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I am sure most you will know about the OLPC initiative which is where poor countries can get a laptop for $100 as long as it goes to a child.
Now dont get me wrong and I would love to know what other people think but do you honestly feel this is a positive way forward? I mean the countries that will benefit from this currently have relaxed laws (if any) on cybercrime. So alot of young children will be getting hold of these laptops and taking them home to mummy and daddy who will catch onto the idea that 1000's of pounds can be made by scamming, malware, botnets etc and beleive me little to no knowledge is needed to get a 20,000 strong botnet which can be used for spam/ddos/installing malware/credit card farming and the rest.
I think if we are to offer these poor countries cheap equipment and help then I think the governements need to ensure that laws are inplace and also backed up so that abuse cannot take place. Maybe allocate the laptops to classrooms instead of actual students.
Another thing that annoys me is the fact that the UK has many children who dont have a PC/laptop at home and could benefit aswell. Maybe a $200 laptops could be made for UK students so that every school has 1laptop for each student which remains at school etc.
What do you think about this and does anyone agree with me?
Luke
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