141–150 of 262 posts
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.…
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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…
Its easy for us to say this is no good and it should be stopped because Facebook access is not as good as the full internet. But who are we to deny poor people what little they can get?
If I was facebook, I'd tread lightly. India has a long history of reneging on deals. Once a deal is struck with most nations, that's it. Done deal. With India, they don't care - they'll do whatever is convenient for them. They did just that on a huge WTO deal years in the making (source: http://www.npr.org/2014/08/10/339292735/why-indias-modi-defi... ). The also reneged on a solar energy trade agreement with the U.S…
Let me google it for you,
"china renege on deal" https://www.google.com/search?q=china+reneges+on+deal&oq=chi...
"russia renege on deal" https://www.google.com/search?q=china+reneges+on+deal&oq=chi...
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Sure but what's a solution that's a reasonable compromise until that happens?
its not a "reasonable compromise" from the point of view that Facebook is supposedly acting altruistically, this is a 100% self interested power play.
(I realize that "unlimited communication tools" is the best answer here, but no one provides it at the budget specified, at least yet).
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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.
If they truly had altruistic intentions, they damn well could be.
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You mean, like the right-to-try laws that have been passed by 25 US states, allowing doctors to prescribe drugs not yet approved by the FDA? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-try_law
You still need a different form of FDA approval possibly involving animal trials (among other things) before getting "experimental drug" status.
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> the facts on the ground are 80% of Indians do not have internet access The facts on the ground for everywhere in the world not too long ago was worse than 20% access to the Internet. And I bet the current 20% Indian Internet users have much much faster connections than dial-up. Things change. Fast. It is disingenuous to ignore the natural connectivity growth trajectory and focus on today's number only. Most will ge…
This is a repeat of AOL's playbook in the US in the 90's. Sure the internet existed and the web was around, but they were more interested in pushing their curated online service.
Oh wait...
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Let us not judge from Intellectual Ivory towers, the facts on the ground are 80% of Indians do not have internet access. You sometimes have to try "impure" methods. The question is still up in the air, whether FB Basics is gateway to full internet or if it is a walled garden. Either way, it is better than No Access. The immediate retort I get is, why not facebook provide free internet access to poor. Guys, is it thei…
Facebook is not doing this for altruistic reasons.
http://www.savetheinternet.in - A template for contacting the authorities to show support for net neutrality (speak up against "Free Basics"). Last time, they received over a million e-mails [0], and that did have a positive effect. Let's 10x that. [0] http://bit.ly/1YCxhlv