Dr. Madanmohan Rao (madan(a)inomy.com, digitalnomad(a)hotmail.com) is an infotech consultant and writer based in Bangalore, India. He is the editor of two book series: "The Asia Pacific Internet Handbook" and "The Knowledge Management Chronicles" (McGraw Hill). He is also editor-at-large of DestinationKM.com and contributor to the Poynter Institute blog on new media trends. Madan was on the international editorial board of the recently published book, "Transforming e-Knowledge."

Madan was formerly the communications director at the United Nations Inter Press Service bureau in New York, and vice president at IndiaWorld Communications in Bombay. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with an M.S. in computer science and a Ph.D. in communications. He is currently the director of the InfoComm Observatory at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore.

Madan is a frequent speaker on the international conference circuit, and has given talks and lectures in about 50 countries around the world. He has worked with online services in the U.S., Brazil, and India. His articles have appeared in DestinationKM.com, The Economic Times, Electronic Markets magazine, Economic and Political Weekly, and the Bangkok Post. Madan is on the board of directors/advisors of numerous content and wireless services firms in Asia. He also participates in consultations at UNESCO, IDRC, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) foundation in India and Nepal.

He is the conference chair for India Internet World, India's largest annual Internet business conference, and serves on the conference committees of trade show group Messe Frankfurt in Germany, Singapore-based Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, and the global Internet Society.

Madan has been a contributor to the CPSR-Global mailing list, with updates about Internet-related developments worldwide. He spoke at the CPSR annual summit in Boston in 1998, and at the preparatory conference of the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, February 2003.

POSITION STATEMENT

The rapid proliferation of the Internet and wireless technologies is leading to unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurs and big business —as well as perplexing questions for policymakers and social activists, especially in emerging economies. Can IT help reduce poverty? Will it lead to more cultural alienation? Can developing countries become major IT players? What policy climate is best suited for equitable access to the Net? What are the security challenges on the Net in post-September 11 post-Bali world? What are the limits to government surveillance? CPSR has had an excellent track record in framing discourse around these issues and networking communities of practice in these areas. I would like to be involved more actively on this front, and feel I can make some useful contributions based on my activities in Asia.