I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but I’ve often wondered if the olpcnews.com site, which popped up some time after the project started to gain momentum, might have backing from one of those many groups that wants the project to fail. Then a comment in one of the posts about the videoconferencing caught Chris Ball’s attention. Interesting excerpt is here:
…You said that in your capacity as director of Geekcorps. One of Geekcorps’ technology partners is the “Intel Emerging Markets Group”. You may remember one of Intel’s products for emerging markets…. the Classmate PC, which runs Windows. You might say that’s “the same software… enjoyed by Americans,” though I would dispute the word “enjoyed”.
And sure enough, if you go to the geekcorps site, you will see Wayan’s name right there as “Geekcorps Director.” Look at the partners page and you will see this:
Geekcorps has partnered with Intel Emerging Markets Group in Intel’s “Discover the PC” initiative focused on delivering products and technologies that are specifically designed to meet the unique needs of people in emerging markets.
So does Intel fund that site? Maybe not. But certainly one of the main posters on the site, who uses a classic model of “agree, and then disagree by playing fast and loose with facts and rhetoric” model of posting has what appears to be a close connection with one company who feel that they have a lot to lose if we succeed. That’s something that should have been clearly disclosed on the “About OLPC News” link. At worst, it’s a pretty crappy move on the part of a major corporation. At best, it sure feels like Astroturfing.
So a conspiracy? Probably not. But it sure feels like one.
