5 ms·

As an engineer, founder, and investor I'll note that there's an ethical mandate for investors as well; when I started drone.vc I committed as a Quaker to not in

As an engineer, founder, and investor I'll note that there's an ethical mandate for investors as well; when I started drone.vc I committed as a Quaker to not investing in "offensive" technologies. Separately, RE: bringing internet to new places, there's reasonable evidence to show that introducing broadband lifts GDP[1], so whatever you may think of Facebook, giving people high-speed connectivity to the whole Internet is probably a net positive. Disclaimer: I helped start Facebook's Connectivity Lab but no longer work there. [1] http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/391452529895999/WDR16-BP-Exploring-the-Relationship-between-Broadband-and-Economic-Growth-Minges.pdf http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/391452529895999/WDR16-BP-Exp...

cbHXBY1D 9y ago
Most people on this site have not trusted FB's intentions with the drone project for good reason. Ever since we collectively realized a three years ago that FB's internet.org was a wolf in sheep's clothing, most people on here have been distrusting of FB.
mekoka 9y ago
Please note that there's a sharp distinction between bringing the Internet to new places and bringing "the Internet" aka Facebook's walled garden to new places. From a wikipedia section on Free Basics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Basics#User_experience_research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Basics#User_experience_re... > In 2015, researchers evaluating how Facebook Zero shapes information and communication technologies (ICT) usage in the developing world found that 11% of Indonesians who said they used Facebook also said they did not use the Internet. 65% of Nigerians, and 61% of Indonesians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet" compared with only 5% in the US
crpatino 9y ago
Don't be so sure that "lifts GDP" is an absolute (or even a net) positive for the people in the receiving end of "introducing broadband". Specially if we are talking about underdeveloped backwaters, when you see an increase of GDP you must consider how much of it comes from increased productivity and how much from improved accounting. If this is the later, you just put a "virgin population" without the social DNA to defend itself into the reach of global capitalism. The most likely output of that is an import/export imbalance from the region to the outside world (neocolonialism) plus the empowerment of the traditional chieftains as enforcers of the absentee investment class (all the same old problems of our preindustrial world, only more so). It is a bit of the worse of both worlds for the average joe living there.

cbHXBY1D 9y ago

Most people on this site have not trusted FB's intentions with the drone project for good reason. Ever since we collectively realized a three years ago that FB's internet.org was a wolf in sheep's clothing, most people on here have been distrusting of FB.

mekoka 9y ago

Please note that there's a sharp distinction between bringing the Internet to new places and bringing "the Internet" aka Facebook's walled garden to new places. From a wikipedia section on Free Basics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Basics#User_experience_research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Basics#User_experience_re... > In 2015, researchers evaluating how Facebook Zero shapes information and communication technologies (ICT) usage in the developing world found that 11% of Indonesians who said they used Facebook also said they did not use the Internet. 65% of Nigerians, and 61% of Indonesians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet" compared with only 5% in the US

crpatino 9y ago

Don't be so sure that "lifts GDP" is an absolute (or even a net) positive for the people in the receiving end of "introducing broadband". Specially if we are talking about underdeveloped backwaters, when you see an increase of GDP you must consider how much of it comes from increased productivity and how much from improved accounting. If this is the later, you just put a "virgin population" without the social DNA to defend itself into the reach of global capitalism. The most likely output of that is an import/export imbalance from the region to the outside world (neocolonialism) plus the empowerment of the traditional chieftains as enforcers of the absentee investment class (all the same old problems of our preindustrial world, only more so). It is a bit of the worse of both worlds for the average joe living there.