There's a a growing trend to close off publishing platforms by demanding a login in order to view the content. Which is a move away from an open web. In December 2015 Facebook launched its own in-app browser, which is basically a web-view that loads links you tap on using the Facebook app. It may provide convenience for some but the primary goal is to keep users inside the application longer. This opens up more advertising exposure and associated revenue. This poses a challenge to the open web because this overrides the user's default mobile browser keeps the eyeballs in a closed ecosystem. The feature Instant Articles for publishers is done such that it loads articles available nearly instantly in the app compared to a mobile browser. This opens up for monetizing viewing and privacy invasions by Facebook on users. The in-app browser lack decent privacy controls.
Facebook is trying to accomplish a closed version of the internet. The Free Basics initiative with Facebook as the gatekeeper offers users free access to select websites. This initiative made privacy advocates in India, who play an instrumental role in the makeup of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to vote on 2016-02-08 that all data pricing must be equal, and that companies cannot offer cheaper rates than others for certain content. The decision favours net neutrality and essentially bans Facebook's initiative in that country. The Indian TRAI ruling states that pricing must be content agnostic. Facebook has become a monolithic platform that tries to mimic existing services by offering video uploads (YouTube), money transfers (PayPal) etc. Facebook is expanding like a invasive species similar to the Borg from Star Trek trying to absorb everything that touches their sphere of interest.
In the future, could resistance be futile because you will miss out essential information?
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Friday March 18 2016, @12:43PM
Already I have seen local government start to use Facebook as the primary means of interaction - and while I am pretty certain that it was set up by people who did not understand the full implications of what they were doing, the end result is that we are approaching a point where Facebook inserts itself into the ability to transact business,
I'll noticed the same tendency. Any ideas on how to counter this?
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday March 18 2016, @01:14PM
Avoid non-open protocols, formats, and APIs. Apple would have done the same thing if Android hadn't forced them to compete. Microsoft is pushing that way as well.
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Friday March 18 2016, @05:33PM
The problem is market domination.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday March 18 2016, @09:30PM
More like the result, I think. If people continue to lock themselves into these walled gardens where a single company has complete control over everything it will continue to happen. People are still over-paying IBM for mainframes and that wasn't even quite as bad as some of the stuff going on now.
(Score: 1) by harmless on Friday March 18 2016, @03:38PM
I'll noticed the same tendency. Any ideas on how to counter this?
Sure. Refuse to use Facebook.
If it's a government entity there are probably statutes that mandate that information has to accessible to everyone. Call in and demand to be given an option that does not need a Facebook account.
If it's a private entity you can ask them; but you ultimately might just have to do without that specific offer. But if it's a corporation that is offering something they aren't doing that just to be nice. They want to profit from it in some fashion. So it might help to let them know that assuming everyone has a Facebook account just lost them some business.
Of course, if you give in and create a Facebook account just for that occasion you just affirmed that this approach works and they (whoever they are) will continue doing it this way.