CommunicationsRevolution Cyberspace,data superhighway,multi-media-for those who have seen thefuture,the linking of computers, television and telephones will change

our livesforever.Yet for all the talk of a forthcoming technological utopia littleattention has been given to the implications of these developments for thepoor.As with all

new hightechnology,while the West concerns itself.with the"how",the questionof"for whom"is put aside once again. Economists are only nowrealizing the full extent to

which thecommunications revolution has affected the world economy.Information technologyallows the extension of trade across geographical and industrial boundaries,and

transnationalcorporations take full advantage of it.Terms of trade,exchange and interestrates and money movements are more important than the production of goods.The

electronic economymade possible by information technology allows the haves to increase theircontrol on global markets-with destructive impact on the have-nots. For them

the result isinstability.Developing countries which rely on the production of a small rangeof goods for export are made to feel like small parts in the internationaleconomic

machine.As"futures"aretraded on computer screens,developing countries simply have less and lesscontrol of their destinies. So what are the options for regaining control?

One alternative isfor developing countries to buy in the latest computers and telecommunicationsthemselves-so-called"development communications"modernization.Yetthis

leads to long-termdependency and perhaps permanent constraints on developing countries'economies.Communications technology is generally exported from the

U.S.,Europe or Japan;the patents,skills andability to manufacture remain in the hands of a few industrialized countries.Itis also expensive,and imported products and services

must therefore bebought on credit-credit usually provided by the very countries whose companiesstand to gain. Furthermore,when new technology is introduced there is

often too low alevel of expertise to exploit it for native development.This means that whilelocal elites,foreign communities and subsidiaries of transnational corporations

may benefit,thosewhose lives depend on access to the information are denied by it.It can be inferredfrom the passage that______.

A.the ihterests ofthe poor countries have not been given enough consideration

B.the export of thepoor countries should be increased

C.communicationstechnology in the developing countries should be modernized

D.internationaltrade should be expanded