[kictanet] Introducing Facebook Africa Public Policy Team to KICTANet

Thu Dec 3 01:52:47 EAT 2015

There is a good satirical letter from Max, Zuckerberg's daughter on giving
people free access to Facebook as if it was water or electricity:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/02/max_zuckerberg_reply_letter/,
On Dec 3, 2015 1:05 AM, Kivuva at transworldafrica.com wrote:

> 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
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20151202/2523dad5/attachment.htm>