Free basic internet may include Google search, Wikipedia, email of choice, access to all pages that Google suggests in first two pages. But I think Facebook should not be part of basic internet.
Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
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Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#222When did facebook become non-profit to give away things for free? fcuk zcuk, stay away from India.
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
> with "Free Basics" they're taking steps to ensure that dominance stays intact. It is not just that. The worrying thing is that they are violating net neutrality by making sure that "FB and friends" is the only thing accessible on this free internet. If Mr. Zuckerberg is that altruistic, why not provide proper full internet? Even a limited (say 500MB per person/month) internet for free is better than nothing. But no…
I thought that Facebook claimed that anyone can make apps available in Free Basics: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internet-org > Free Basics by Facebook provides free access to basic internet services to a billion people all over the world. Your service can be part of it. > In order to make your website display properly within the Free Basics Platform and be accessible to people on all types of phones and data…
The content of your app is also subject to Facebook's Terms of Use:
> Developer participation on the Free Basics Platform, including the information submitted with your application, is otherwise governed by our standard legal terms. Collectively, our standard legal terms and these supplemental terms are the entire agreement between you and Facebook relating to Free Basics, and any terms of use for your service will not apply to Facebook.
Which essentially makes FB the gatekeeper of the internet.
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
> with "Free Basics" they're taking steps to ensure that dominance stays intact. It is not just that. The worrying thing is that they are violating net neutrality by making sure that "FB and friends" is the only thing accessible on this free internet. If Mr. Zuckerberg is that altruistic, why not provide proper full internet? Even a limited (say 500MB per person/month) internet for free is better than nothing. But no…
I thought that Facebook claimed that anyone can make apps available in Free Basics: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internet-org > Free Basics by Facebook provides free access to basic internet services to a billion people all over the world. Your service can be part of it. > In order to make your website display properly within the Free Basics Platform and be accessible to people on all types of phones and data…
It's irrelevant - they're selling it as "the internet", but this is actually a regulated walled garden over which they have complete control. You may want to have a read about Net Neutrality and what it means - if your ISP can choose which sites you can and can't visit, can choose which content you can and can't read - that's not "free" or "open". It's "closed" and "closed".
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#225The internet is difficult to describe to someone who has no experience with it. It's like "There's this flibity divit called Google that lets you search for hurgfbr and find veruhryhr written by people you like." If someone has no way to conceptually anchor terms like "search engine", "web pages" or "blogs" then it will be difficult for them to understand what's being said, much less know what they're missing out on.
With bare minimum exposure to the ideas via Free Basics, people will be able to imagine what else is out there. It becomes "Google is like when you type words into the search box on facebook, except you get more results and they're more relevant." I would imagine that once exposed to even a limited version of the internet, people will quickly demand unrestricted access from their local government. But they have to know what they don't have before they can ask for it.
If this is all an Evil Plan by Mark Zuckerberg to set up an internet monopoly in India, then it's a very stupid plan. Facebook is a communication platform. People will use it to communicate with people who have normal internet, and will no doubt hear about all the things that they don't have access to. It's only a matter of time before "Free Basics" becomes "Low Cost Government Internet Access For All".
For many people from my generation, AOL was the internet. It was all we knew. But eventually we figured out that there was more out there, and the people of India are capable of doing that as well. There are hackers in every culture, at every social strata. If you give them an inch, they'll turn it into a mile or more. Free Basics isn't perfect, but for many people it's better than nothing.
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#226Too all the oh-India-is-so-poor-needs-charity-for-everything people out there, digest this: India has 1bn live mobile phone connections (live month on month and not just issued). It has been done by cut throat competition between private phone players, such as airtel, vodafone, reliance, tata among others, and supportive government measures such a giving spectrum for cheap. No verizon needed to come here with their charity plate, giving away restricted free phone connections.
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#227Few 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…
Even though it seems a big number, 52 million is nothing compared to the people who still do not have access. I think the growth rate is not fast enough. We should be doubling the installed base every year. 52 million is just about 1/6 of the total number of users. And I'm inclined to believe that this sluggishness is due in part to the cost of access.
At that rate, India would have ubiquitous internet penetration in next 10 years. I think it would happen much sooner. It would definitely not happen due to Free basics. It would happen as people would see value in it. India has 1 bn mobile phone connections BTW.
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#228Personally, 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,…
IF he is so sincere, then why not give the whole internet free? Why route all the traffic via fb servers ? Why force no encryption?
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#229"And if Free Basics proved popular there would be little to stop India’s big media and e-commerce groups from creating rival offerings, to drive first-time surfers towards their web offerings."
And that's precisely the problem. Most advocates for Net Neutrality are afraid of exactly this: the death of the free and open internet for those who can't afford it, replaced by some fragmented collection of services offered in a bundle package like some Cable Television plan.
Re: Facebook's “free internet” programme hits a roadblock in India
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fail to realize how facebook itself would be a "basic" service for poor people. Haven't seen a single person who has benefited from using facebook/whatsapp to uplift their social status, that being said, what India needs is a change at a fundamental level, NOT free Internet.
Free Basics has other services apart from just facebook. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internet-org/examples Change at a fundamental level is a good long-term goal, but do you want to make people wait 5-15 years for that, instead of getting help in the next week? Will getting free internet slow down the fundamental change?
At what cost my dear sir? The cost of FB having access to all the browsing data? and what can they possibly gain by accessing the Internet? Is the Internet going to give water in Drought? I think the people in the land of Gold are trying to solve the right problems using some weird scenario in their heads, honestly if Mr. Zuckerberg had donated the money he is wasting to trying to push free basics down the throats of Indians, then it would have had a larger impact on some of the things he is trying to attain.
I am not saying that donating money is always a good option, but it is better than giving free Internet least of all keeping whatsapp or facebook as a "basic" need.