Dangerous developments in computerization

The benefits of computing are beyond any doubt. But this does not prevent the advances in computing from being usable, and being used, to the detriment of human rights and human dignity. The most flagrant evidence of this is the dominant position assumed by some languages, which try to propagate or to impose a particular culture and to marginalize and eventually eliminate other languages and cultures, through the latter's impoverishment-and forced isolation. In this way, all differentiation, which is a source of enrichment, is precluded and the notion of a people and its corollary, solidarity, are dissolved, to be replaced by vague notions with no precise content or clear definition based on the concepts and ideas of the economically dominant and politically powerful people.

These harmful effects of advances in computing even invade the private lives of men and women by surreptitiously introducing an "outsider" in the family circle through networks and through the spread of information, which is either tainted and disrespectful of the rights of women and children (pornography, paedophilia, cyber-casinos and games of chance), or which cannot be monitored, making it impossible to identify the person or persons responsible.

These advances also broaden the gap between rich countries equipped with computers and others which are not, with the effect that the latter's situation becomes further aggravated unless specific help is provided for them to catch up.