of qualified teachers and modern text books. Alarmed by this shortage, Internet Society Kyrgyzstan Chapter member and engineer Erjigit Imamov created a prototype of an inexpensive microcomputer that could be safely used by…

Women are 27 times more likely to be victims of cyber violence than men, according to a 2015 report by the UN Broadband Commission. “Millions of women and girls around the world are subjected to deliberate violence because of their gender,” notes the report. “Violence against women and girls knows no boundaries, cutting across borders,…

For the villagers of Dullu, a remote and developing municipality in the Dailekh District of Nepal, access to good medical care isn’t easy. For those lucky enough to live nearby, the town’s solitary hospital is perpetually understaffed, underfunded, and lacking in advanced medical resources. Those who hail from the surrounding area have to walk two…