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Facebook Brings Express Wi-Fi To Ghana, Quietly Expands Free Basics To Morocco and Laos (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the further-expansion dept.

More than a year after Facebook commercially launched Express Wi-Fi in five markets, it is ready to bring the connectivity service to the sixth: Ghana. From a report: In partnership with telecom operator Vodafone Ghana, Facebook today launched Express Wi-Fi, part of Internet.org initiative, in the suburban communities of the Western African nation. The service, available locally in Nima, James Town, Kanda, Pig Farm, and Abossey Okine in the capital city Accra, will aim to offer "carrier-grade Wi-Fi" to people living in some remote communities that lack fiber optic cables.

Ever since India booted Free Basics in early 2016, Facebook has seemingly grown cautious about its connectivity efforts. The company has stopped updating the social media page and press page of Internet.org. Last year, we learned that Facebook had quietly pulled Internet.org from a handful of emerging markets. In recent months, however, it has quietly expanded Internet.org to two new markets -- Morocco (in North Africa) and Laos (in Southeast Asia).

16 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did they ask the people of Ghana if they were even wanted there in the first place?

    1. Re:Facebook by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Did they ask the people of Ghana if they were even wanted there in the first place?

      Why should "the people" make a decision that can be made by people individually?

    2. Re:Facebook by quenda · · Score: 2

      Did they ask the people of Ghana if they were even wanted there in the first place?

      Well, they asked online, and nobody clicked "Dislike".

    3. Re:Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The world and everything in it belongs to the people.
      If the people decide the capitalist class need to be purged, then of course it will fucking happen.

      The rich are nothing but parasites who lead society astray with their disproportionate power. We should get rid of them, and take back their stolen property for the greater good.

    4. Re:Facebook by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Interesting

      When have we ever asked whether the people in Africa wanted the blessings of our civilization?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ghana is more first-world than Mississippi.

    6. Re:Facebook by dmt0 · · Score: 1

      Well, they asked online, and nobody clicked "Dislike".

      A lot of people in Jamaica clicked "Dislike". They thought it means "Dis I like".

    7. Re:Facebook by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Why would any nation risk another crypto PRISM network?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    8. Re: Facebook by dnaumov · · Score: 1

      I am sure all the users only started to use the service at gunpoint.

  2. Free Basics by mentil · · Score: 1, Troll

    The first hit is free, at least.

    The problem is, Facebook won't stop hitting you, even if you cry or ask nicely.
    Battered wife syndrome is the only reason people still use it.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:Free Basics by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Battered wife syndrome is the only reason people still use it.

      No, network effects are why people use it. I'd happily use something else, but it's where the people are.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Free Basics by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Nope. Men were more likely to inflict injury when they resorted to violence, but more women resorted to violence way more often. The resulting ratio value of battered husbands vs battered wives tips slightly in the favour of women (the men being the more battered ones)

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Free Basics by HarrySquatter · · Score: 1

      70% of domestic violence is perpetrated by women

      That is not even remotely close to what the link actually says. The 70% figure was quote-mined from this larger context:

      Almost 24% of all relationships had some violence, and half (49.7%) of those were reciprocally violent. In nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases.

      So sorry, this isn't saying 70% of all domestic violence is by women. It's saying that 70% of cases that account for half of domestic violence cases are perpetrated by women. Which when you work that out makes only 35% of all domestic violence cases. A figure that is half of what you claim.

      Did you really think no one was going to read your link?

    4. Re:Free Basics by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      At first I read that as battered WiFi syndrome. Maybe that’s a good name for a service like this where you feel like there aren’t alternatives so you’re almost forced to stick with it even if it’s bad for you in a multitude of ways.

  3. Remember... by brennz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Facebook is in the Surveillance business.

  4. Friendly local dealer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I just got an offer from my friendly local dealer: the first shot is free. Dunno if he said "heroine" or "crack" or what -- his language was a bit mushy.

    Since it was free, I took it, of course.

    I mean: facebook (and Zuckerberg, very personally) are real assholes. Last week he had a piece in Le Monde [1], The Wall Street Journal and other high-profile publications about how he wants to bring people together, blah, blah.

    And about how he doesn't sell your data. Remember Cambridge Analytica? Money changed hands back then. How' that not "selling your data"?

    Liar.

    This guy gets prime-time in big journals for free to spew his outright lies.

    While the fake news machine continues full-steam, with a couple of fig leaves as decoration [2].

    Again: liar.

    [1] Le Monde samedi 16 janvier 2019, Idées, p. 7
    [2] https://www.theguardian.com/te...