Facebook says it will use its map data to help bring free internet access to un-served communities. BUT the 'Free Basics' internet service only provides restricted access to certain websites!
That prompted "65 advocacy groups from 31 countries [to] release an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, calling then-Internet.org a 'walled garden' in which the world’s poorest people only have access to a limited set of online services approved by Facebook and local carriers," according to a Mashable report* in 2016.
In a final shot of irony, if you want to read that open letter, it is hosted on none other than Facebook itself**: https://www.facebook.com/notes...
** Actually, some of the 65 advocacy groups posted their own copy of the letter, and some groups such as Open Media wrote follow-up letters with specific policy recommendations for Facebook to help keep the internet open: https://openmedia.org/sites/de...
Slashdot Mirror
Facebook says it will use its map data to help bring free internet access to un-served communities. BUT the 'Free Basics' internet service only provides restricted access to certain websites!
That prompted "65 advocacy groups from 31 countries [to] release an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, calling then-Internet.org a 'walled garden' in which the world’s poorest people only have access to a limited set of online services approved by Facebook and local carriers," according to a Mashable report* in 2016.
In a final shot of irony, if you want to read that open letter, it is hosted on none other than Facebook itself**:
https://www.facebook.com/notes...
* "Just bringing Facebook's internet to Africa won't be enough" http://mashable.com/2016/11/04...
** Actually, some of the 65 advocacy groups posted their own copy of the letter, and some groups such as Open Media wrote follow-up letters with specific policy recommendations for Facebook to help keep the internet open: https://openmedia.org/sites/de...