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Introducing the Internet.org App
- djtidau 12y agoWhat a good way to do some social good whilst also opening up a new userbase that was not previously accessible. With Facebook and FaceBook Messages both in the available applications, they get a foothold there ahead of their competitors.
- thejosh 12y agoAh yes, because the very poor have a good disposable income.
- quink 12y ago> The Internet.org app will be available first to Airtel subscribers in Zambia and we’ll continue to improve the experience and roll it out to other parts of the world. And by coincidence this is how net neutrality as a concept will not be a thing in Zambia going forward. Screw you, Facebook. Your efforts to lock in the next few billion into an ecosystem controlled by you are utterly despicable. http://i.imgur.com/5RrWm.png http://i.imgur.com/5RrWm.png If you truly cared about doing something good, how about creating something like standardising a low bandwidth HTTP header? How about just channelling money into actual investments in infrastructure? How about working on multicasting information cheaply out instead of unicasting it to every single locked in member of your ecosystem? Why Wikipedia and not Urban Dictionary, Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg or GitHub? Please let us know if you're going to be the winners and losers picker in the way I can see from the screenshots of your app so we may, and this may be a tad hyperbolic, prepare your very well deserved destruction. Who exactly elected Mr. Zuckerberg as Mr. "I decide what free (pun intended) speech is"?
- walterbell 12y agoIt's unfortunate that 7 commercial entities have adopted the internet.org brand. When I read the headline, I assumed this was from the Internet Society, but they are http://www.internetsociety.org http://www.internetsociety.org . Anyone know which non-profit organizations have a governance role in internet.org?
- dm2 12y agoI guess it's official, Facebook isn't going anywhere and will continue to become more and more part of our lives. They're getting close to the level of Google (which I do trust with my data because they are transparent about most issues before people start asking them to be). http://newsroom.fb.com/pages-directory/ http://newsroom.fb.com/pages-directory/ http://newsroom.fb.com/resources-projects/ http://newsroom.fb.com/resources-projects/ We can avoid Facebook all we want but one of these days there is going to be an app or product that's superior to all competitors and were going to be required to use our Facebook login, for many of us it's already happened. I wish they would allow us to restrict what information was given to apps, whether or not the apps "required" it. I never login with Facebook but sometimes check the permissions it asks for, all friends, all info, etc are the norm. I don't want any service to have access to my list of friends, photos (that not even friends can see), and any app my friends have can access my information, I just don't trust the apps/services not to misuse the data or to have the data stolen. I'm starting to trust Facebook a little more, but it's going to take time. I do trust Facebook more than some sites like LinkedIn, but that's not saying much, LinkedIn will never have my approval. More open-source technologies (and services) and less requirements to "connect your Facebook profile" would go a long way in my opinion. Give users the option to connect Facebook and the adoption rate (and trust level) will be much greater.
- tomschlick 12y agoI believe you can. This is how to do it retroactively http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-adjust-app-and-web-site-permissions-on-facebook/ http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-adjust-app-and-web-site-pe... I think there is an option for the same kind of control when approving an app as well (on the web at least)
- dm2 12y agoAh, nice. Those have definitely been improved since the last time I made a site that used Facebook login. 2 years ago it use to be a data-miners paradise, you could grab almost all users data plus all data that their friends shared with only friends, it seems like they've updated these privacy permissions as well. Apps do still have access to photos that I'm tagged in that I've got hidden as best as I can tell is possible, not even Google has access to that information.
- frik 12y agoThe internet.org website is down: http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/internet.org.html http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/internet.org.html 500 Internal Server Error -- http://www.internet.org http://www.internet.org
- pations9 12y agoSite is working here without a problem.
- frik 12y agoInternet.org was down for everyone two hours ago. I checked it also with isitdownrightnow.com and downforeveryoneorjustme.com. Probably the Reddit/Slashdot/HN effect or a DNS cache on their side. It works fine now.
- JetSpiegel 12y agofrik didn't pay the ISP ransom probably.
