Flops To Brush Aside

The Jenius wrote once about the feeble Internet Society of Puerto Rico (ISOCPR) and the hope is that such an exercise is never to be repeated. (Not for their sake, but Ours.) Amidst the plethora of groups with lofty and dirt-level aims, two are worth noting at this moment: DSLibre and The Center for the New Economy.

The first is a group ostensibly formed to open up broadband reach and access in Puerto Rico. Within days of its website launch, The Jenius contacted the group. And received a thunderous silence in return. The Jenius is accustomed to being ignored, so a second e-mail was dispatched, with the same result. Close observation of the group yielded a quick and accurate observation: it was not aimed at True Growth.

That broadband access is required for Knowledge Economy power is beyond question. That DSLibre is an absolute failure in fomenting that goal is equally beyond question. The conclusion that the group was formed under Greedy Soul ideology is hard to refute. What else can be said about an organization that has not advanced an inch since 2003 despite the now even more-overwhelming disadvantage We face?

Is The Jenius tip-toeing around the obvious conclusion, that DSLibre was formed solely as a sales channel? No. What The Jenius is avoiding is obscene language in the bashing of stupidity.

The Center for the New Economy is, as my friend The Texas Dude calls it, a Brain Dump. Formed with the goal of fomenting policies and research for new economy growth, and though blessed with an apparently sincere Heart, the Center is a gobbledygook factory aimed not at progress, but at preserving the status quo.

Money where My mouth is time: What POSSIBLE goal could people representing the current power structure have in “developing” new policies? Let’s see who is represented: Banco Popular, Ferré Rangel Enterprises, Microsoft, Coqui.net (now part of Verizon), McConell Valdés, Caribbean Business and Oracle, amongst others (including the ISOCPR. Woo-hoo!) Hmmm… the largest bank (4 of the top 7 are present), the largest newspaper (and richest private corporation), the dense-as-brick telephone “monopoly,” the largest software providers to the government, the largest private publisher (and only local business weekly) and assorted others, some of whom are also “names” in advertising and law.

Let The Jenius be perfectly clear on this point: The Center for the New Economy is nothing but a front for “old economy” powers to keep their power bases as safe as possible.

The Jenius knows where the Burden of Proof lies. Here’s a sample:

1) Is the list of “developers” indicated above (taken from the website: http://www.grupocne.org/Corporate%20Partners.htm) one that jumps out at you as being composed of True Champions of a New Economy? Especially when basic elements of that New Economy are disruptions of their power bases? (VoIP vs. Verizon; Internet vs. El Nuevo Día; open source vs. proprietary software, etc.)

2) The website has fewer and fewer details from 2001 to the present. How can something that calls itself a Center for New Economy and that touts the idea of a Silicon Reef as a “goal” treat its primary contact channel as a mere afterthought? Isn’t this a case of Henry Ford Sr. riding to work on an old nag? What is being hidden and why?

3) And finally, given the “power broker” list above, what POSSIBLE excuse can the so-called Center for the New Economy have for being as inconsequential and vapid in results as it has been so far? Can You, Internet industry insider, say that the Center has made a difference in Our overall growth? In the Island’s economic growth? In anything that doesn’t flow back to its own “power mongrels”?

The Jenius Has Spoken.