Internet.org is Facebook’s attempt to get everyone in the world online. But right now, it’s connecting people to the Facebooknet, not the real internet.
So today, global community organizaton write our concerns with Internet.org. Internet.org’s current implementation violates net neutrality, fails to protect user security and privacy, and creates a two-tier system in which only the richest get full access to the open internet.
Facebook must do better than this.
The letter calls into question a number of practices that Facebook must address, including:
- Internet.org’s use of Facebook as a proxy for all web browsing, which harms user privacy;
- The program’s ban on the use of SSL, TLS, or HTTPS for participating services, which needlessly puts users\’ security at risk;
- Zero rating, which offers only a specific set of services or applications free without a data plan, or without counting against existing data caps;
- The creation of a two-tiered internet, which would exacerbate the digital divide.
Digital rights advocates around the world share Facebook\’s stated goal of bringing affordable internet access to the two-thirds of the world who currently lack such access — but they disagree with Facebook about how to get it done. And increasingly, people in Facebook\’s target countries — India, Indonesia, Philippines, Colombia, Panama, Ghana, and elsewhere — are realizing that Internet.org\’s model of a “poor internet for poor people” exacerbates, rather than fixes, digital inequality.
This letter is a big chance for internet users around the world to come together to voice their concerns about Internet.org — and to show support for services that provide access to the full internet without harming user security or privacy. Universal connectivity is not an either/or proposition — we can find a way to provide everyone with basic access while still upholding their basic rights.
Signed,
18MillionRising.org – US
Access – Global
Ageia Densi Colombia – Colombia
Baaroo Foundation – Netherlands
Bits of Freedom – Netherlands
Center for Media Justice – US
Centre Africain D\’Echange Culturel (CAFEC) – Democratic Republic of Congo
Coding Rights – Brazil
Coletivo Intervozes – Brazil
Colnodo – Colombia
ColorofChange.org – US
Community Informatics Network – Global
Data Roads Foundation – Global
Digital Rights Foundation – Pakistan
Digitale Gesellschaft – Germany
European Digital Rights (EDRi) – EU
Fight for the Future – US
Förderverein freie Netzwerke e.V. / freifunk.net – Germany
Free Press Unlimited – EU
Fundacion Karisma – Colombia
Fundacion para la Libertad de Prensa – Colombia
Future of Music Coalition – US
Global Voices Advocacy – Global
Greenhost – Netherlands
i freedom Uganda – Uganda
ICT Watch – Indonesia – Indonesia
Initiative für Netzfreiheit – Austria
Instituto Bem Estar Brasil – Brazil
Instituto Beta para Internet e Democracia – IBIDEM – Brazil
Instituto NUPEF – Brazil
Integrating Livelihoods through Communication Information Technology for Africa – Uganda
International Modern Media Institute – Iceland
Internet Policy Observatory Pakistan – Pakistan
IPANDETEC – Panama
IT for Change – India
IT-Pol Denmark – Denmark
Just Associates Southern Africa – Africa
KICTANet – Kenya
Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet – South Korea
Media Alliance – US
Media Matters for Democracy (Pakistan) – Pakistan
Media Mobilizing Project – US
MediaNama – India
Movimento Mega – Brazil
Open Wireless Network of Slovenia – Slovenia
OpenMedia – Global
Paradigm Initiative Nigeria – Nigeria
Popular Resistance – US
Protege Qv – Cameroon
Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D) – Mexico
RedPaTodos – Colombia
RIght 2 Know Campaign – South Africa
RootsAction.org – US
Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) – Canada
SavetheInternet.in – India
Savvy System Designs – US
Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network/Safenet – Southeast Asia
TEDIC – Paraguay
The Agency League of Musicians – US
The Heliopolis Institute – Egypt
The Media Consortium – US
Unwanted Witness – Uganda
Usuarios Digitales – Ecuador
Vrijschrift – Netherlands
WITNESS – Global
xnet – Spain
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum – Zimbabwe
See the full version of our letter here:
[pdf-embedder url=\”http://safenetvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/LetterMarkZuckerbergMay182015-FINAL.pdf\”]
