A distinguished group of academics, government representatives and businesspeople this week came out with a set of recommendations which, if taken seriously by governments around the world, could have a drastic effect on the software industry. The proposals, by the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, would also have a drastic effect on the lives of millions of people in the developing world. All areas of intellectual property are addressed in the Commission's report--including health, as well as agricultural and genetic resources and traditional knowledge. All these issues receive intermittent coverage in the mainstream Western media (usually when some tribal uprising threatens to affect a company's stock price) and most had an airing at the recent summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg.

What is less often talked about is the effect that technology has on development. The opportunity is vast: it took centuries, if not a full millennium, for books to reach an audience of millions, thereby spreading knowledge, scholarship and development throughout the Western world. Television accomplished a similar degree of penetration within decades, and the Internet in a matter of a just few years. But while the opportunity for developing nations to benefit from the spread of the Internet and IT in general is huge -- witness India's software industry -- Western corporate interests threaten to stymie the Internet revolution in developing nations before it starts. This is why the Commission's proposals are so interesting, and why they should be applauded.