More Info What is Free Basics?
Facebook has been making a renewed push to convince India's telecom regulator that it should be allowed to run Free Basics, a subsidised internet platform that gives people Facebook and a few other services for free while violating the principles of net neutrality on which the internet was built. Here is a quick explanation of what net neutrality is and a primer on why Facebook's platform is dangerous.
Perhaps no-one's opinion is as significant as that of Tim Berners-Lee - the man who invented the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee earlier this year advised users to say no to zero-rating programs such as Free Basics. He added that anything offered in the name of the "Internet" which isn't the "full Internet", isn't really free and public.
In November, Bengaluru-based jobs portal Hiree.com (earlier called MyNoticePeriod.com) was approached by Facebook to become a part of Free Basics. This partnership would have helped the three-year-old startup make its presence felt in smaller cities and compete with established players like Naukri.com. But the founders were “not comfortable with the idea” and decided to give it a miss, Abhijit Khasnis, its co-founder and chief operating officer, told Quartz.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, felt “choked” during his recent trip to China because of the country’s protectionist internet policies. “Twitter and Facebook were blocked in China and I had to create a Microsoft account to send emails and tell everyone to forward important emails to me on that new ID” Sharma told Quartz. “Facebook cribs about China’s firewall, how can they be part of something that splits the internet in India?”
Paytm was a part of Facebook’s initiative earlier but pulled out in April, along with other players including the Times Group, NDTV, and NewsHunt. Around the same time, India’s largest e-commerce portal, Flipkart, also withdrew from Bharti Airtel’s differential pricing platform, Airtel Zero.
Since launch, Free Basics has been controversial. Though it offers critical resources to people who might not otherwise be able to afford internet access, the program also offers a huge competitive advantage to the sites and services it includes. For instance, if Facebook Messenger is free to use, any other messaging app is going to be a hard sell
You can imagine that a poor kid in a village in central India should be able to see Khan Academy videos, her Dad should be able to look up agricultural spot prices on Google or a commodity exchange and perhaps her Mom could look for a better-paying job at a top job board. But natch, none of these are part of the so-called "Internet/Free Basics" that Facebook offers the poor.
The things which may look basic now may not be basic in next 10 years. By giving Facebook control of which apps to give for free, we are creating a monopoly. New startups won't be able to compete as everyone will use the Facebook's free alternative. For example:- If free basics was launched in 2010, then Whatsapp would never have been so popular as 'Facebook Messenger' would have been free, while you would have to pay data charges to use 'Whatsapp' or any other service. This creates a monopolistic environment where only Facebook will thrive.
ALTERNATIVES:
- Give subsidized data coupons like Rs10 for first 200MB of the month.
- Lay the infrastructure(cables, routers etc) to connect villages/rural towns.
- Give free unrestricted internet to poor people in selected regions.
- They can create something like 'GoogleWebLight For Slow Internet' which will reduce the data size of all websites and provide it for free.
- Mozilla in partnership with Grameenphone in Bangladesh allows users to receive 20 MB of data usage for free each day, in exchange for viewing an advertisement.
- Aircel is going to give free unrestricted internet at the speed of 64kbps across the country.
Support the FSMI campaign(www.swecha.org),Save the internet!
(OR)
You can go to Save The Internet! and sent an email to TRAI saying you are against this. TRAI have already put a ban on 'free basics' till 30st Dec and is asking user's input. You can spread this information and ask your friends to also do the same. They have made it very difficult to write convincing articles against it, as the writer would end up looking like a jerk/elitist if they say "I am against free basics for the poor". This is why it is important for the people who know the truth to help others understand it. Is it possible to stand against a multi million dollar advertising campaign containing the word 'free' by a company which already has direct access to most internet users?
