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Imagine a North Korean in his thirties. He's a citisen of a paternalistic state. He mostly wants to get by, then entertainment and no trouble. For him, Internet

Imagine a North Korean in his thirties. He's a citisen of a paternalistic state. He mostly wants to get by, then entertainment and no trouble. For him, Internet is a very abstract thing and RSS means nothing. And you won't be able to supply a reliable connectivity. And anyway (s)he's at the cultural stage where one (moving) picture is worth a thousand words. Consider South Korean news feed (North Koreans don't know any other language) - 95% of topics would seem abstract and arcane.

stcredzero 14y ago
> Imagine a North Korean in his thirties. Reduces your point almost to straw an level right there. You don't try to reach him. You go for the young people. You don't sell such devices, you make sure they wash up on the shore or get smuggled in through China. It's the (mid) 21st century equivalent to propaganda pamphlets. > For him, Internet is a very abstract thing and RSS means nothing. Of course it doesn't. Just show him the screen. Hell, the things would be heavily used for porn anyhow. > And you won't be able to supply a reliable connectivity. Remember I said satellite. Or are you saying that the North Koreans would jam the signal? This could be worked around. For one thing, it would be very hard to jam a spread spectrum signal. Also, you can have the device figure out the jamming has happened and have it listen on a separate channel for information on how switch to the next signal. All of this could be reverse engineered, but the state of the art has it possible to delay the reversing might of the whole internet for an entire year. The NK government would probably take two years, by which time, you're distributing the next version. > And anyway (s)he's at the cultural stage where one (moving) picture is worth a thousand words. E-ink screens are capable of video, though this would kill the battery. > Consider South Korean news feed (North Koreans don't know any other language) - 95% of topics would seem abstract and arcane. For many, especially the young, that would be an attraction. (mid) - But like I said earlier, you still get much better bang for the buck with radio. However, you can take the time when price point of such technology becoming inexpensive enough to be practical to manufacture and fling these as propaganda or marketing tools as the time limit for oppressive regimes.

stcredzero 14y ago

> Imagine a North Korean in his thirties. Reduces your point almost to straw an level right there. You don't try to reach him. You go for the young people. You don't sell such devices, you make sure they wash up on the shore or get smuggled in through China. It's the (mid) 21st century equivalent to propaganda pamphlets. > For him, Internet is a very abstract thing and RSS means nothing. Of course it doesn't. Just show him the screen. Hell, the things would be heavily used for porn anyhow. > And you won't be able to supply a reliable connectivity. Remember I said satellite. Or are you saying that the North Koreans would jam the signal? This could be worked around. For one thing, it would be very hard to jam a spread spectrum signal. Also, you can have the device figure out the jamming has happened and have it listen on a separate channel for information on how switch to the next signal. All of this could be reverse engineered, but the state of the art has it possible to delay the reversing might of the whole internet for an entire year. The NK government would probably take two years, by which time, you're distributing the next version. > And anyway (s)he's at the cultural stage where one (moving) picture is worth a thousand words. E-ink screens are capable of video, though this would kill the battery. > Consider South Korean news feed (North Koreans don't know any other language) - 95% of topics would seem abstract and arcane. For many, especially the young, that would be an attraction. (mid) - But like I said earlier, you still get much better bang for the buck with radio. However, you can take the time when price point of such technology becoming inexpensive enough to be practical to manufacture and fling these as propaganda or marketing tools as the time limit for oppressive regimes.