Jared Cohen, director of Google ideas, mentioned one story in particular from his experience visiting 35 countries, hoping to take the Internet to the rest of the world.
He said in the major cities of Damascus, the government has set up check points where they confiscate and inspect cell phones.
One day, his friend decided to deny them access to his phone until they held a gun to his head, Cohen said.
What happened next is a reflection of what’s happening on the other side of the world — in some places worse and in some not as bad — where the Internet is not accessible.
When the government took his cell phone, they accessed his Facebook and found a post that was sympathetic to the opposition. He was shot and killed.
Cohen spoke of his experiences in other countries aside Google Executive Eric Schmidt on the first day of SXSWi. The two discussed their venture to make the Internet accessible to all citizens, a goal they discuss in their book, “The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations, and Business.”
Moderator Steven Levy of Wired asked it well: What are Google executives doing traveling to the other side of the world?
“We believe in an open and free Internet for all citizens,” Schmidt said. “Not just Americans, not just Europeans.”
Their goal is to make online censorship obsolete within the next decade, giving all citizens the opportunity to experience the Internet like we do here in America.
Cohen said not only does Google hope to close the digital divide, but “once they get access, we want to make sure that it’s similar to what we’ve experienced.”
Many questions arise when this topic is discussed, where information about virtually everything is accessible to everyone.
Of course, Edward Snowden’s recent leak came up sparking discussion about privacy, in addition to concerns about differing democracies and diverse cultures.
Cohen said democracies will have to find the right balance for themselves.
So what does the new digital age mean for Americans?
Cohen said the next language people need to be learning is computer language. Schmidt said Google is always looking globally for people who know this.
In addition, Schmidt warned against any person who does not embrace the new digital age and the expansion of the Internet.
He said income will go up for the people who embrace technological advances — the example he gave was working with robots — and income will go down for those who don’t embrace it — and in his example about robots, simply lose their job to a robot and don’t do anything about it other than complain.
Schmidt’s solution to the challenges of the new digital age is more education, immigration and connectivity.