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Facebook Leads an Effort to Lower Barriers to Internet Access
- psbp 13y agoWe're stuck with facebook for the rest of our lives. Aren't we?
- dev1n 13y agofacebook is literally an infinite well of data. I don't see how we could eradicate it without a truly terrible abuse of power coming to light from within the company.
- psbp 13y agoFacebook isn't giving me useful implementations of my data. It's holding relationships hostage. It being the de facto source for internet services for large populations is only going to make things worse.
- malandrew 13y agoIMHO solving the Facebook walled garden would be one of the most interesting startups to create today. I've spent several months studying how to create tools that get around walled gardens (unfortunately they aren't mine and I can't open source them) but this is definitely a problem I wouldn't mind working on next. There are ways to get your information out of Facebook that would be extremely hard for them to counter, but it's a fulltime job to create something robust enough and maintaining it in the face of changes Facebook makes.
- nkuttler 13y agoMyspace and others would disagree.
- diziet 13y agoNew York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/technology/facebook-leads-an-effort-to-lower-barriers-to-internet-access.html?hp&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/technology/facebook-leads-...
- psbp 13y agoIt's on the page.
- zobzu 13y agoI start hating on this scrolling design stuff. Specially with bright pink.
- malandrew 13y agoI didn't even try scrolling. I watched the video and then closed the page because I didn't know that there was some other action to take next. They should put a call to action at the end.
- mariocesar 13y agoI'm sensing a new trend: short videos in the backgrounds. Other similar site with the same trend https://letshum.com/ https://letshum.com/
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- rfnslyr 13y agoI absolutely love videos in the background. Brings the page to life. If it doesn't lag my computer I'm ok with it. Anyone have any links to any good tutorials to embed background videos like this?
- quink 13y agotl;dr: Zuckerberg says "Screw net neutrality, I've got dibs on billions of people for my walled garden." > Twitter ... has struck its own deals ... in more than 100 countries to offer some free Twitter access; ... it bundled free Facebook access with some of its Asha feature phones.; Globe Telecom, has used free Twitter, Facebook or Google access > "if you can afford a phone, I think it would be really good for you to have access to the Internet." Yet... it seems like they're equating Twitter, Facebook and Google to "The Internet". > Cut the cost of providing mobile Internet services to 1 percent of its current level within five to 10 years by improving the efficiency of Internet networks and mobile phone software. Now how that metric is measured, I'd like to know. In countries with $10 a month plans, does that mean a 10 cent a month plan instead? Somehow I don't think so. Or do they mean to say by that that Google, Twitter and Facebook will be quota-free? > Facebook is already working on techniques to reduce the average amount of data used by its Android mobile app from the current 12 megabytes a day to 1 megabyte without users noticing. That seems like more of an incentive on carriers to make Facebook quota free as much as anything else... I mean what good is that if you aren't going to: > tackle some thorny infrastructure issues that are huge barriers in the developing world, particularly the long-distance transmission of data to far-flung places. So, this is no Loon. What is this then? > “We’re focused on it more because we think it’s something good for the world,” he said, “rather than something that is going to be really amazing for our profits.” Being the founder of a publicly traded company that had a big IPO, I'm sure the emphasis is on "really amazing for our profits". Having access to Facebook, even at the detriment of other services, being something good for the world apparently is now uncontroversial enough that even the NY Times doesn't report critically. This is how net neutrality dies, people. This is how the World Wide Web disappears into a rapidly diminishing sea of walled gardens. This is, unlike Loon, really more about ensuring that the next billions of people on the web never consider net neutrality as natural thing.
- adenot 13y agoFacebook looking into ways to improve their userbase? Jokes apart, this is a great initiative.
- smutticus 13y agoCorrection: "Facebook lead initiative to bring Facebook to everyone."
- dxm 13y agoCorrection: "Facebook lead initiative to bring advertising to everyone."
- williamle8300 13y agoIt is just my computer... or are they not using any CSS styling?
- egonschiele 13y agoIt's just you.
- harkylton 13y agoIt doesn't seem to work in Chrome. Work's in Safari though.
- williamle8300 13y agoWeird that it doesn't work in Chrome... Surprising that wouldn't bother to test drive it in Chrome.
