From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 00:05:39 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: The Globalization of Chile, from The Netly News (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95.971010085159.20480C-100000@well.com>
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 08:51:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu
Subject: The Globalization of Chile, from The Netly News


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http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1484,00.html

The Netly News Network (http://netlynews.com/)
October 10, 1997

The Globalization of Chile
By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)

        The wires are clogged again in Chile, a country with no shortage
   of Net-enthusiasm but little way to express it. Bandwidth is so
   limited in this remote country, which stretches almost to Antarctica,
   that local netizens wake up early or stay up late to log in (this
   report had to be filed via fax). Chile's connections to the outside
   world total about 9 Mb/sec, the same size pipe that a small U.S.
   Internet provider uses to connect to the Net.
   
        Chileans intend to change this. By next summer, fiber optic
   cables will gird the country on the east and west, snaking south from
   Brazil and Peru. The country's connectivity will jump to 200 times its
   current bandwidth.
   
        Even now, though, there's plenty of excitement about the Net in
   the capital, Santiago. Apple Chile, H.P. and the Cafe Internet
   Cybercenter line the Avenue Andres Bello. The REUNA Internet World
   Conference, which ends today, attracted hundreds of local businessmen.
   Companies such as Business News Americas email (for a fee) daily
   economic reports from Chile to American investors and analysts.
   
        But even if younger Chileans are cyber-savvy, the country remains
   staunchly conservative. Nearly 90 percent of Chileans are Roman
   Catholic (it was once the state religion) and Chile remains the only
   Western country where both divorce and abortion are illegal.
   Geography, too, has an effect. The South American country is ringed by
   deserts to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the lofty
   Andes mountains to the east.

[...]