Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#81

Post by dunkelheit » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:06 PM UTC

Today I learned that Indians have a word for ten million (crore).

On a more serious note this facebook campaign is an embodiment of principles elucidated Zero to One. Competition sucks, argues Mr. Thiel, try to create a monopoly. And monopoly is great if you are a business but for customers it is other way round. I hope India will preserve open and competitive internet for its citizens.

The article states that the chief aim of this campaign is to prevent Indians from using google. Are there any signs of them taking countermeasures?

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#82

Post by nickff » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:09 PM UTC

dunkelheit wrote: post #81

Today I learned that Indians have a word for ten million (crore). On a more serious note this facebook campaign is an embodiment of principles elucidated Zero to One. Competition sucks, argues Mr. Thiel, try to create a monopoly. And monopoly is great if you are a business but for customers it is other way round. I hope India will preserve open and competitive internet for its citizens. The article states that the ch…

In "Zero to One", (which I just finished reading yesterday), Thiel actually argued that monopolies were good for both sides of the market, so long as the monopoly was achieved through excellence, and not just corruption or government-grant.

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#83

Post by rckclmbr » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:11 PM UTC

ino wrote: post #9

gamekathu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company might be super slimy, but their engineering team has made huge improvements to the modern web / app development and had gifted us with the awesome open source tools. Only because of them I had a positive outlook of the company

If you write apps for their ecosystem, you've been fucked real, but real hard at least 6 times in the last 6 years. From unkept promises to everchanging rules, terms and api.

So you dont use react, flow, presto, hhvm, buck, jest, etc.... ?

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#84

Post by jsprogrammer » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:12 PM UTC

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #79

petke wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree Facebook is doing this for their own greedy reasons, but they make one very good point: "Banning free basics on the basis of net neutrality [...] means 1 billion people cant afford to access any services." It isn't a choice between having facebook, or having the full internet. Its a choice between having facebook, or having no internet at all. Surely no internet at all, is the worst option. Nobody else is goi…

Is the lack of Internet truly that bad? India, while woefully poor in many places, is perhaps the most spiritually rich nation I have ever known. For all the stresses of life and distortions of industrialization, let alone internetification, they have far more inner resolve than most of us in the pill-popping West. To say that they have nothing if they reject an inch-wide glimpse of the Internet, provided by a compan…

What do pills have to do with this?

The Internet is a global communications network. It allows you to connect with anyone anywhere on the planet and nearby space. Without access youbare severely limited in what you can learn and do.

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#85

Post by jsprogrammer » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:13 PM UTC

DenisM wrote: post #66

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #43

Indian here. The manipulation has been incredibly blatant and scummy. It's not even funny anymore. Friends who categorically denied having sent a mail to the Indian telecom regulatory authority on Facebook's behalf (conveniently supplied by Facebook) show up on my feed as having signed the mail. It's an all-out blitzkrieg. I've seen full page ads in newspapers, banners at bus stops, even ads on local Indian websites.…

pg often defends Zuckerberg, it would be interesting to see his take on the this particular matter.

I'd prefer to hear the unadulterated version as well. It seems like most publications are ran through various filters and handlers before it makes it out to his website.

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#86

Post by tdaltonc » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:16 PM UTC

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #79

petke wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree Facebook is doing this for their own greedy reasons, but they make one very good point: "Banning free basics on the basis of net neutrality [...] means 1 billion people cant afford to access any services." It isn't a choice between having facebook, or having the full internet. Its a choice between having facebook, or having no internet at all. Surely no internet at all, is the worst option. Nobody else is goi…

Is the lack of Internet truly that bad? India, while woefully poor in many places, is perhaps the most spiritually rich nation I have ever known. For all the stresses of life and distortions of industrialization, let alone internetification, they have far more inner resolve than most of us in the pill-popping West. To say that they have nothing if they reject an inch-wide glimpse of the Internet, provided by a compan…

Ya, who needs to know the price of rice or fertilizer? Certainly not Indian farmers; they can eat inner peace. And who needs to learn algebra? Certainly not rural children; they already know the meaning of life.

Free Basics isn't the answer, but going from no-internet to just-a-tiny-bit-of-internet can have a big impact on someones life.

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#87

Post by jsprogrammer » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:23 PM UTC

mtgx wrote: post #10

Over the next few years, someone should also look into how much of that "philanthropy" money is going into Internet.org from Zuckerberg - mainly because I'd hate for him to get away with most people believing he's giving away his fortune for the good of mankind, when in fact he'd just be propping up Facebook, but with fewer taxes on his money.

His 'fortune' is primarily a claim on future FB revenue. It can be wiped out at any time.

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#88

Post by tdaltonc » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:24 PM UTC

manash wrote: post #74

Why not let "our less fortunate brothers" decided what they want. If they don't want free internet, then its their choice. How insane is it to let the TRAI regulate the internet! Do you not see the internet is the only real means of liberating people? And you want a group of elite people to control this! What happens to the "these airwaves belong to us" argument when the government bans anti-govt web sites or porn we…

"Why not let [the customer] choose" is an argument that can be made of any net neutrality debate.

Should there be fast-lanes in the US?

TWC: We'll offer plans with and without fast-lanes and let the customers choose!

Either the internet is the internet or it's not. Facebook wants to bring Facebook to rural villages? Fine, but they have to bring the whole internet with them.

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#89

Post by prostoalex » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:25 PM UTC

quadrangle wrote: post #72

petke wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree Facebook is doing this for their own greedy reasons, but they make one very good point: "Banning free basics on the basis of net neutrality [...] means 1 billion people cant afford to access any services." It isn't a choice between having facebook, or having the full internet. Its a choice between having facebook, or having no internet at all. Surely no internet at all, is the worst option. Nobody else is goi…

Nonsense. Facebook is rich enough and powerful enough to MAKE the choice be full-internet or nothing. They and other powerful entities can provide full internet. It is THEIR fault that the choice is FaceBook or nothing because they want that to be the choice. FaceBook is not some savior here. The ramifications of pushing everyone to FB are also devastating because they would force everyone to get locked in to using F…

Facebook is not a carrier.

If any carrier chooses to provide full Internet access for free, they may do so.

So far they haven't, though. Which is why company-sponsored basic service that's free to the users emerged in the first place.

Re: Facebook is misleading Indians with its full-page ads about Free Basics

#90

Post by titusnicolae » Fri, Dec 25, 2015, 10:29 PM UTC

is internet really going to help the 600 million people that practice open defecation? if they can't figure out that digging a hole where to poop is clearly better, how will they make good use of the internet and not get themselves manipulated.