Providing internet connectivity for the billions presently lacking it, brings up questions that are very relevant to those already connected as well. Are FaceBook, Apple, Google or MS going to succeed in attempts to, in effect, divert most traffic to their apps and network and cloud services?
Just surviving the Telecom monopolies might not be “enough”; we may need to continually evolve what “net neutrality” means in practice. “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance”, someone said. Doing a Google search, the author of that “saying” isn’t clear, but not who you think it is.
Which brings up another question, if we are limited in what parts of the web we generally use, maybe our information is circumscribed and inadequate. Maybe we can’t dig down deep enough to find “the best” knowledge that exists.
(that was the common state of affairs before the internet came along, btw…and one of the chief reasons why it was supposed to be worth the money to go where the very best professors taught…by definition they knew best)
This article from The Atlantic discusses why activists in India are fighting FaceBooks “free” internet access there, as well as what’s happening to Google when the young don’t search there, but use friends on Facebook to get “answers”.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Poor-internet-for-poor-people-Indias-activists-fight-Facebook-connection-plan-Technology-The-Guardian.pdf”]