WHEN he was released by the Taliban after months of captivity a telecommunications engineer refused to go home before completing his mission to restore connectivity to Kunar province in Afghanistan.Before returning to his loved ones, the engineer insisted on walking for more than two days to restore network coverage to a number of villages.The engineer was simply living out his belief that information and communications technologies are the ultimate tools for people to find each other.In villages across the world, because of a cellphone, e-commerce is expanding opportunities for entrepreneurship.Mobile phones enable midwives to make childbirth safer and fresh produce vendors to break free of the middleman. Even before their nets are out of the water, fishermen can find out where they can get the best price for their catch.Through cellphones, pro-democracy activists around the world are effectively using social networks to mobilise as never before for democracy, dignity and human rig...
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