- ianstallings 13y agoEvery one of us. Everywhere. C̶o̶n̶n̶e̶c̶t̶e̶d̶[Monitored].
- caiob 13y agoGreat initiative, but it doesn't actually say what they're doing towards it.
- goatslacker 13y agoThe rough-draft how: https://www.facebook.com/isconnectivityahumanright/isconnectivityahumanright.pdf https://www.facebook.com/isconnectivityahumanright/isconnect...
- mcebula 13y ago2/3rds of the world does not have internet. It's easy for us to forget that. It's a serious issue, and Facebook is well-positioned to tackle it.
- visakanv 13y agoAgreed. It's easy to criticize.
- u2328 13y agoHow are they well-positioned? I don't mean to sound crass, but what has Facebook ever done that makes you think they're well-positioned? They're pretty much a software/advertising company. Sure, they have their Open Compute project, but besides that, what significant contribution to technical engineering have they contributed to that suggest they have the know-how and ability to scale such a massive infrastructure project.
- zmmmmm 13y agoGoogle seems to be conspicuously absent. It's terrible to be cynical, but can't help feeling like this is just a reaction to project loon. Basically a banding together of companies who might see Loon as a threat, to offer some kind of alternative that they are in control of instead of Google. However unlike Loon, reading the entire page I can't see anything solid they will actually do - develop better compression algorithms? Introduce "business models"? That's it? It sounds suspiciously weak.
- ihsw 13y agoFacebook is an investor in the Asia Pacific Gateway[1], and, despite the minuscule size of the Wikipedia article, it stands to reason that the project will be very big for the SEA region. Their interest in providing internet to as many people as possible isn't new, however Facebook's "internet for everybody" initiative is indeed unexpected. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Pacific_Gateway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Pacific_Gateway
- s3r3nity 13y agoThis is of a large enough magnitude that I'm suspicious it could be something created out of the Project Loon announcement in terms of timing. Also, given that Facebook's mission is to "Make the world more open and connected," this is just the next logical step to me. Not everyone has extra billions hanging around that Google does, and therefore FB + partners need another method to pull it off.
- nvk 13y agotldr; Facebook need new markets to enter to keep growing at expected investor's rate.
- balabaster 13y agoGiven the complete lack of security on the internet, it would seem that we want to extend this lack of security to everyone in the world. Hurrah! Now can we fix the problems before we ship it?
- hiteshiitk 13y agoA detailed plan by Zuckerberg: https://www.facebook.com/isconnectivityahumanright/isconnectivityahumanright.pdf https://www.facebook.com/isconnectivityahumanright/isconnect...
- oscargrouch 13y agoThose people probably dont have any internet, because: 1 - they dont have jobs and lack of money 2 - they are still strugling for food security 3 - their village or city have no energy 4 - they are maybe even without water 5 - they maybe have a low level education so if they are so good and passionate about helping people all over the world, and they are insanelly wealthy people why they also dont make a bigger plan.. Thats one of the reasons i really admire bill gates right now.. he spend his fortune for a real common good.. while what facebook and others are doing is not bad at all, on the contrary can be a good thing.. what piss me off is that sort of marketing bullshit, like if we are stupid people that would buy that is "all for the common good, rainbows and unicorns" Do it, show the good side of it, but also show the real reasoning behind it A human being asking himself, about what he could do to help improve the life of others.. would get a lot of answers to start with but in none of those cases it would start with "extend the internet to the people that can barelly read so they can share their plate without any food in it for lunch time"
- dalek_cannes 13y agoFirstly, Bill Gates is being a philanthropist with the billions he earned by running a lot of other entrepreneurs to the ground. But if he's had a change of heart, then I applaud him, even though it doesn't absolve him of what he did in the past. Secondly, I'm under no illusions about FB's motives, but if this can bring educational resources such as Khan Academy to more people in developing countries, I'm for it. The worst thing you can do to developing nations is to give them handouts (see: Africa). There will be no permanent progress without education.
- nivla 13y agoSad to see a lot of people being cynical about this just because Facebook is taking the lead. Facebook may have personal interest in it but if the global good is greater, we must learn to be appreciative. Most discoveries and inventions, heck even the space race dint start out of the goodness of heart; but aren't we glad they did? I am all up for anything that brings people new source of information. Atleast its better than sitting in a corner and grunting how we don't have Google Fiber or how a 1px scroller disrupts the workflow while failing to realize that 2/3rds of the world has never visited a single webpage in their life.
