http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/09/bill-gates-google-project-loon
=== Bill Gates criticises Google's Project Loon initiative Former Microsoft chief says low-income countries need more than just internet access === Google's Project Loon initiative wants to provide internet access for the developing world from a network of balloons floating in the stratosphere. Former Microsoft boss Bill Gates isn't keen on the idea. "When you're dying of malaria , I suppose you'll look up and see that balloon, and I'm not sure how it'll help you. When a kid gets diarrhoea, no, there's no website that relieves that," Gates told Business Week, in an interview about the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Certainly I'm a huge believer in the digital revolution. And connecting up primary-healthcare centres, connecting up schools, those are good things. But no, those are not, for the really low-income countries, unless you directly say we're going to do something about malaria." Gates also questioned Google's commitment to projects in developing countries through its Google.org arm and related initiatives. "Google started out saying they were going to do a broad set of things. They hired Larry Brilliant, and they got fantastic publicity," said Gates. "And then they shut it all down. Now they're just doing their core thing. Fine. But the actors who just do their core thing are not going to uplift the poor." Project Loon was announced in June as Google launched a pilot scheme with 30 balloons above New Zealand, providing internet access through receivers on the ground. "We believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth below," explained project lead Mike Cassidy at the time, suggesting speeds could eventually match today's 3G networks. "As a result, we hope balloons could become an option for connecting rural, remote, and under-served areas, and for helping with communications after natural disasters. The idea may sound a bit crazy – and that's part of the reason we're calling it Project Loon – but there's solid science behind it." Google has worked with organisations trying to tackle healthcare in developing countries through its Google for Nonprofits initiative, with case studies on its website for Direct Relief International , Unicef and Charity: Water outlining some of its efforts. Meanwhile, Google.org's webpage for its Crisis Response activities makes prominent use of a photo of someone using their mobile phone in the aftermath of a disaster in Haiti, supplied by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates' views on malaria are heartfelt, though. It's described as a "top priority" for the Foundation , which has so far committed nearly $2bn (£1.3bn) in grants towards research into treatments, diagnosis and mosquito-control technologies, as well as $1.4bn to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This sits alongside the foundation's work towards eradicating Polio. "If we get credibility from the polio success, we can be more articulate about a malaria or measles elimination plan," Gates told Business Week. "The big one would be malaria, but that's a long-term, in-my-lifetime-type thing, not imminent." -- @kylemaxwell -- Liberationtech list is public and archives are searchable on Google. Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
