By Ingrid Riley, Contributor
Picture this, it's 1980 something. You just called your friend for the G-5 code for your Satellite dish. Then news flash, the government of the day gets a really "bright" idea to tax satellite dishes.
You first kiss yu teet because they really couldn't be serious and expect you to live in JBC's bland land forever. Only to later breathe easier, when you heard the overpaid civil servants have actually realised that it would be a big mistake.
Then, again, just over a year ago, we had the VSAT dish debate flare up. If resolved, at least in the way many of the business and hi-tech community would have wanted it to, it could have opened up the Internet Access industry by giving more licences to potential Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and brought to businesses and consumers faster and cheaper Internet access and help to spur the islandwide growth of our Internet Culture and Economy here.
It didn't happen, and now we have only 5 legal VSAT licence holders and most others have to go through their friends at Cable & Wireless. And further, the Telecommunications Act currently disallows other cheaper and better available technologies from operating illegally here, because of this policy of regulated protectionism, ooops or was that phased deregulation? or is it systematic de-monopolisation?- whatever other euphemisms that can be dreamed up.
Misguided moves
Anyway, despite these obvious misguided moves fed by ignorance, lack of information and vision on the part of senior policy directors, we hate to admit it, but sometimes we need the Government. So we have to work with them and remind them of a few of their voter-given duties of creating an economy that fosters entrepreneurship, true freedom of choice for consumers and enables personal development.
So while Mr. Seaga is feeling encouraged by the recent poll results, I'd like to hear what he and his team think they can do for the IT industry and culture here and how they could help make it a premium engine of economic growth; what ideas do they have, if any, to help broaden access to computers, access to the Internet in schools and in communities countrywide and in the countryside; ideas for IT training that will give people the option to either get a job, or become an entrepreneur and create jobs.
I want to know who are they listening to and what research have they done or have access to.
And as Prime Minister P.J. Patterson maintains his track and also ponders his future too, I'm sure we'd all like to know how changeable are some of the policies he and his team have made or are they just stalling so that senior policy directors can play catch up in getting to know more and know how.
Because most of us entrepreneurs and professionals have been patient, but so far we're more frustrated than encouraged - even though at the core we're eternal optimists.
So right now, I'm only partial to economic growth and social development, so I can stop attending so many bon voyage parties of friends and colleagues who seem to have little choice at this time but to leave until...
Sites to see: Though his attitude and methods are that of a media terrorist, Afflicted's tools-streaming audio and video coupled with some satirical humour, his site's soul and mission is really to expose and promote the talent that still lay largely unheard, unseen and untapped in our awesome music culture. Check out www.afflictedyard.-com Also click your way over to Top5Jamaica.com and Jamai-cans.com.
Ingrid Riley is a writer, and CEO of MiND FULL Press, a print and epublishing company. She is founder of Digital Domain, the online and off-line meetingplace and marketplace for professionals and players in the Jamaican and Caribbean's IT industry, and is active in the Caribbean and Boston's hi-tech communities. Send comments or information to her at ingridriley@yahoo.com.
