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Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

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Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#31

Post by rhacker »

jteppinette wrote: post #22

> We believe that Internet access is a human right. I disagree with this. This doesn't event make sense [EDIT: to me]. The internet is simply a very large network of private systems. You don't have a right to access this network, nor do you have a right to force someone to join this network. If your "human rights" can be negated by the power going out, they are quite weak. I am being nit-picky, but I just don't like…

> You don't have a right to access this network, nor do you have a right to force someone to join this network.

While I am a hypocrite to suggest this, your statement does come off "god-like" (because I am also doing that here). They are stating a widely held belief that many people agree with.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Internet_access

> If your "human rights" can be negated by the power going out, they are quite weak.

If that's the case then ALL human rights are "quite weak" - whether it is the power going out or a bullet in a brain - effectively all human rights are terminatable. I don't know why suggesting a human right and someone's ability to "negate" it would be related concepts.

Also, I don't think anyone said anything about forcing someone onto this network.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#33

Post by jteppinette »

monocasa wrote: post #30
jteppinette wrote: post #22

> We believe that Internet access is a human right. I disagree with this. This doesn't event make sense [EDIT: to me]. The internet is simply a very large network of private systems. You don't have a right to access this network, nor do you have a right to force someone to join this network. If your "human rights" can be negated by the power going out, they are quite weak. I am being nit-picky, but I just don't like…

Everyone here has access to the court system as a human right, but you better believe the courthouse will be closed if the power goes out too.

Do you not think there were trials before the invention of electricity?

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#34

Post by jibla »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #21
t0astbread wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are Chromebooks really that much cheaper than "regular" Windows or OS-less Laptops? If so, why?

I bought a regular Windows laptop for a homeless person almost 10 years ago, and have done some tutoring for low income folks. Most of them were not computer savvy. The also had a tendency to lose their laptops, lots of theft. My personal experience tells me that whatever solution gets picked, the easier it is to use and replace the computer, the more sustainable it will be.

Good point. Btw regarding the theft issue, the laptops stay on a nonprofit balance (or a local partner balance). Which means that families are not the owners. They sign a document of so-called "temporary usage agreement". In reality, we leave those devices to the families forever but they don't know about it. Since the document is legally binding they still avoid selling them.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#35

Post by mruts »

My wife started a school/community center is Africa and we are one of the only places in town with computers and internet you can use for free. It was a rare occasion indeed that anyone wanted to do anything except watch youtube videos. Now that we banned youtube, people honestly aren't really that interested.

I'm not saying internet is bad or whatever, it's just that it's not going to change people's lives without a lot of groundwork first. Educating people so they have questions to ask, or things to produce, or knowledge to acquire. We both really thought having free internet access was going to be a paradigm shift for these kids, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be making much of a tangible difference at all. You could make the argument (I personally don't), that it has actually made things worse.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#36

Post by qwerty456127 »

We probably should analyse the way it's done in India: ultra-cheap mobile Internet (how do they manage to both provide the coverage and sustain such low prices?) and budget-class devices. There has even been a post about the new class of cheap phones which are more like those of the pre-iPhone era. I believe giving everybody access to YouTube, Reddit and Wikipedia is important.

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#38

Post by mruts »

jibla wrote: post #25
jteppinette wrote: post #22

> We believe that Internet access is a human right. I disagree with this. This doesn't event make sense [EDIT: to me]. The internet is simply a very large network of private systems. You don't have a right to access this network, nor do you have a right to force someone to join this network. If your "human rights" can be negated by the power going out, they are quite weak. I am being nit-picky, but I just don't like…

Does it make more sense if we formulate it as "access to information" and not "Internet access"?

How about just: "We think that access to the internet for everyone is a good thing."

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#39

Post by zrm »

jibla wrote: post #23
t0astbread wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are Chromebooks really that much cheaper than "regular" Windows or OS-less Laptops? If so, why?

They are cheaper mainly because the Chrome OS is Free (and maybe because they have almost no hard inside;) As far as we know OS and antivirus licenses make Windows more expensive.

That explains why they're cheaper than Windows, but what makes them cheaper than equivalent hardware with e.g. Ubuntu?

Re: Show HN: 2.5B people can’t afford internet – need your opinion on our solution

#40

Post by qwerty456127 »

mruts wrote: post #35

My wife started a school/community center is Africa and we are one of the only places in town with computers and internet you can use for free. It was a rare occasion indeed that anyone wanted to do anything except watch youtube videos. Now that we banned youtube, people honestly aren't really that interested. I'm not saying internet is bad or whatever, it's just that it's not going to change people's lives without a…

> Now that we banned youtube

That's a pity. YouTube is a treasure of awesome educational videos, better than any school can be. If only I had YouTube when I was a schoolboy... Cool people explain math (and other subjects) I could never understand but grok instantly this way. I can also hardly imagine a better media spreading cultural progress. It also promotes artistic expression, incl in poor people - have you seen the post about african teens making short scifi movies? If I had to choose just one website to give everybody on Earth access to that would be YouTube.

Nevertheless narrow content kind focus can be a problem - if somebody watches nothing but stupid/weird stuff (it may be good to have this kind of fun occasionally but one should not focus on this too much) and is suggested more and more videos of the same kind this can hardly be beneficial. Perhaps Google should invent a solution to this problem. E.g. showing some educational videos among recommendations regardless to what kind of videos you watch.

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