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Blow to Internet.org as Indian Internet Companies Begin to Withdraw

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Re: Blow to Internet.org as Indian Internet Companies Begin to Withdraw

#31

Post by miteshashar »

ishansharma wrote: post #11
jbob2000 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no! Giving something away for free! The travesty!

Internet.org is currently offered on only one carrier (Reliance) and this is a clear net neutrality violation. Even if it were offered on all carriers, this is a violation. Also, this is hypocritical since FB supports NN in US! What's worse is that some companies are using this as an example to push for legalisation of zero rating. This is worsened by our regulator's stancce which is pro telecom companies.

Even worse is that a lot of decision makers in our country's administration can be misled into accepting the practice as digital status quo, because a large company like facebook says so.

Re: Blow to Internet.org as Indian Internet Companies Begin to Withdraw

#33

Post by rsync »

manish_gill wrote: post #28

After limited protest/outrage in communities like /r/india, the news finally hit big when a comedy group AIB decided to make a video explaining what Net Neutrality is: https://youtu.be/mfY1NKrzqi0 and then it finally hit mainstream media. Amid pressure from everywhere, Flipkart finally withdrew from the Airtel Zero deal which would have been a blow to Net Neutrality in India. Of course, next step was Internet.org and…

"Btw, this was Zuckerburg's response when posed this question: https://i.imgur.com/PAwf6e3.png"

Bullshit. Facebook cannot become AOL (which is what all the platforms desperately want to become) unless they can vertically integrate with the network.

They cannot currently do that in the US and most of the global north because of antitrust and the growing support and knowledge of net neutrality (thanks, Tim[1]).

But maybe they can get away with it in the global south ... plenty of market share there ...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu#The_Master_Switch

Re: Blow to Internet.org as Indian Internet Companies Begin to Withdraw

#34

Post by ishansharma »

rsync wrote: post #33
manish_gill wrote: post #28

After limited protest/outrage in communities like /r/india, the news finally hit big when a comedy group AIB decided to make a video explaining what Net Neutrality is: https://youtu.be/mfY1NKrzqi0 and then it finally hit mainstream media. Amid pressure from everywhere, Flipkart finally withdrew from the Airtel Zero deal which would have been a blow to Net Neutrality in India. Of course, next step was Internet.org and…

"Btw, this was Zuckerburg's response when posed this question: https://i.imgur.com/PAwf6e3.png" Bullshit. Facebook cannot become AOL (which is what all the platforms desperately want to become) unless they can vertically integrate with the network. They cannot currently do that in the US and most of the global north because of antitrust and the growing support and knowledge of net neutrality (thanks, Tim[1]). But may…

This is their plan exactly. However, we have been able to get 6 out of 39 brands to pull their support back. Hopefully, tomorrow we will see even better support!

Re: Blow to Internet.org as Indian Internet Companies Begin to Withdraw

#35

Post by nileshtrivedi »

rsync wrote: post #33
manish_gill wrote: post #28

After limited protest/outrage in communities like /r/india, the news finally hit big when a comedy group AIB decided to make a video explaining what Net Neutrality is: https://youtu.be/mfY1NKrzqi0 and then it finally hit mainstream media. Amid pressure from everywhere, Flipkart finally withdrew from the Airtel Zero deal which would have been a blow to Net Neutrality in India. Of course, next step was Internet.org and…

"Btw, this was Zuckerburg's response when posed this question: https://i.imgur.com/PAwf6e3.png" Bullshit. Facebook cannot become AOL (which is what all the platforms desperately want to become) unless they can vertically integrate with the network. They cannot currently do that in the US and most of the global north because of antitrust and the growing support and knowledge of net neutrality (thanks, Tim[1]). But may…

Lots of factors at play here. Till a few months ago, India didn't even have a competition commission. We have no anti-trust laws.

You also have to understand the history of telecom in India, especially the Value-Added-Services on mobile. They killed startups ( http://rashmiranjanpadhy.com/2015/04/12/airtel-kills-startup... ), they activated services without users' consent and so on. Can you imagine how big this fraud was in India where 40% of the people are not even literate? It was plain and simple fraud.

Everyone and his uncle learned to curse the telcos in that era. Now they're coming for the web, disparagingly calling it "Over-The-Top services".

Re: Blow to Internet.org as Indian Internet Companies Begin to Withdraw

#39

Post by tazz_2004 »

ishansharma wrote: post #20
nileshtrivedi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's important to keep in mind that telco's arguments, that they are losing money or finding it hard to recover their investment costs, have been thoroughly debunked: http://capitalmind.in/2015/04/telecom-companies-are-not-losi...

The original consultation paper also had similar figures. I don't remember correctly but telcos are expected to lose $400 billion from call and SMS decline by 2020. However, they are expected to earn $1.2 trillion from data growth.

Projected figures after 5 years? I'd like to see some source on this information please.

I know they'll make up for in data, but $1.2 trillion?

Re: Blow to Internet.org as Indian Internet Companies Begin to Withdraw

#40

Post by joshfraser »

ishansharma wrote: post #37
ravimbalgi wrote: post #32

wondering, when facebook, google and twitter start opting out from internet.org

We have been asking them for days now. No response at all!

huh? why would Facebook back out of the organization they created?
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