Internet.org: Altruistic, Or the Ultimate In Cynicism? 174
Nerval's Lobster writes with one take on an effort to "make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected": "In conjunction with a variety of partners (including Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung), Facebook is launching Internet.org, which will try to make Internet access more affordable to more people. The partnership will also work on ways to lower the amount of data necessary to power most apps and Internet experiences, which could help people in areas with poor connectivity access online services, and devise incentives for businesses and manufacturers to offer customers more affordable access. Why would Facebook and its partners want to connect another 5 billion people to the Internet? Sure, there are altruistic reasons — people online can access information that will improve or even save their lives. But for Facebook, more people online equals more ad revenue, which equals more profit. Social networking in the developed world is reaching a saturation point, with a significant percentage of the population already on one (or more) social networks; only by expanding into developing nations can Facebook and its ilk maintain the growth rates that Wall Street demands. In a similar vein, building devices and services accessible via weaker Internet connections would open up a whole new customer base for the app developers and manufacturers of the world. In theory, Internet.org plans on enlisting a variety of nonprofits and 'experts' to help in its effort; but the initial announcement only lists for-profit companies among its constituency. NGOs, academics and the aforementioned experts will apparently arrive 'over time.' So is this effort really charitable, or a cynical attempt to break into new markets?"
Evil Corporations! (Score:2, Informative)
It's a common fallacy that anything a corporation does that is profitable is necessarily evil. Corporations have no sense of ethics - their actions can have good or bad results, but they don't act with the intention of being good or evil.
If Facebook starts providing free Internet access to Bumblefuck Nowhere and makes ad profit, but the Internet access is unrestricted and can be used for anything, that's a win-win situation.
Re:For once Bill Gates is right (Score:3, Informative)
Because they will be worth more than you think.
The least develop countries are growing really fast and they are on the cusp of a breakout. Sadly, they have been in this position 2, 3 times during the 20th century and have failed, but maybe this time is different. On top of that a lot of their population is immigrating to the first world, repatriating money back. If these people join, the sticky network effect comes into play.
And for all the cynicism out there, corporations just don’t look to next quarter’s results. Most have long term plans where the report progress on a quarterly basis.
Re:For once Bill Gates is right (Score:5, Informative)
Why was this modded flamebait? It's an opinion.
Because it is demonstrably false, and only posted to elicit a reaction. Thus it is flamebait.
BG's charity is NOT set up to produce dependency. He is not giving away food, he is trying to cure diseases, improve literacy, etc. If polio or malaria is eradicated, it is gone, and there is no ongoing dependency. Improved literacy makes people less dependent on charity. Etc.
The dependency cycle is a big problem with government-to-government aid (mostly food handouts and military aid). It is rarely a problem with the type of bottom-up aid that BG is doing.