Neither free nor basic
SOCIAL media giant Facebook’s aggressive advertising campaign in newspapers across India has stirred up a hornets’ nest yet again over ownership and regulation of information on the Internet. Facebook’s much-touted “Free Basics” service, which has been couched in philanthropic terms as providing access to “basic” Internet services to millions of Indians for free through a mobile data application, has come under criticism from Net neutrality activists and concerned citizens who perceive it as anti-competitive and a threat to democracy in the virtual space. The proliferation of services which only provide free access to a few websites detracts from this larger vision.” She also said that limits on the people’s right to access information violated constitutional provisions. The promotion of data services allowing differential treatment to some entities on the Internet poses the grave threat of telecom service providers becoming the gatekeepers of content on the Internet. In fact, the TRAI consultation paper, which was meant to generate public opinion on the larger issue of differential access to information on the Internet, has been hijacked by Facebook’s agenda of promoting Free Basics.
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