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

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

huffingtonpost.in

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 203 posts

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

#41

Post by r00fus »

aravindet wrote: post #7

Facebook's internet.org plan to be somewhat hypocritical, given their (correct) stand in favor of net neutrality in the US. internet.org isn't about the internet at all - it's more a proprietary network similar to Compuserve or AOL. It's the same brand of philanthropy that Microsoft practices when it offers discounted Windows and Office to schools.

I'd say Facebook's moves here are more sinister than Microsoft's (or Apple's - they do the same thing). In the MS/Apple cases, it's simply about pushing product. In FB's case it's about pulling up the ladder after they've climbed it (balkanized Internet means dominant services like FB stay dominant).

After the fwd.us debacle and now this, why should anyone trust Zuck and Facebook in terms of "philanthropy"?

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

#42

Post by viggy_prabhu »

ishansharma wrote: post #9

One thing to note is that there's no EFF like organisation and this is mostly done by volunteers [1]. This has also been largest response to any consultation by Indian government having received 600K+ responses through campaign sites[2][3]. Previous highest was 20000 mails in 1999. [1]: Disclaimer: I am associated and helping the group. [2]: http://savetheinternet.in/ People can submit response here. [3]: http://netn…

Having no organization like EFF is something that needs to be fixed. Depending on volunteers for such activity may not always be feasible in long term fights like this. #Sec66A fight took 3 years of dedication by many individuals to reach some conclusion and we can be sure many such fights will come in future. https://wethegoondas.in/ is such issue which still hasnt got enough attraction. Are there efforts in forming a non-profit organization which will work on such issues on long term basis. Crowd funding for the same when the issue in limelight seems to be the best thing if we have committed people coming forward to work and lead the organization.

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

#43

Post by zodvik »

I'm currently writing a series of posts dissecting the damning TRAI consultation paper (115 pages long).

You can follow that at http://www.zodvik.com/2015/04/15/damn-trai-paper-1/ and contact me if you feel there are improvements to be made (or submit them via PR)

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

#44

Post by comex »

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…

Popular support for net neutrality rallied at the last minute by comedians, eh? Comments sent en masse to a regulatory body? Sounds familiar! Hopefully the result will be the same.

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

#46

Post by denzil_correa »

nileshtrivedi wrote: post #35
rsync wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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…

India has a Competition Commission since 2002.

http://www.cci.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view...

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

#47

Post by ishansharma »

viggy_prabhu wrote: post #42
ishansharma wrote: post #9

One thing to note is that there's no EFF like organisation and this is mostly done by volunteers [1]. This has also been largest response to any consultation by Indian government having received 600K+ responses through campaign sites[2][3]. Previous highest was 20000 mails in 1999. [1]: Disclaimer: I am associated and helping the group. [2]: http://savetheinternet.in/ People can submit response here. [3]: http://netn…

Having no organization like EFF is something that needs to be fixed. Depending on volunteers for such activity may not always be feasible in long term fights like this. #Sec66A fight took 3 years of dedication by many individuals to reach some conclusion and we can be sure many such fights will come in future. https://wethegoondas.in/ is such issue which still hasnt got enough attraction. Are there efforts in forming…

In long term, yes this needs to be fixed. However, this time, the voluteers kept most of the stuff low profile. As of now, I am not aware of any non-profit organization like this. Maybe this is something that can be done after this debate settles down.

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

#48

Post by nileshtrivedi »

ravimbalgi wrote: post #32

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

Google and Twitter are not on internet.org. They are Facebook competitors after all. So much for Facebook's mission of "connecting the world". As ClearTrip said today in its statement: "it is impossible to pretend there is no conflict of interest".

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

#49

Post by belorn »

koolhead17 wrote: post #38

Happy that someone wrote about this. We don`t need Facebook's walled garden. It is surprising to see "Wikipedia" aka champion of free speech part of internet.org.

If a company wanted to provide aid and give away food, we don't claim that it is creating an unfair market for the local food industry.

If Wikipedia want to give away free access to information, suddenly its an unfair advantage in the market of free information?

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

#50

Post by blumkvist »

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…

I just bought the book. Sounds like a very nice read. Thanks.
Post reply on HN