- samstave 13y agoFB is a front for the NSA at this point. Not willingly, perhaps, but by-proxy
- chucknthem 13y agoYou might as well say the internet is a front for the NSA
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- samstave 13y agoWell, you're correct - however, nobody aggregates the non-US userbase better, more accurately and so cleanly as FB - with 80%++ of their users non-US-based, they are THE goldmine for the NSA. With the new FB policy office in DC, I am sure they are nice and comfy - as well as with their Security head from NSA-FB-NSA (along with all the other spooks FB has) -- its damn clear what is going on.
- dalek_cannes 13y ago"They trust me -- dumb f*s" -- Mark Z. I think that should have been the cue.
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- brymaster 13y agoNo thanks, Mark. Here's hoping that your plan to AOLify the rest of the word and violate the privacy of your future would-be users fails miserably.
- stackedmidgets 13y agoConnectivity: a human right. Privacy: not a human right. The right of the NSA and any other three letter agency to get access to all your private messages or 'private' accounts on Facebook: inviolable.
- cromwellian 13y agoThese proposals look too vague / generic. There's already a lot of people who build mobile apps today and try to compress as much as possible, or limit how much they download. It's like announcing you're leading an initiative to improve the health and nutrition of children, but you won't actually be distributing any vaccines or food, but laying down a set of principles to align local supplier incentives and politicians. Bill Gates criticized Loon because, and probably rightly so, concentrating on health of children with easily preventable measures is the biggest bang for the buck. But this initiative seems even more like Vaporware.
- nhangen 13y agoThis is all just rubbish so that they can find more eyeballs to stick into the service. They've reached almost everyone, so the next logical step is to bring Internet to the only audience they can't yet reach.
- danenania 13y agoQuite a high percentage of the people in the world without internet access live under governments with poor human rights records. In this new age of massive unscrupulous spying and data mining by governments, bringing the internet to new populations without making sure they understand the risks makes them vulnerable to unprecedented levels of tyranny. Any initiative that tries to expand internet access without addressing these basic moral issues is suspect, and we obviously aren't going to see responsible behavior on this front from the likes of Facebook.
- annnnd 13y agoOne could argue that even those in the USA do not understand or cannot avoid these risks, making them (as you said) "vulnerable to unprecedented levels of tyranny".
- biesnecker 13y agoQuite a high percentage of the people in the world with internet access live under governments with poor human rights records, too.
- sravfeyn 13y agoHow do you create a society where organizations would have a vested interest in leading efforts to lower barriers to electricity. Even in present conditions, electricity is after-all a prerequisite to better internet access. I wonder why there are fewer juggernauts looking into electricity than internet.
- vasundhar 13y agoI think this time, Facebook need not sell, it just need to propose the govt.,rest all will be a breeze as the Big boys want more data,more and more to churn, bubble and victimise each citizen possible every day. Hail Facebook,Hail NSA and Other organised shit giving us false promise of security while churning our own data.
- pdshrader 13y agoFrankly, it sounds like he's just recharacterizing basic efficiency plans to make it seem like Facebook is on some sort of altruistic mission. There's little to no action called for, no commitments towards altrustic ends. It's just a "hey, we should get more people online" (which only helps Facebook's bottom line) and a "we're trying to make Facebook load faster" (again, bottom line).
- hrktb 13y ago> The companies intend to accomplish their goal in part by simplifying phone applications so they run more efficiently and by improving the components of phones and networks so that they transmit more data while using less battery power. Isn't it already happening for a while (or forever, depending on the companies) ? Companies who cared about performance and responsiveness already work on optimizing their apps. Because more usage means more revenue. Mobile OS and hardware makers already care about battery life and efficiency, because these are strong competitive advantages. The rest of the effort seems to be into getting carriers to make Facebook/other companies requests out of quota, witch is not new and belongs more to marketing/sales strategy than anything else. This initiative feels like some generic PR move with nothing special to latch on.
- popee 13y agoAnd another NSA approved frontend? >:-)
- workbench 13y agoGotta fight the lowering user numbers somehow