This App Lets You Piggyback Facebook's Free Internet To Access Any Site 67
sarahnaomi writes In countries like Zambia, Tanzania, or Kenya, where very few have access to the Internet, Facebook is bringing its own version of the net: Internet.org, an app that gives mobile users free access to certain sites such as Google, Wikipedia and, of course, Facebook. While the initiative has clearly positive goals, it's also been criticized as an "imperialistic" push for Facebook colonies, where novice Internet.org users will grow up thinking their restricted version of the web is the real internet. To fight against that possibility, a 20-year-old developer from Paraguay is working on an app that tunnels the "regular" internet through Facebook Messenger, one of the services free to use on Internet.org's app. This allows Internet.org users to establish a link to the outside, unrestricted internet, circumventing restrictions.
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Or something.
Something is better than nothing, but the people doing nothing will whine about something.
CDs (Score:4, Funny)
All we need now is for Facebook to release initial access to this app to users via CD distribution methods and the old internet will be new all over again!
Re:CDs (Score:5, Funny)
and call it Africa On Line ?
Re:Thereby allowing facebook MITM attacks. (Score:4, Interesting)
RFC 2324 (Score:2)
A protocol by means of securely tunneling data across Facebook messenger using only Muppet Stickers and smiley faces.
It's funny because it's doable.
Like the 100 mpg carburetor (Score:3)
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Will this app be bought out and buried by the Facebook?
There is no need to buy a piggyback program when it's much easier to just detect and block it.
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Will this app be bought out and buried by the Facebook?
No, like most big corporations where people find ways around their greedy restrictions, they will simply change all their APIs to make the new app no longer function. Then they will claim the app is a violation of their "copyrights" and threaten the creator with cease-and-desist letters and lawsuits. Microsoft used to be notorious for doing this whenever someone from the open source community found a non-Windows way to access Windows APIs. It rapidly becomes an escalating arms race the small time developer
Re: Like the 100 mpg carburetor (Score:1, Insightful)
Greedy? They are providing FREE Internet to the third world. I hardly consider that greedy.
They developed it as an education and communication tool, allowing access to Wikipedia, Google and Facebook.
That gives them access to knowledge, news, email, chat and other communication tools.
The only other thing I would add is Khan Academy.
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"The only other thing I would add is Khan Academy." This gets to the heart of it- by acknowledging the drawbacks of this blinkered view of the web you just shot your own argument down.
(p.s. it's not free, you pay with your personal information and privacy)
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(p.s. it's not free, you pay with your personal information and privacy)
Youtube doesn't have ads when you watch Khan videos.
I suppose Youtube could still track you, but the same could be said of any video you watch on the internet.
Re: Like the 100 mpg carburetor (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the kind of thing that makes it hard to be altruistic.
Do nothing, but give lip service to social action, and everyone loves you.
Do something, and be endlessly criticized for not doing more.
This is true for both companies and individuals, by the way. If you ever make a great effort to help friends or family that are having a hard time, prepare for them to criticize you to everyone who will listen for not doing more.
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Just look at every armchair critics on /. criticizing Bill Gates at every turn. "Bill is only giving African kids Windows computers, waaahhhh, waaaahhhhhh"
Yeah, well what the fuck kind of computers are YOU giving to African kids?
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You're viewing the activity from too high an altitude.
Zoom in to where you see some granularity and you'll discover that Bill Gates is increasing the supply of consumers.
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Bill Gates is increasing the supply of consumers.
So is pretty much anyone else who is giving anything to charity. And at least they're giving, not just sitting back bitching about it.
And do you really think that Bill Gates thinks some village that can't even afford running water is someday going to be a big-ticket Windows buyer? If his goal were really only to capture future Windows consumers, I'm pretty sure he'd be giving all his computers away in growing areas of China and India, not Africa.
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No.
China and India are more aware if Gate's bullshit than Africa.
Look ... I don't object to the project. Gates can present it as a business plan instead of as a charity.
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increasing the supply of consumers.
Isn't that just a cynical way of saying making Africans richer and more computer literate?
Sure, the likely Windows lock-in kinda sucks, and a FOSS utopia would be great and all, but still it seems a lot better than doing nothing.
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I don't object to the project ... I object to the lie. The idea is to make a shitload of money off poor people who are desperate.
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Your phrasing rather implies you do object to the project.
The idea is to make a shitload of money off poor people who are desperate.
Let's try that more neutrally: there's a profit-motive here, whether or not it's benefiting the Africans themselves.
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Let's try telling it like it is:
The plan is to feed money to the greedy CEOs and shareholders.
I know the difference between bullshit and wild honey.
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Well ok, but you've not made a convincing case, you've just restated your opinion.
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Sorry. It's not opinion. It's reality.
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Do something that seems altruistic on the surface but is in reality a thinly disguised power grab, and be defended by the same kind of useful idiots who once praised the Soviet Union.
People might be better off with Facebook-net than nothing, but it has consequences beyond that - for example, real Internet provide
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Which product do you think "real" internet providers will have trouble competing with: free Internet.org, with access to only a few whitelisted services, or the hacked (but still free) Internet.org that allows you to go anywhere? Without the hack, you get basic access for free, and if you have some cash you can buy full access from a local company. With it, there are few reasons to pay anymore.
