Your Responsibility

The main theme at the U.N. confab was the need for more cooperation between public and private sectors, particularly as it relates to deploying secure network infrastructure. Close collaboration is the only way nations and the corporate world can bridge the widening "digital divide," said Ivan Simonovic, U.N. ambassador for Croatia and president of the U.N. Economic and Social Council.

Governments and corporations have plenty to learn from each other. For one thing, federal and local agencies shouldn't think merely of recreating existing functions online but should take a cue from entrepreneurs by developing and providing new services to their constituents,potentially creating new revenue sources along the way. Business leaders, meanwhile, should be more willing to share ideas and technologies that might accelerate the rate of standards development.

The events of last September proved many high-tech companies have a heart, at least when it comes to helping those on their own soil. But many of us are still woefully ignorant of global technology issues, and the situation of "digital illiteracy" is worsening, Simonovic said. This, despite the fact that some countries, such as Estonia, are working to provide public Internet access even in the most remote locations.

Some forward-thinking high-tech companies have insinuated themselves into projects such as these. Salesforce.com is one example. One cause the company has embraced is the Tibetan freedom movement, and among other things, it has provided 35 refugee settlements with technology and e-mail. Closer to home, Salesforce.com has built 14 technology centers for youth groups in the San Francisco Bay Area.

It's easy to use the sluggish economy as an excuse to hold purse strings tighter, but I think it's just plain short-sighted. Robert Thurman, director of The Tibet House, said it best at a recent benefit fete, in which he encouraged companies to make philanthropy a seamless part of their business plans: "Positive action causes profit."

How are you affecting change? E-mail HEATHER CLANCY at [email protected].