[kictanet] Introducing Facebook Africa Public Policy Team to KICTANet

Thu Dec 3 01:08:05 EAT 2015

Dr. Waudo, your questions are valid, and very well structured. This is what
has been asked for some years now. And the idea of asking Facebook to come
over is for them to school us too on their view of net neutrality.

But find my attempt inline:

On Dec 2, 2015 6:48 PM, "waudo siganga" <emailsignet at mailcan.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Kivuva/Hussein. I need a little more enlightenment:
>
> 1. Is the "Zero-Rating" issue a debate or has it already been concluded
that it is a bad thing? There is a hint that supporting it may leave one in
not very good standing..

This has not been agreed upon. We would probably not get an answer to
whether it is good or bad. But some countries have determined and outlawed
zero rating,  some analyze zero rating requests on case by case basis, and
other have approved zero rating.

> 2. According to Kivuva's well-written article "Zero rating infringes on
fundamental human rights by denying users access to the Internet". Are
other service providers, including those offering "full" Internet Access at
a fee, stopped or hindered from offering their services when some companies
offer the zero-rating? Can both forms operate at the same time?

This is a great question. And it is probably the main selling point for
zero rating. To answer the question, if you have a data package, you can
access the Internet outside the zero rated area. I probably like the idea.
But what are the root cause for using zero rating? Can we make the Internet
affordable?

> 3. In Q2 above I have "full" in quotes because in my use of Internet I am
yet to come across a truly "neutral Internet" i.e. sometimes I try to
access certain websites or services and you are unable as you get a message
that you cannot access that site/service from your country, meaning many
services providers already practise packet filtering.

True. There are many ways in which net neutrality is infringed, and there
are different legislation from country to country on those aspects. The one
that has affected us more is bandwidth trotting, especially of bit torrent
traffic. An ISP advertises unlimited Internet access at $$$, then when you
start using more resources than they had anticipated, they tighten your
pipe. Bandwidth trotting and protocol blocking was banned by EU in 2014.
Mobile carriers used to block access to Skype because it hurts voice,
calling, and text-messaging revenue.

So part of why we have been calling for a Net Neutrality law in Kenya is to
protect the consumer, and also have a stand. Currently, the ISP can do
whatever they want. The model to adopt is upto the community.

> 4. Hussein gives certain characteristics of a "market" but probably
leaves out a very critical one: Choice. The best market is the one where
ALL service providers are given the opportunity to offer their services and
consumers are left to choose. At the end of the day it is the consumers
that decide which companies and services survive and which wilt along the
way. Why choose for the consumer beforehand by barring certain services or
business models?

Be careful before you imprison yourself with your own words :). In the same
breath of choice, who decided which websites a consumer should have access
to? Why choose for the consumer beforehand? :) Why limit consumer choice?

At another level, consumers are not usually very knowledgeable in what they
want, or even what is good for a country. I'm ready to bet that if one
country allows zero rating, and another country provides reliable
affordable broadband, then the one with affordable broadband will
experience faster economic growth. This is just an hypothesis.

> 5. A couple of years ago the cost and affordability of Internet access
was a key ICT public policy issue. We said it was a major impediment to the
spread of Internet use. How do we reconcile that with opposition to free
(ok "free" as Hussein corrected me) services even if they are only offering
a slice of what an open Internet offers.

Cost and access are still very relevant especially in our region of the
world. That was why the IGF theme was "connecting the next billion." And
there are very great suggestions thrown around on how to reduce the cost.
Licensing, competition, usf, infrastructure sharing, taxes,...... We are
really disadvantaged when it comes to utilising the great benefits of the
Internet. Now what happens when we shrink that space more?

>
> On a lighter note these days I am very happy with Facebook especially the
Groups, as I get to know what is going on in the village. But I have been
accessing them using a paid service perhaps I can save a few shillings if I
got to know how to connect for free.

And Facebook likes these case studies. I heard them happily say how they
are helping women chamas organise themselves, and also organise civil
activism to foster democracy in places like Myanmar. Well, I want that too
:-)

>
> I know Kivuva and Hussein have had extensive opportunity to study this
area of Zero-Rating and also to listen o experts so I apologize in advance
if my questions do not sound sophisticated.
>
> Kind Regards,
> Waudo
>
> On Wed, Dec 2, 2015, at 05:07 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva wrote:
>>
>> We are having the most vibrant debate on Net Neutrality on the list in a
long while. Thanks for all contributors, and GG for initiating this timely
discussion. It's exciting to see many people interested with the zero
rating debate. I'm sure Ebele and Akua from Facebook are fascinated by the
dynamism of this group. Thank you Ebele and Akua for graciously joining
this debate.
>>
>> I'll keep my opinions to myself and only ask questions.
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. Does Facebook support Net Neutrality?
>>
>> 2. Does Facebook's zero rating contravene net neutrality principle?
>>
>> 3. Will Facebook take "zero rated services" to areas without any
connectivity infrastructure?
>>
>> 4. Will Facebook zero rated services reach all the people, even those
with feature phones? Does fb have non app based Free basics?. What
percentage of your target market has access to smart phones?
>>
>> 5. Which network operators does Facebook work with? Are all ISPs
welcomed to the party?
>>
>> 6. Will free basics help reduce the cost of internet access?
>>
>> 7. Does Facebook pay ISPs to offer the "walled garden" to end users?
>>
>> 8. Why is Facebook running campaigns for "free basics" in a way to
suggest that it is  giving free access to the internet? Is FB and a few
vanilla websites the Internet?
>>
>> 9. Facebook is considered affluent. Would it consider providing free
internet to everyone?
>>
>> 10. Is free basics bridging the digital divide or creating confusion of
those who cannot differentiate between Facebook and the Internet? Is
Facebook keen that users from the developing world have access to the whole
wealth of knowledge and information that the Internet provides?
>>
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Mwendwa Kivuva
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