So this guy basically just wants to give everyone free access to the complete internet, because entitlement.
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Well, if you think Internet access is a basic right, then you would of course think there's an entitlement to it.
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This isn't altruism as one of the conditions of altruism is selflessness. This is obviously just another way to promote Facebook.
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After you graduate from elementary school, you'll have the knowledge that Facebook (and everyone else) is driven by money.
Facebook does not have a heart an they are not required to have one.
Instead, Facebook has super-rich CEOs and greedy, short-sighted shareholders.
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Please don't assume for even a second they had altruistic intentions with this. Sure the outcome *might* be 'good', but more than likely it'll function as a way to shovel people onto The Facebook, harvest user information, and be well positioned for advertising if/when these economies start to pick up.
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They need internet (Score:1)
Just like they needed those european explorers too. Hooray for Zuckerburg.
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This.
It's an exploitation of those who are desperate.
When Big Business has tapped out those with means, it's time to go after the poor.
Yeah.... (Score:2)
... this won't last.
Isn't Google basically the Internet? (Score:3, Interesting)
How do you have access to Google and not the rest of the Internet through that? Do you just get Google's apps (minus search)?
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Whoosh, but I get it.
Well played.
Seems counter to the goal (Score:2)
So.. (Score:2)
Failbook confirmed for next AOL (Score:2)
Of course I'm also hoping Failbook becomes as irrelevant as AOL, sooner rather than later..
Against TOS (Score:3)
Clearly against the terms of service and will quickly be patched and disabled. Being critical of facebook in this instance seems a little office base. They are clearly getting limited access that they would not already have. No one is entitled to everything for free.
Hasn't this all happened before? (Score:2)
In the United States, where very few are not willfully ignorant of technology, America Online is bringing its own version of the net: America Online, an application that gives computer users access to certain features such as E-Mail, mindless time-killing games and, of course, instant messaging with search functions made for creepy people. While the initiative has clearly profitable goals, it's also been criticized as an "imperialistic" push for AOL colonies, where novice Internet users will grow up thinkin
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Not really. BBSes started as closed communities. AOL provided a large basket of services for their users as did competitors like Prodigy. There were at the time pure ISPs who just offered internet but mostly people wanted BBS services. Internet was added to AOL's services around 1995 and proved very popular as an add on, eventually replacing all their other products in the basket.
So not really the same thing.
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Yeah, I know. Growing up in a small town where everything interesting was long distance AOL was pretty much off the radar for me back then.
I'm thinking more of the late 90s when a lot of people, having missed the whole BBS days were getting their first experience with online anything with AOL as an internet connection. Remember the "provide your own access plan" I knew a lot of people who used that with their cable modem or college campus ethernet connections and it was the only way they even considered ac
out to lunch (Score:2)
Some of the comments from the article are nuts like:
"We'd hate to see ISPs and Facebook police these workarounds, which would show that they care less about users' access to the internet and more about the terms of the deals, open internet be damned," Levy told Motherboard.
What does Josh Levy think? User access to Facebook is what is paying for this access. Or course they care about the terms! Why would they want to fund someone using Tumblr, Yelp, Google+, Twitter...?
Internet? (Score:3)
Hmm, if there is no internet in those places, but Facebook can add an "app" to get internet access, then I end up confused. How does the Facebook app get to the internet if there is no internet access? Maybe this is for mobile phones, but even then if a mobile phone can get to Facebook then it can obviously get to anywhere else on the internet. Or is Facebook rolling out its own access points in poorly connected parts of Africa for Facebook app access only?
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Providing Access to Free Basic Services
The Internet.org app provides free basic services in markets where internet access may be less affordable. It allows people to browse selected health, employment and local information websites without data charges. The app is currently available to Airtel customers in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, Tigo customers in Colombia and Tanzania, and Reliance customers in India. It will continue to expand to other parts of the world.
http://internet.org/projects [internet.org]
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But if customers have access to Airtel (presumably an ISP, or mobile phone service with IP service) then don't they already have free access to google and wikipedia without any help from Facebook? If there are data charges then those apply whether or not Facebook has an app, right? Or is there an agreement with Airtel that any access that uses Facebook's special app won't count as data usage (thus there's no engineering "magic" in the app which is what their web page implies)?
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Yes, that's how it works. They already have cellular service but not necessarily data services, so they provide data services for free to certain sites. Or in the case that they may already have data services, these sites don't count towards total usage.
On top of giving access to these sites, it's a way to enable data services for users that don't have it and that may never get to it due to the upfront cost and can now use data to access other sites (for a fee) if they desire it.
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Maybe this is for mobile phones, but even then if a mobile phone can get to Facebook then it can obviously get to anywhere else on the internet.
The detail you're missing is "free"
Facebook either pays the mobile operator or creates a (advertising) revenue sharing partnership so that mobile access to Facebook is free to that telecom company's customers.
Pretty much exactly what the concept of Net Neutrality is intended to quash.