- happyshadows 12y agoSeems like a throwback to the days of the web portal (ala Yahoo.)
- frik 12y agoyes, like a mixture of: * original The Microsoft Network (1994-1995) the MSN client that shipped with Win95 (instead of a web browser) that was meant as an alternative to the WWW; or similar limited portal services like America Online, CompuServe that are now obsolete * portal websites with widgets like Yahoo, AltaVista, MSN (1996+) * HTML5 web app store (btw. the Mozilla smartphone shown in the video already has an official Mozilla web app store)
- volent 12y agoIt's funny how they describe the app as "providing a set of [...] basic services" and they include Facebook. Not a basic service at all in my opinion. (Also there is no Twitter, what a surprise !)
- octo_t 12y agocommunication is a basic service (and human right!)
- __david__ 12y agoAre you implying that access to Facebook is a human right?
- reitanqild 12y agoAgree or not but I have a very clear feeling that developing nations are not twitters demographic nor is it their target demographic. Just think about it: Who are people following on twitter? Mostly not neigbours and general relatives. The only instances I have seen where twitter has helped people anywhere close to developing countries was during the revolts in Egypt and I have a a feeling even those reports where kind of inflated before they reached our tech bubble.
- sgarbi 12y agoyou want the internet to be widespread? Promote things like long-range wifi and mesh networks.
- dm2 12y agoThis is a great idea for Facebook! They're in the perfect position to have widespread adoption quickly and the service would be invaluable. Privacy would be key though, they'd have to opensource it and prove to people that it's secure and private.
- bithive123 12y agoIdeally Facebook would engineer itself out of existence, but I'm not holding my breath.
- dm2 12y agoWon't happen, I've been waiting for them to become like MySpace but it just hasn't happened. Facebook is the best at social media, there's no denying that. I would support them if they would have stayed small, simple, and private, but they kept adding, tracking, Sharing, Liking, Poking, etc.
- CalRobert 12y agoWireless mesh networks are not always feasible due to legal restrictions; see the discussion on the Gotenna article.
- sparkzilla 12y agoFirst Ebola, now Facebook.
- aaronbrethorst 12y agoOne of my sisters and her husband live in Zambia, where they do public health work. Specifically, he works on malaria[1], and one of the greatest challenges he faces is field data collection. Enabling everyone with a compatible phone to send in data would, I'm sure, be incredibly valuable. I'm bummed that there aren't any public health tools included in this app. Hopefully they'll consider adding something like that in the future. [1] Malaria affects almost 1/3 of the country's population annually: http://www.unicef.org/zambia/5109_8454.html http://www.unicef.org/zambia/5109_8454.html
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- cine 12y agoFactsForLife is included, doesn't that count as a public health tool? Not sure what you mean specifically, but this appears to at least educate around a lot of health topics. http://www.factsforlifeglobal.org/ http://www.factsforlifeglobal.org/ I can see the value of data collection too though, but I think for a person accessing the internet for the first time, they would be more interested in gaining information than sending data about themselves into the void.
- andre_lesa 12y agoIt also has Zambia ureport (zambiaureport.org), The ureport application itself is an SMS Counselling platform+polling+campaigning. What facebook is making available are the Frequently Asked Questions and answers. ...Am the developer on Zambia U-Report if anyone has any questions.
- raman325 12y agoThe optimist in me applauds Facebook for the effort to provide basic data access to the developing world. The pessimist in me wonders if this is simply a brilliant strategy by Facebook to acquire the 4.5 billion people who aren't currently connected without having to compete with others. What's different between this and getting rid of net neutrality aside from side stepping the government entirely and doing it under the premise of helping the world become a better place? The realist in me guesses that they probably see both sides and consider it a win/win scenario. I mean, wouldn't you?
- devcpp 12y ago>wouldn't you No I wouldn't. I've hoped too many times that this kind of monopolist-but-beneficial scheme would work for the best, only to be consistently disappointed that the company behind it will use it only for its own interests when it's in a bad situation. And then everyone wonders "why did we let this happen?" Yeah...
