However, in this new scenario, participation in the democratic process can be meaningful only if everyone has access to knowledge and information. Unless some equality is ensured in terms of access to information, there can be no true democracy. The internet has largely been confined to the developed world with network connectivity forming a geodesic dome covering the developed North, and leaving large gaps in the underdeveloped South. Low levels of literacy, poor connectivity, and high cost of hardware and software are factors which impede effective adoption of Information Technology in developing countries. However, new technological developments offer hope for the developing world.
Satellite communications can extend connectivity to remote areas quickly and efficiently.
An increasing number of people will have access to devices connecting them to the Net. The internet itself is likely to metamorphose into the Evernet with people being connected at all places and at all times. The falling prices of such access devices hold great potential for the democratisation of information. At the same time, there is also the danger of the same technology being used by networks of individuals and groups engaged in political activism to achieve their own ends and destabilise governments. In future, the power of nations will most likely be measured in terms of PCs per household and bandwidth per capita.