By Deepa Seetharaman
For the better part of a year, Facebook Inc. has been confronted
by one question in India: Is some Internet better than none? This
week, critics of that policy won.
India's telecommunications regulator on Monday banned programs
that offer access to a limited set of websites and apps, including
Facebook's Free Basics service.
Free Basics still operates in 37 other countries. But the
decision, in the world's second-most-populous country, raises
questions about Facebook's effort to expand Internet use in
developing countries.
To Facebook, an abridged Internet is the most practical and
far-reaching way to reach billions who now have no access. Chief
Executive Mark Zuckerberg called the service "a bridge to the full
Internet and digital quality."
Critics say otherwise. "Facebook wishes to choose what is 'best'
for the end user--an erroneous supposition and one that violates
the fundamental principle of openness in the Internet," said
Leonard Kleinrock, a professor at the University of California, Los
Angeles, who helped develop the Internet's underlying network
technology.
Free Basics relies on a compact between Facebook and local
telecom operators. The operators offer free access to a limited set
of Internet sites, in the hopes of ultimately converting users to
paying customers.
Facebook gets more users, who in many cases come to view
Facebook as the gateway to the Internet. Limiting the available
sites prevents Free Basics users from consuming too much data,
which would hurt the carriers.
"The program needs to be one where, ultimately, operators are
going to be able to make money," said Chris Daniels, the executive
leading Internet.org, Facebook's broader effort to extend Internet
access, of which Free Basics is a part. "If it is a money-losing
endeavor, they're going to turn it off."
That approach has defenders. Facebook's service "may be a worthy
experiment" in a world where Internet access can be too expensive
for some people, said Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet law
at Harvard Law School.
But in its ruling Monday, India's Telecom Regulatory Authority
said Free Basics violated the principles of "net neutrality," the
idea that Internet providers cannot favor some content over others.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission adopted rules favoring
net neutrality last year. Since then, Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube has
said T-Mobile US Inc. is interfering with its videos for a T-Mobile
program that waives data fees.
Facebook launched Free Basics, then called the Internet.org app,
in July 2014 in Zambia with telecom operator Airtel Networks Zambia
PLC.
The app offered access to 13 services, including a bare-bones
version of Facebook that didn't show videos, Google Search and a
version of Wikipedia where users can't edit pages.
Soon after, Google dropped out of Free Basics, according to a
person familiar with the situation. The person said Google worried
that users would be unhappy about data charges they incurred after
following the links in search results. When the service launched in
India last year, Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search engine was
included.
Critics in India said Free Basics lacked many popular services,
including Google Search, YouTube and Facebook's own messaging
service WhatsApp. They decried Free Basics as "poor Internet for
poor people." Last month, hundreds showed up in New Delhi to
register their concerns about the program.
The debate in India mimics one that has vexed philosophers for
centuries, said Andrew Feenberg, a philosopher of technology and
professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
"Which is more important: the rule or the benefit received?" Dr.
Feenberg said. "It's not going to be easy to solve this problem
because philosophers haven't succeeded yet and it has been hundreds
of years."
Before Monday's decision, Facebook executives said they would
consider changes to Free Basics, including allowing outsiders to
audit how Facebook selects services.
Just how Facebook reimagines Free Basics is up in the air.
Indian regulators said they would allow companies to sponsor or pay
for mobile data that consumers can use at will.
Facebook has previously called that approach unsustainable. Dr.
Kleinrock and others say it is the best option.
On his Facebook page Monday, Mr. Zuckerberg replied to criticism
that Facebook's efforts failed to consider India's history and
local entrepreneurs.
"I think you're right about focusing on following the local
culture and empowering local entrepreneurs," he wrote.
He pointed to Facebook's Express Wi-Fi program, which sells
cheap equipment to entrepreneurs to help them start their own
businesses offering Internet service.
"We'll try to follow this model for other programs in the
future," he wrote.
Alistair Barr contributed to this article.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 09, 2016 17:32 ET (22:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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