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

Fundamental, well founded and strong arguments there.

TRAI letter to FB:
http://trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Miscelleneus/Document/201601190319214139629TRAI_letter_to_FB_dated_18_01_2016.pdf




On Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 2:12 PM, Kiritkumar Lathia <[email protected]>
wrote:

> 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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-- 
regards,
Banibrata
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bdutta
http://twitter.com/edgeliving

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