Why No to Free Basics by Facebook!
There are other successful
models for providing free Internet access to people, without giving a
competitive advantage to Facebook. Free Basics is the worst of our
options.
Facebook doesn’t pay for Free Basics, telecom operators
do. Where do they make money from? From users who pay. By encouraging
people to choose Free Basics, Facebook reduces the propensity to bring
down data costs for paid Internet access.
Free Basics isn’t about
bringing people online. It’s about keeping Facebook and its partners
free, while everything else remains paid. Users who pay for Internet
access can still access Free Basics for free, giving Facebook and its
partners an advantage. Free Basics is a violation of Net Neutrality
Internet access is growing rapidly in India. We’ve added 100
million users in 2015. Almost all the connections added in India the
last 1 year are NOT because of Free Basics.
Free Basics is
not an open platform. Facebook defines the technical guidelines for Free
Basics, and reserves the right to change them. They reserve the right
to reject applicants, who are forced to comply with Facebook’s terms. In
contrast they support ‘permissionless innovation’ in the US.
The only source of info on Facebook’s Free Basics is Facebook, and it
misleads people. Facebook was criticised in Brazil for misleading
advertising.Their communication in India is misleading. People find the
“Free” part of Free Basics advertising from Facebook (or FreeNet free
Internet) from Reliance misleading.
Facebook gets access to
all the usage data and usage patterns of all the sites on Free Basics.
No website which wants to compete with Facebook will partner with them
because it will have to give them user data. Facebook gives data to the
NSA and this is a security issue for India.
Research has
shown that people prefer to use the open web for a shorter duration over
a limited set of sites for a longer duration.
Facebook says that Free Basics doesn’t have ads, but does not say that it will never have ads on Free Basics.
Facebook has shown people as saying that they support Free Basics
when they haven’t. They may claim 3.2 million in support, but how many
of those mails are legitimate?
million users in 2015. Almost all the connections added in India the
last 1 year are NOT because of Free Basics.
Free Basics is
not an open platform. Facebook defines the technical guidelines for Free
Basics, and reserves the right to change them. They reserve the right
to reject applicants, who are forced to comply with Facebook’s terms. In
contrast they support ‘permissionless innovation’ in the US.
The only source of info on Facebook’s Free Basics is Facebook, and it
misleads people. Facebook was criticised in Brazil for misleading
advertising.Their communication in India is misleading. People find the
“Free” part of Free Basics advertising from Facebook (or FreeNet free
Internet) from Reliance misleading.
Facebook gets access to
all the usage data and usage patterns of all the sites on Free Basics.
No website which wants to compete with Facebook will partner with them
because it will have to give them user data. Facebook gives data to the
NSA and this is a security issue for India.
Research has
shown that people prefer to use the open web for a shorter duration over
a limited set of sites for a longer duration.
Facebook says that Free Basics doesn’t have ads, but does not say that it will never have ads on Free Basics.
Facebook has shown people as saying that they support Free Basics
when they haven’t. They may claim 3.2 million in support, but how many
of those mails are legitimate?
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