Assumptions Tech People Make While Trying to Save the World

For all the creative vision of technology entrepreneurs, it’s easy to forget a few basic facts about the world we think we know so much about. I had another reminder of this while chatting with a brilliant coworker from Pakistan today. 1) We assume that a smartphone won’t be stollen. In the parts of the world we’re trying to save, we forget that the value of a smartphone itself exceeds the value of the data on it for thief, or official, under whose eyes it passes.

The Problem with Security

Bring up the word “Security” with indigenous leaders in these countries and they may or may not understand what you’re talking about. They already live an a risk laden environment. Why should they be careful with technology? Bring up “Security” with expats and they totally get it - to the point of being paralyzed. Is the NSA watching, is the FSB watching? What about phones, what about email? Security is a show stopper rather than an enabler.