Re: India regulator pillories Facebook over Free Basics lobbying - BBC news

A little bit more on the objections raised by IIT and IIS professors (total
50+):

... The academics said in a statement that the Free Basics plan was "a
lethal combination which will lead to total lack of freedom on how Indians
can use their own public utility, the Internet".
[image: line break]

The professors say there are three key problems
<http://scroll.in/article/778805/full-text-facebooks-free-basics-will-limit-internet-freedom-say-50-faculty-of-iits-and-iisc>
with
Facebook's plans:

   - Facebook assumes control of defining what a "basic" service is.
   - Facebook would be able to decrypt the contents of the "basic" apps on
   its servers. This flaw is not visible to the lay person as it's a technical
   detail, but it has deep and disturbing implications.
   - The term "free" in "free basics" is a marketing gimmick. If Facebook
   gets to decide what costs how much, in effect Indians will be surrendering
   their digital freedom, and freedom in the digital economy, to Facebook.


So all communications decryted by FB - something not even governments can
do -  so there goes privacy for profits and of course it would be "free and
basic" if it brings revenue stream to FB.

Is it not wonderful (sic)?

On 20 January 2016 at 09:01, Kiritkumar Lathia <[email protected]> wrote:

> Follow up on Arun's previous e-mail chain; for once TRAI has taken the
> correct step to protect "net neutrality" which is important for not only
> India. As many have mentioned, there is no free lunch and this type of
> business by false advertising ("Free Basics") is not only morally wrong and
> should be regarded as falsifying a product (access of Internet for free but
> does not give access to Internet - only some selected parts of it). I hope
> it prevails and does not allow Internet cannibalisation . Any news on what
> happened to free Internet access from Google at train stations?
>
> From the BBC news article:
> Quote:
> " But those campaigning to protect net neutrality in India suggest data
> providers should not favour some online services over others by offering
> cheaper or faster access. At least 50 professors of the Indian Institute
> of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science also supported the
> campaign to protect net neutrality, saying that the Free Basics plan was "a
> lethal combination which will lead to total lack of freedom on how Indians
> can use their own public utility, the Internet".
> End Quote.
>
> Best wishes,
> Kirit
>
>
>
>

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