Tuvalu, dotTV, and the Digital Divide

I watched a really interesting video in the university library this week called "Paradise Domain". The video basically talks about the damaging effects globalization has had on the small South Pacific nation of Tuvalu. Tuvalu is one of the poorest countries in the world and in the past has relied on only the harvest of coconuts and fish for survival. Apart from a few people in the government, the country does not really have internet access, so in 1999 the Prime Minister made the decision to sell the rights of their ‘Internet country code top-level domain’ – ".tv". - to American company dotTV, which is today owned by VeriSign. The company wanted this domain due to it being the abbreviation for 'television'. dotTV made the deal to pay Tuvalu $50 million over a course of ten years, to give them a seat on the company's Board of Directors and give them an equity stake in the company.

After the introduction of this new money the government made a few improvements in the capital Funafuti, but Funafuti was a small island capital and when electricity and television was introduced 70% of the population moved there, meaning there were 400 people living per square kilometre. This saw the little facilities they had strained, rubbish overflowing the streets, and there was not even enough access to drinking water.

The Tuvaluan government does not fully understand what they have sold to the Americans, and after the deal simply believe that computers are the way to financial success. The amount of money generated from the dotTV deal made the Tuvaluans seem to think that computers are even more important than food. They have set up schools where the children learn verbally how to use programs such as Microsoft Excel - they do not always get to use computers, but read out as a class the functions of the "taskbar" and other such things.

The Advisor to the Prime Minister, Koloa Talake, holds the seat on the dotTV Board. A dotTV representative stated that he plays a “pivotal role” in the company and can be involved in all decisions, However Koloa Talake does still not know how to send an email, and was unable to explain why the company were interested in the ‘.tv’ domain. The Tuvaluan government has not invested the money in much needed areas for development, such as the healthcare sytem and in sustainable measures of accessing food, but instead used it to buy computers and television sattelites - things that undeveloped countries associate with the Western developed countries.

Access to laptops may be one way to consider global social inequality, but food is more important in terms of general life and survival. As seen in the case of Tuvalu, many people are now saving up to buy computers - but in their lifestyle computers are not even going to be any use. The DVD I watched stated that "four or five of its fisherman are lost every year because they cannot afford compasses for their boats". The Tuvaluan people seem to think that computers will be the answer to all their problems, however their time and money could be invested in much better ways before they even think about (or need) computers.