- whistlerbrk 12y agoAgreed, and questionable integrations like this feel connected to me: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/07/30/sprint-tries-a-facebook-only-wireless-plan/ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/07/30/sprint-tries-a-facebo...
- theklub 12y agoThis is old but this is why I would never trust Facebook.. http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims-wont-help-facebooks-privacy-problems-2010-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims...
- wegi 12y agoIf they want to privde Internet for everyone, why don't they use their money to fund, for example, DTN research? Ah right, then they couldn't collect every move the internet user makes onlne.
- fred_durst 12y agoInteresting timing considering Sprint just announced the Facebook plan for $12/month. And internet.org reeks of imperialism in the worst way.
- smanuel 12y agoYep, and all the hypocrisy... Internet.org — Every one of us. Everywhere. Connected. When the blatant truth is: Internet.org — Every one of us. Everywhere. Connected. Through Facebook. Because we need MOAR users! To serve MOAR ads.
- fred_durst 12y agoI don't know. I think its closer to the good ol' East India Company pushing Opium around the world. No one needs Facebook. It's addictive and warps a persons perspective of the world around them and their friends and family.
- kome 12y agonicely put.
- recursion1133 12y agoWow, this is annoying. But, people should have access to the internet, so it's good I suppose. It really looks like someone's trying a new form of censorship. Here's hoping Google brings free speech to people (facebook is the king of sleezily building reputation). Also looks like facebook's trying to get rid of Google.
- gioele 12y agoWelcome to the Internet where you exist only if you beg the powers that be to include you in a list. This is the first time in my life I see a "country" going from democracy to aristocracy.
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- exit 12y agothis is anti net neutrality
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- alokyadav15 12y agoIts nice to see , Indian Telecom giant "Airtel" is one of the partners of internet.org
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- Kinnard 12y agoWait. I don't understand. Why not just give people http?
- Shank 12y agoIt's probably akin to Facebook Zero. Facebook isn't giving everyone free reign to access the internet; they're probably paying providers to deliver certain information that is pertinent and important. Health and weather information, for instance, is unbelievably liberating to a population without information.
- aw3c2 12y agoThey would get the wrong idea. Access to information should not be free, the internet as it happened to develop was a mistake. We must make sure we don't let the third-world make the same.
- reitanqild 12y agoMeta: For anyone who didn't recognize it at first sight, this is sarcasm. Relevant such even if I and you don't necessarily agree. (If you are about to downvote parent because he is wrong, read up on sarcasm and count to ten. If you happen to think it was more irrelavant or more out-of-place than most stuff here I can certainly see that, go ahead and downvote : ) PS: This comment really shouldn't be necessary but I have seen examples lately of people failing to not only appreciate well-placed sarcasm but also recognize it, as seen by the fact that they will start arguing how the parent comment is wrong. Sarcasm, well used, is^h^h used to be a very powerful technique because of the way it can expose the stupidity of something.
- pjc50 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law There are plenty of powerful people seriously arguing that the free internet is a bad thing.
- icebraining 12y agoBecause that would be killing the mobile internet market, which means the provider would ask for much, much more money in exchange. In many countries, it could also be ruled as anti-competitive (dumping laws and such).
- sniuff 12y agoI don't understand why is everyone here crying how evil this is. They are going to provide FREE Internet access to the basic websites and how that is a bad thing?
- joepie91_ 12y agoBecause the only way this is free is in the immediate monetary sense, and they are using it as a wolf in sheep's clothing to push through their own shit. They're effectively just pretending to be the 'good guys', in order to destroy net neutrality before it gets a chance.
- __david__ 12y agoIt's not free "internet" access. The "Internet" is the place where I can route arbitrary IP packets to any other host on the net. It is not 7 or 8 sites chosen by God speaking HTTP on port 80 (443 if you're lucky).
