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Facebook's Internet.org - "Internet-For-Everyone" - Launches in Zambia

posted by janrinok on Sunday August 03 2014, @08:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the well-you've-got-to-start-somewhere dept.

ticho writes:

The company announced the Internet.org app on Thursday, a way for people in developing countries to use free data and access Facebook, Google search and other online resources. Through a partnership with telecom provider Airtel, the Internet.org app will be available for free, initially rolling out in Zambia.

Facebook plans to connect the world by deploying things like satellites and drones to power data connectivity in countries like Zambia, and partner with mobile operators like Airtel to provide free services.

This data doesn't cost Facebook a dime, because Airtel pays for its users' free access. This partnership works for both companies if people can use Facebook for free, they'll likely sign up for an account to stay connected to friends and family, and, when Internet.org users are ready to leave the confines of the free data, Airtel will be able to get more people to pay for it.

If users go outside of the 13 different free websites (listed in the link) -- say, by clicking on a link in a Facebook post -- they'll be notified that data charges will apply.

 
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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 03 2014, @05:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 03 2014, @05:23PM (#76928)

    3 years ago someone built a tcp-over-chat [ycombinator.com] at the facebook hackathon. But their github repository is 404 now.

    I would totally donate some of my bandwidth to be a gateway for people in Zambia using something like that to break out of the commercial sandbox.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Sunday August 03 2014, @11:31PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Sunday August 03 2014, @11:31PM (#77017) Journal

    Sounds like a fitting description "commercial sandbox" or perhaps "awareness prison".

    IP over just anything ain't that hard, really. Use packet filtering driver and IP-raw to get the packets. And then compress (zip?) and encode (base64?). Have the bot(s) to just idle until they see a packet and then forward it. The harder part is if the administrators starts to chase these things. Otoh.. lorem ipsum provides a hint to beat that.

    Giving internet to more people is likely to be a benefit. Channeling them into a conformative corporate dictatorship will have them brainwashed.