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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

#101

Post by andreyf »

exacube wrote: post #91

Can someone give me a good argument as to why no internet is better than free limited internet with facebook + google search + wikipedia? If Facebook will provide free limited internet (and as always, you can pay regularly to get full internet access) for a lot of basic service, it only seems reasonable they will package their facebook and messenger apps as well. On the whole, do you think internet.org is a bad, nega…

> On the whole, do you think internet.org is a bad, negative effort?

I don't know, but I can conceive of it as a possibility that Internet.org would hinder the propagation of NN "real internet" providers.

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

#102

Post by jacquesm »

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…

Wow, the mask really came off on that one.

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

#103

Post by nileshtrivedi »

exacube wrote: post #82
nileshtrivedi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Google search is on internet.org, so is Wikipedia.

I see Bing here, not Google Search: http://internet.org/press/internet-dot-org-app-now-available...

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

#104

Post by jacquesm »

exacube wrote: post #82
nileshtrivedi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Google search is on internet.org, so is Wikipedia.

What point is there to search without anywhere to go to from your searches other than the sites of those that join the club?

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

#105

Post by Mahn »

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…

> https://i.imgur.com/PAwf6e3.png "Some connectivity is better than no connectivity, hence the violation of NN is justified"

Does he really not see the enormous liability that a precedent like this can create?

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

#107

Post by _anshulk »

exacube wrote: post #91

Can someone give me a good argument as to why no internet is better than free limited internet with facebook + google search + wikipedia? If Facebook will provide free limited internet (and as always, you can pay regularly to get full internet access) for a lot of basic service, it only seems reasonable they will package their facebook and messenger apps as well. On the whole, do you think internet.org is a bad, nega…

If facebook is feeling so generous they can provide a few mb of usage free instead of free access to facebook.

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

#108

Post by lukevdp »

Internet.org is offering a free service to people who would otherwise have no access to the Internet. Net neutrality on a free service in a developing country is an entirely different issue than net neutrality in developed countries with high Internet access rates.

I see similarities between this and GMO in developing countries, where rich, well fed people in developed countries oppose gmo in countries that can't feed themselves because "corporations evil".

People for whom Internet access is a normal part of society are in an ivory tower on this issue.

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

#109

Post by spiritplumber »

kamikazi wrote: post #80
denzil_correa wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India has a Competition Commission since 2002. http://www.cci.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view...

Denzil - we have bodies and committees for every thing but no action takes place. Our CCI is a joke. There is no anti-trust. And less said about our courts & justice system the better. Just a small eg: Satyam chief, Ramalingam Raju, picked up the phone and gave himself in to SEBI (US version of SEC) confessing to financial fraud of INR 4000 crores+ massive job losses, massive losses/harakiri in pension/taxes owed to…

Quick note on numbers:

"Crore" means 10 million (it's a modifier like "hundred" or "thousand" and does not necessarily relate to money).

10 000 000 Indian rupees = 160 310 U.S. dollars

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

#110

Post by yellowapple »

exacube wrote: post #100
ndesaulniers wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's the opposite of net neutrality. It's picking winners and losers. If Facebook is free, but you have to pay for local home grown Indian social networking sites, well then how will those businesses ever compete? Personally, I'm torn. I'm all for free access to Wikipedia. The problem is, not all of the world's knowledge exists there, so you therefor are only giving people a taste of knowledge. With Facebook…

I see the argument for competition, but I don't think that freedom is as important as the freedom of communication and education. Imagine someone in the slums of India (there are tens of millions in these conditions) wanting to learn more about irrigation. Is it more important that they have no limited internet for the sake for competition, or limited internet?

Neither is important if they have offline-cached copies of Wikipedia (all the content of which is readily available for download and made available under a CC-BY-SA / GNU GFDL dual-license), which can then be distributed on optical media, thumb drives, or some other relatively-inexpensive data distribution medium.

This is something that's totally compatible with net neutrality while providing the same benefits you're advocating.

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