4 ms·

One thing that I've been thinking about, and I'm curious on your thoughts on, is Facebook's "Internet.org" project. If you're not familiar, Facebook is offerin

by acid__ 8y ago

One thing that I've been thinking about, and I'm curious on your thoughts on, is Facebook's "Internet.org" project. If you're not familiar, Facebook is offering low-cost (or free) internet access in less developed countries to a hand-picked selection of sites [0] and has roughly 100m users. [1] It's been argued that they're essentially acting as an ISP and are significantly violating the principles of net neutrality. [2] You say "people [are] making the choice to reside entirely there", but for millions of people around the world, Facebook is the only social media platform available to them at a reasonable cost. Should operating this platform be enough to treat them differently? I could see arguments both ways. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet.org [1] https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/25/internet-org-100-million/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/25/internet-org-100-million/ [2] https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/27/16050446/facebook-net-neutrality-digital-colonialism-internet-org https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/27/16050446/facebook-net-neu...

grawprog 8y ago
I've never heard of that specific program. The only one like that I really knew about was the free data stuff in the Philipines because of a friend of mine there. I know in that specific instance it comes down to basically non-existent regulation over carriers and ISP's and a lack of any real choice. If Facebook is becoming a defacto ISP in countries it should be subject to the same regulations and really should be required to follow net neutrality rules. Though I don't think those exist in a lot of developing countries(or I guess America also...). In the end though, it's those country's governments allowing facebook to do this. These are my realistic thoughts on the matter. My own personal thoughts... That shit's downright evil. Government's should absolutely not be allowing facebook to do this. But I feel the same way about ISP's in general owning content providers and favouring their own services. This practice would be the same as Ford or gm owning a bunch of gas stations and giving preferential prices to drivers of Ford or gm vehicles. I honestly don't understand why it's looked at differently when it comes to internet companies or technology in general. If a social media company wants to be an ISP or a an ISP wants to be a content provider or host, they really should not be able to give preferential treatment to their own content and companies that do this should be scrutinized heavily for bullshit.

by acid__ 8y ago

grawprog 8y ago

I've never heard of that specific program. The only one like that I really knew about was the free data stuff in the Philipines because of a friend of mine there. I know in that specific instance it comes down to basically non-existent regulation over carriers and ISP's and a lack of any real choice. If Facebook is becoming a defacto ISP in countries it should be subject to the same regulations and really should be required to follow net neutrality rules. Though I don't think those exist in a lot of developing countries(or I guess America also...). In the end though, it's those country's governments allowing facebook to do this. These are my realistic thoughts on the matter. My own personal thoughts... That shit's downright evil. Government's should absolutely not be allowing facebook to do this. But I feel the same way about ISP's in general owning content providers and favouring their own services. This practice would be the same as Ford or gm owning a bunch of gas stations and giving preferential prices to drivers of Ford or gm vehicles. I honestly don't understand why it's looked at differently when it comes to internet companies or technology in general. If a social media company wants to be an ISP or a an ISP wants to be a content provider or host, they really should not be able to give preferential treatment to their own content and companies that do this should be scrutinized heavily for bullshit.