Aleks Krotoski wrote in The Guardian today "Money and the internet: The next topic for Untangling the Web".
The following is my brief take on the subject - also posted as a comment on the Guardian.
Whilst the utopia of an egalitarian system that rewards all according to their efforts rather than according to the artificially inflated value placed on their particular sector (such as derivatives trading) - which in itself is a long way from rewarding all according to their needs - the ability for people to engage online already depends on a social divide: the digital divide.
So whilst it would be nice for everyone to have the same access to education and the same opportunities in life, making the whole 'life' thing a lot fairer, that isn't going to happen for decades to come, if not centuries. Likewise, if everyone had the same access to the internet and other digital content and opportunities, had the same minimum broadband levels, the same power in their computers, and the same knowledge of how to use the internet, be it for searching, shopping, authoring or learning, then we could discuss the possibility of the web making life a little fairer for all.
That clearly is not the case, however. The only difference with the internet is that those who are 'wealthy' in digital terms: heavy internet users, bloggers, gamers, app-users - are not necessarily the same as those considered 'wealthy' offline. The differences exist - they are simply applied to a different group.
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