- choffee 12y agoIs there somewhere to complain about the domain name being an .org as this seems to be the opposite of the internet. Why don't they just give people 200Mb of free data if they really want to promote the internet. A better site name might be corpnet.com lockinnet.com.
- sfeng 12y agoThey're giving people something for free. It's hard to complain about that.
- RobAley 12y ago"Free" doesn't mean "good" necessarily. Drug dealers often give the first hit free (particularly to kids) to get them hooked.
- kybernetyk 12y agoThere ain't no such thing as a free lunch
- walterbell 12y ago7 corporations get to decide what the word "internet" means or which books/sites are free? What about the other N-7 corporations in the world?
- oldmanjay 12y agohi! welcome to the Internet! people can complain about EVERYTHING with ease. it's quite amusing from the right frame of reference
- higherpurpose 12y agoFacebook.org would've been better.
- SimeVidas 12y agoYea, smells like silo to me.
- aestetix 12y agoI love how this is posted on facebook.com and not internet.org.
- miralabs 12y agoI dont get the included Google Search. If you have limited sites where you can use the data, what's the use of searching the internet?
- martius 12y agoIt's hard to have a clear perspective on this. Obviously it's again net neutrality, and there are probably a lot of better ways to give access to Internet to people who don't have it. On the other end, I'd like to think it can be really useful to some people. I regret however that the conditions and the process to be integrated to the app are not clearly stated. For instance, it should be required that a service is accessible without restriction of any kind, and be interoperable... and Facebook Messenger doesn't meet these requirements.
- lucb1e 12y agoMy perspective on this as I just said to someone: It's an opportunity I wouldn't pass on I guess, but this is basically net neutrality in reverse. When companies start deciding which websites are free and for which you pay the "normal" price, suddenly the normal price is extra. </open-internet> --- So yeah a Facebook app that offers Facebook access for free. How convenient, right? For good measure throw in another few services that look good but are still limited (google search without being able to click any links? Lovely) and we have something that we can present as a good thing to the world.
- walterbell 12y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town
- jonnykry 12y agoWow. I feel deceived for thinking this was a good idea. I mean, it is a good idea... but this link's relevance is troubling.
- walterbell 12y agoFacebook PR has the analytics benefit of a big database of human emotions. Much opportunity for fine tuning of messages :(
- SimeVidas 12y ago“Internet.org is a global partnership between technology leaders, nonprofits, local communities and experts…” - Which nonprofits? Not listed in the founding members.
- ChikkaChiChi 12y agoIt's going to take Amazon being added to a list like this before the rest of the Capitalists lose their minds over this. * Where is the documentation about the methodology for selecting what apps are available? * Why is Accuweather, a private company, offered top billing over other global wearther forecasting services? * Why is Google given "Internet Search" billing over Bing or DuckDuckGo? What happens if a company in Zambia wants to create their own search engine? How can they penetrate a market? I wasn't expecting the closed Internet to ramp up this quickly, but this is absolutely terrifying to me from a consumer and business viewpoint.
- skyebook 12y agoNet Neutrality issues aside (even though they scare me), it bothers me that they'd produce this in English as only 16% of the population speaks English.[0] A tiny percentage of Zambians claim English as their first language, what about the rest of the people who either don't have access to schools (where English is taught[1]) or don't have the level of comprehension required to navigate. I would venture a guess that by filtering the numbers of English speakers by those who own mobile phones you'd jack up the percentage of English speakers, still.. this feels like it was designed more as a play to drive new users to sites than to genuinely get good information into the hands of those who need it. Of course, I can't actually find the app anywhere, so if it were to come out that the app actually includes Bemba or Nyanja localizations.. I'd be taking a different tone. (FWIW, Facebook doesn't appear to support either [2]) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-sp... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Zambia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Zambia [2] https://www.facebook.com/translations/FacebookLocales.xml https://www.facebook.com/translations/FacebookLocales.xml
- fiatjaf 12y agoSomalia has fast internet everywhere despite not having had a State for almost 20 years. Despite?