The Jarvis plan for Iraq

This deal sounds reasonable: 1. Bandwidth. MCI is over there installing mobile phones. It would take nothing — nothing — for them to bring Inernet POPs to a handful of locations in the major cities at the same time. If I were running MCI, I’d do it as a mitzvah, considering the hell my company … Continue reading “The Jarvis plan for Iraq”

This deal sounds reasonable:

1. Bandwidth. MCI is over there installing mobile phones. It would take nothing — nothing — for them to bring Inernet POPs to a handful of locations in the major cities at the same time. If I were running MCI, I’d do it as a mitzvah, considering the hell my company had caused the world. But a foundation could underwrite this as well.

2. Computers. My commenter is right: Lots of companies — Dell, HP, IBM, Apple, Gateway, Microsoft, Intel — can afford to donate machines. It won’t take many, just a few hundred.

3. Tutor. Iranian webloggers needed Hoder to explain how to blog. Salam Pax could do likewise.

4. Space. The U.S. and British military should find space for temporary Internet cafes that could be used by servicemen for X hours a day to email home and by Iraqis most of the day to exercise their newfound free speech.

5. Guru. Somebody needs to bring this together, getting companies and foundations to donate bandwidth and machines and getting the government to facilitate this (and see that it is in America’s interest to encourage such free speech). I’ll volunteer. So will many others, I’m sure.

Now, for somebody to whip it all into shape. Hmmm….