Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
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Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#2This is going very quickly from
> Nothing to worry about, I trust the people in charge
> to do the right thing, after all they did show better
> judgement in the past
> We hope the people in charge know what they are doing
However, in this one instance the government seems to think that Facebook's Free Basics thing is a 'Good Thing'. I hope better sense prevails !
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#3I used that message box to contact TRAI, but I don't think that my message is exactly what Facebook expected.
> Hey TRAI, you're doing an awesome job!
> Net neutrality is awesome! Don't let shithead companies like Facebook from stop you from your goal. You're doing a good job!
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#4Facebook provides free access to Facebook / Wikipedia etc... then customers that have no access win because they get access and along with it, some pretty nifty tools to gain information and share news with their friends and family.
On the other hand, if Facebook doesn't provide free internet, then all those people stay in the dark.
What does net neutrality have to do with this? It's not those people are paying for an unequal service. It's FREE!
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#5Facebook provides free access to Facebook / Wikipedia etc... then customers that have no access win because they get access and along with it, some pretty nifty tools to gain information and share news with their friends and family. On the other hand, if Facebook doesn't provide free internet, then all those people stay in the dark. What does net neutrality have to do with this? It's not those people are paying for a…
This is the "some internet access is better than none" argument. However, the end result is
- facebook controlling internet access for those people
- Zero Rating creates an imbalance in the ecosystem, favoring websites and services that can get into the walled garden
- facebook gets to mine your usage data.
There are better ways of improving internet access, such as :
- The Mozilla Foundation runs a program with Grameenphone, where users get free data in exchange for watching an advertisement.
- The Mozilla Foundation also runs a program with Orange in Africa, where those who purchase a $37 handset get 500 MB of free data.
- There are data cashback schemes such as Gigato offer data for free, for surfing some sites. Airtel has launched night plans, which give data as a cashback upon usage of the Internet between midnight and 6am, helping bring cost of access down.
These things work, without breaking net neutrality. See [0] for a more thorough discussion of these arguments.
[0]: http://blog.savetheinternet.in/response-to-facebook-townhall...
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#6I used that message box to contact TRAI, but I don't think that my message is exactly what Facebook expected. > Hey TRAI, you're doing an awesome job! > Net neutrality is awesome! Don't let shithead companies like Facebook from stop you from your goal. You're doing a good job!
FB won't be reporting each individual message to TRAI, I think. They'll just submit a few picks, and give out the aggregate number of people who submitted the form.
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#7Facebook provides free access to Facebook / Wikipedia etc... then customers that have no access win because they get access and along with it, some pretty nifty tools to gain information and share news with their friends and family. On the other hand, if Facebook doesn't provide free internet, then all those people stay in the dark. What does net neutrality have to do with this? It's not those people are paying for a…
This is the "some internet access is better than none" argument. However, the end result is - facebook controlling internet access for those people - Zero Rating creates an imbalance in the ecosystem, favoring websites and services that can get into the walled garden - facebook gets to mine your usage data. There are better ways of improving internet access, such as : - The Mozilla Foundation runs a program with Gram…
Did you never use these free AOL CDs when you were a kid. Yes they did provide access to the entire internet, but it was designed to get people to use AOL. I am not going to complain about free internet even if it is walled.
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#8Facebook provides free access to Facebook / Wikipedia etc... then customers that have no access win because they get access and along with it, some pretty nifty tools to gain information and share news with their friends and family. On the other hand, if Facebook doesn't provide free internet, then all those people stay in the dark. What does net neutrality have to do with this? It's not those people are paying for a…
"sharing news" only from the limited news sources offered by Facebook and permitted on Facebook.
Facebook and the local governments there could have a huge effect on warping people's views there.
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#9Facebook provides free access to Facebook / Wikipedia etc... then customers that have no access win because they get access and along with it, some pretty nifty tools to gain information and share news with their friends and family. On the other hand, if Facebook doesn't provide free internet, then all those people stay in the dark. What does net neutrality have to do with this? It's not those people are paying for a…
This is the "some internet access is better than none" argument. However, the end result is - facebook controlling internet access for those people - Zero Rating creates an imbalance in the ecosystem, favoring websites and services that can get into the walled garden - facebook gets to mine your usage data. There are better ways of improving internet access, such as : - The Mozilla Foundation runs a program with Gram…
Not to mention that Facebook's partner in all this is Reliance Telecom, who do not have a good track record on censorship. You need an RCom subscription in order to have access.
Does anybody happen to know how easy or hard it is for a site to be whitelisted under Free Basics? Or if Reliance has any negotiating power on that front?
Re: Facebook’s “Save Free Basics in India” Campaign Provokes Controversy
#10Facebook provides free access to Facebook / Wikipedia etc... then customers that have no access win because they get access and along with it, some pretty nifty tools to gain information and share news with their friends and family. On the other hand, if Facebook doesn't provide free internet, then all those people stay in the dark. What does net neutrality have to do with this? It's not those people are paying for a…
Its better to provide free as in freedom when attempting to provide internet to the masses.
Claiming to provide free as in beer means either someone else is paying for it or/and you end-up paying for it in other forms i.e. you are the product they acquired and are being sold.