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Facebook Communications Social Networks

Facebook Brings Express Wi-Fi To Ghana, Quietly Expands Free Basics To Morocco and Laos (venturebeat.com) 39

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).

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Facebook Brings Express Wi-Fi To Ghana, Quietly Expands Free Basics To Morocco and Laos

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  • Facebook (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 02, 2019 @12:07AM (#58058684)

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

    • Re:Facebook (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Saturday February 02, 2019 @12:58AM (#58058758)

      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?

      • by Anonymous Coward

        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.

      • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
        Why would any nation risk another crypto PRISM network?
    • by quenda ( 644621 )

      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".

      • by dmt0 ( 1295725 )

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

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

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Opportunist ( 166417 )

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

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Ghana is more first-world than Mississippi.

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

  • Free Basics (Score:2, Troll)

    by mentil ( 1748130 )

    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.

    • 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.

    • 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.
  • Remember... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by brennz ( 715237 ) on Saturday February 02, 2019 @01:51AM (#58058816)
    Facebook is in the Surveillance business.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    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

"The vast majority of successful major crimes against property are perpetrated by individuals abusing positions of trust." -- Lawrence Dalzell

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