ALERT! Kumar Sundaram - So, Zuckerberg and Modi just came together to end net neutrality in India?
"Internet.org is
an idea to provide internet for free to some, but in the process creating a
more layered and controllable internet on the other side. While the free
package won’t include more than 50 websites and it has to be a result of a
deal/favour with Facebook, the paid internet will also get segmented on the
basis of speed and restrictive niches based on interests and trends. Internet
as free platform through which a blogger or a group can reach out with its idea
to the people through web will be history."
Mark Zuckerberg’s idea of internet.org, claiming to create
free internet but actually leading to separately sellable and controllable
segments within internet has found a partner in the Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
- Internet packages on mobile have become costlier since Modi has assumed power.
- Restricting the poor to limited number of websites is NOT a way to allow them internet access.
- Indian poor are nothing more than a chip in sinister bargains.
- If you want to end net neutrality, justify it by claiming its providing free internet to the poor.
- If you want concession in climate change negotiations for domestic corporations like Adani, bring in the Indian poor and say we need to emit more.
- For passing a dangerous nuclear deal the earlier govt used the dream of lighting bulb in the house of a poor rural woman called Kalawati.
- The poor of India in fact provide a rich dividend for its elite.
- Modi’s policies have led to more farmer suicides, more corporate-driven displacement of the rural poor and loss of jobs in the rural as well as urban India.
Modi is India’s Hindu supermacist PM brandishing himself as
a ‘development man’ who will bring progress to the country by pushing technological
growth, bringing foreign investment, creating jobs and even getting a permanent
seat the the UN security council – not through some coherent policy framework
but by simple miracles of leadership. Although critised globally for its
sinister design, the Facebook CEO’s internet.org suits Modi’s megalomania and
his right-wing cheerleaders turning his every act into an epic by sheer
cacophony on the social media. Even the mainstream media in India, owned by the
big corporate houses backing Modi, has an almost uncritical celebration of
everything about Modi, but particularly his foreign policy.
Modi is the in the US for the UN General Assembly meeting
and he met the CEO of Facebook yesterday and the result is this Modi-berg which
seems to have just hit net neutrality in India.
Tip of the Modi-berg? : Internet.org is an idea to provide internet for free to
some, but in the process creating a more layered and controllable internet on
the other side. While the free package won’t include more than 50 websites and
that list has to be a result of a deal/favour with Facebook, the paid internet
will also get segmented on the basis of speed and restrictive niches based on
interests and trends. Internet as free platform through which a blogger or a
group can reach out with its idea to the people through web will be history.
If your website/blog is not part of some package that people
can subscribe, you can almost forget about being heard on internet. And such
packages would be more attractive because of the specific interest they would
cater and also possibly made more affordable by websites that will join
specific packages and earn advertisements.
And what about the Indian poor? Internet packages on mobile have become costlier since Modi
has assumed power. Restricting the poor to limited number of websites cannot be
a way to allow them internet access. Indian poor are nothing more than a chip in sinister
bargains. If you want to end net neutrality, justify it by claiming
its providing free internet to the poor. If you want concession for in the climate change
negotiations for domestic corporations like Adani who fund your election, bring
in the Indian poor and say we need to emit more.
For getting a dangerous nuclear deal passed, the earlier
govt famously used the dream of lighting bulb in the house of a poor rural
woman called Kalawati. The poor of India in fact provide a rich dividend for its
elite. The fact is, Modi’s policies have led to more farmer
suicides, more corporate-driven displacement of the rural poor and loss of jobs
in the rural as well as urban India. Internet is still shut down in Modi’s
Gujarat. Zuckerberg is trying hard to end net neutrality through internet.org And both are together talking
about empowerment through technology!
For more details and perspective on net neutrality and
facebook’s internet.org, see these two links: First an article simplifying internet.org for you:
And a video which explains the threat to net neutrality
succintly, although it was made in a slightly different context when India’s
Depart of Telecommunications was trying to push it with partnership with some
domestic corporations.
See also:
