Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 243 posts

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#161

Post by sirkneeland »

rms_returns wrote: post #139
devindotcom wrote: post #15

Personally, I believe Zuckerberg is sincere in wanting to connect everyone in the world with each other. However, I believe he is also sincere in thinking that Facebook is the best and perhaps only platform by which this is possible. In this he is sincerely mistaken. I feel sure he doesn't think of it as a land grab, even privately. But he is looking from the inside out. If he wants to be seen as the Great Connector,…

> Personally, I believe Zuckerberg is sincere in wanting to connect everyone in the world with each other. Or, is he desperately trying to save his company by getting the last remaining drops of users in a rapidly diminishing market for new user base? If you think about it, Facebook is not a monopoly that it used to be in the early 2000s, even comparing it Microsoft Windows (like someone did in this thread) is an err…

There weren't many when it began, but today we have Google-plus, twitter, Reddit, Hacker-news and lots of others

That's not the real threat to Facebook's empire. Those are all tools used by people in their late 20s and 30s who came of age in a desktop-first world and Facebook is comfortable coexisting with them.

The thing that is a threat to Facebook long term is mobie apps like Snapchat, YikYak and other things we old farts haven't even heard of. They are used by (and represent) a new generation of truly mobile-first users for whom Facebook is something their parents ("old people") use. The biggest risk Facebook has with these users is not that it just unused, but uncool.

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#162

Post by slaxman »

seshagiric wrote: post #159
slaxman wrote: post #151

Few points here: 1. It's not really internet. It's a set of 100 sites that includes a real estate portal and a personal blog. If you are talking about connecting the unconnected with essential services, why have these on your list? On the other hand, chennairains.org, a website that helped people during extreme floods in chennai was not on that list. 2. There is no proof that "free basics" actually improves internet…

Agree with most but to be fair, although currently the program is limited to few 100 sites, the way the program works is if you own a website, you can register it with Freebasics and they will provide free access. And to this the sites cannot be encrypted. For information like e.g. what helps Farmers, encryption need not be a blocker.

Two points to this argument:

1. what about farmer details. If you want to personalise info for farmers, you will need to register them and capture info. W/o encryption, fb has access to it and is likely to sell it to advertisers.

2. The argument that "Free basics" is essential for farmer is wrong. Reuters has a paid product for farmers (http://www.rmlglobal.com/) and is used by over 1.4 Million farmers in India.

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#164

Post by RodericDay »

dingo_bat wrote: post #152
rms_returns wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from India and the conditions of many farmers is pathetic here, poverty isn't a word enough to describe their condition. They are illiterate, exploited by higher-ups in the society and struggle to get even basic necessities in life. Conditions are so gloomy that on average, one farmer commits suicide every thirty minutes in this country! And these are the people whom Zuckerberg is targeting for the FreeBasics fre…

>donating that money to the farmers he intends to help. Donating money directly almost never helps in the long run. I think Zuckerberg is doing what he thinks is good, and I don't think free internet to farmers will do any bad . It might help only a few and by a little amount, but that is still better than nothing. Who are we to decide how somebody else organizes their charity?

> Donating money directly almost never helps in the long run.

What? The debate about the benefits of direct cash-transfers vs. more managed forms of aid is alive and well in 2015.

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#165

Post by joenathan »

yggydrasily wrote: post #17
devindotcom wrote: post #15

Personally, I believe Zuckerberg is sincere in wanting to connect everyone in the world with each other. However, I believe he is also sincere in thinking that Facebook is the best and perhaps only platform by which this is possible. In this he is sincerely mistaken. I feel sure he doesn't think of it as a land grab, even privately. But he is looking from the inside out. If he wants to be seen as the Great Connector,…

Zuckerberg is the new Bill Gates. In the 90s, Gates was notorious in his ruthlessness to define personal computing as a 100% Microsoft-only experience. Today, as you pointed out, Zuckerberg is pushing equally hard at defining the internet and Facebook to be one and the same. In both cases, it doesn't really matter whether or not the efforts are sincere. The outcome is just as undesirable for the general public either…

Zuckerberg is the new Zuckerberg! What's up with all these comparisons? You are trying to make one man into another man, they are different men, with different things going through their heads, stop it.

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#166

Post by 5_5 »

HappyTypist wrote: post #158

I honestly think Facebook would have done well by providing access to the full internet but making Facebook the start page / captive portal.

You will bow down to anything. What about your private data? You want facebook to decide what you want to see on internet? Start a day with friend's like and share!!! I think your internet means facebook.

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#167

Post by mkagenius »

abhaga wrote: post #136
hackinthebochs wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the scenario of free walled-garden internet access vs. no access, how can you justify claiming its not a good thing?

Because it is not a static scenario. Internet users in India grew by ~30% over last one year itself and that growth is not slowing down. And FreeBasics is not limited to people coming on the internet for the first time.

free basics is doing that at a rate of 50% per month. (according to them)

i doubt people would want to shift to free basics from a full internet and if they do then that's what they like, its their choice. We should continue using normal broadband. Now you can argue that telcos will then overcharge for normal broadband, but who knows, they might not and even if they do then TRAI can send them a notice to not do that, and they will stop like they did with the "fast lane" thingy.

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#168

Post by Pyxl101 »

vaishaksuresh wrote: post #99
polyomino wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what exactly are the poor giving up?

>>Why is that it's ok for the poor to give up their liberty because they can get something of value in return? In this case, choosing how to access the Internet.

I don't see how anyone is giving up the choice of how to access the Internet. Opposing Free Basics is opposing that choice. Free Basics is offering a new choice, and more choices is always a rationally better thing.

What is your position on the Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics? http://blog.jaibot.com/the-copenhagen-interpretation-of-ethi...

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#169

Post by ganadiniakshay »

beccasanchez wrote: post #100
tokai wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humanity have a long and distinct history of fighting against gravity.

And yet gravity is still going strong... Make an ally out of gravity and you can use its strength for something half-decent instead of all-bad. I think this land grab by Facebook is half-decent instead of all-bad. Facebook is treating the poor better than the Indian government has, at least. Neither institution really gives a fuck about them.

Facebook is treating the farmers better by giving them access to facebook. What has the government done except no interest loans, free seeds and fertilizers, subsidies and free training programs.

Sounds about right

Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India

#170

Post by hellameta »

knughit wrote: post #124
hellameta wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although it may give some positive press - the reality is that he was a young adult when he said it and he simply can't take it back. We don't need to pretend he's some kind of saint. This fake modesty is seriously nonsense. Zuck is a competitor and a winner and does what is necessary. That's it.

Competing and winning has no dependency on harvesting user data and giving it away to his friends for their own personal use.

I'm quite sure I addressed that in 3/4 sentences in my post. He is no saint.
Post reply on HN