Net neutrality: Facebook shuts Free Basics programme in India

February 11, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 11: In a boost to net neutrality, Facebook has decided to shut down its controversial 'Free Basics' programme in India, following telecom regulator Trai's move to bar operators from charging different rates for Internet access based on content.free

Facebook had met with severe criticism for its programme, which aimed at providing basic Internet access to people in partnership with telecom operators.

Critics saw this as violation of the principle of net neutrality that states that entire Internet should be available to everyone on equal terms as Free Basics allowed access to selected websites.

"Free Basics is no longer available to people in India," a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed response. The service was available in India with Reliance Communications. In December, RCom put the service on hold following a Telecom Regulator Authority of India's directive to that effect.

Ruling in favour of net neutrality, Trai has barred all telecom operators from offering discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content, impying that operators will have to charge the same price for data used, irrespective of website or app accessed by the consumer.

This puts an end to Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel's zero rating plans in India. Yesterday, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen had set off another controversy by terming Trai's decision as an 'anti-colonialist' idea and said the country would have been better off if it had remained under British rule.

Facebook founder and head Mark Zuckerberg distanced himself from the comments saying the remarks were "deeply upsetting" and did not represent the company's thinking.

"India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people," he wrote in a post on the social networking site.

"It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress," he added. Andreessen deleted the tweet and apologised through a series of tweets yesterday.

"Last night on Twitter, I made an ill-informed and ill-advised comment about Indian politics and economics. To be clear, I am 100 per cent opposed to colonialism, and 100 per cent in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India," he said later in a series of tweets.

Zuckerberg has come out in defence of the programme time and again, saying it did not block or throttle other services and is not in conflict with net neutrality. Launched in 2014, Facebook is running the Internet.org programme across over 17 countries providing basic Internet access to over one billion people.

Following allegations of violation of net neutrality, Facebook rebranded the programme as 'Free Basics'. It had said the rebranding will help Facebook distinguish the free basic Internet offering from the large number of activities the US-based company is pursuing to help get new users online across the globe. Recently, it ran a big media campaign in support of the programme.

Comments

VOX POPULI
 - 
Saturday, 13 Feb 2016

KUDO'S & HATS OFF TO TRAI. ATLAST ATLEAST YOU COULD SMELL & UNDERSTAND THE HIDDEN AGENDA OF THESE ZIONIST MASTERMINDS.FACE BOOK & FREE BASICS = FB (READ BETWEEN THE LINES) BOTH ARE SAME AND AGENDA IS CLEARLY HIDDEN. FB GUY IS USING OUR INDIAN CROOKED CORPORATES AS HIS AGENTS TO SPREAD HIS HIDDEN AGENDA AND FOOL THE MASSES OF INDIA IN THE NAME OF NET NEUTRALITY. AS TRUE INDIANS LET US STAND UNITED & HAVE THE COURAGE OF QUESTIONING THE SO CALLED SHAMELESS & USELESS CREATURE \ZUCKERBERG' & HIS AGENT., SO CALLED 'MARC ANDREESSEN'., HOW DARE THEY HAVE THE RIGHT & COURAGE TO INSULT GOVT OF INDIA., ITS TRAI POLICIES & FOOL THE MASSES OF INDIA. MY DEAR FELLOW INDIANS WHATEVER THE POLITICAL DIFFERENCES MAY BE, END OF THE DAY WE ARE ALL ONE PEACE LOVING & PRESTIGIOUS CITIZENS OF INDIA. UNITED WE STAND ., BUT DIVIDED WE FALL. LONG LIVE INDIA & INDIANS. JAI HO."

S.M. Nawaz Kuk…
 - 
Thursday, 11 Feb 2016

Good Dicision taken by TRAI

IBRAHIM.HUSSAIN
 - 
Thursday, 11 Feb 2016

Modi spread red carpet to Zackerberg, hugged tightly. Zackerberg was knocked down by TRAI for his hidden bad intensions and thoughts.

TRAI done good job roping noses of telecom operators of India taught good lesson to them.

Thanks to TRAI

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 27,2020

Mangaluru, June 27: The district health authorities are likely to conduct mass random testing for Covid-19 in Ullal town on the outskirts of the city in the wake of detection of several new coronavirus positive cases there in past couple few days.  

An elderly woman from Azad Nagar in Ullal was died of coronavirus earlier this week. Many others including a couple of policemen also tested positive for the deadly virus in vicinity.

Following this, local elected representatives including MLA U T Khader and religious leaders of Ullal held a meeting regarding taking steps to control the spread of the virus. In the meeting Mr Khader suggested the authorities to conduct random testing in Ullal town. 

Apart from Azad Nagar, covid-19 cases have surfaced in Kodi, Bangera Lane and in the surroundings of police station and Sahara Hospital triggering panic among people. Hence, the authorities are like to conduct random testing of auto rickshaw drivers, fishermen, street vendors among others. 

Meanwhile, several mosques in Ullal have reportedly decided to suspend congregational prayers temporarily.

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June 5,2020

Bengaluru, June 5: Under the leadership of trouble-shooter D K Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress is planning a political ‘ghar wapsi’ to bring back leaders who quit the party and also rope in those from other parties.

Shivakumar, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, has constituted a 12-member committee headed by former minister Allum Veerabhadrappa to liaise to anchor this effort to bring back people into the party fold. 

The committee comprises of former legislators B A Hasanabba, Ajaykumar Sarnaik, Abhaychandra Jain, Satish Sail, Prafulla Madhukar, former MPs R Dhruvanarayan and BN Chandrappa, MLA V Muniyappa, former mayor Sampath Raj, Mahila Congress leader Kripa Alva and former KPCC general secretary V Y Ghorpade. 

This move comes more than a year after over a dozen Congress MLAs defected and joined the BJP, leading to the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. Also, several influential leaders quit the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year.

The constitution of this committee also coincides with disgruntlement brewing within the ruling BJP. 

“Many people who left the party and others have applied (to join Congress). Many have met me also. I felt it wouldn't be right for me to make a decision. So, this committee has been constituted,” Shivakumar said. “They will process all applications and send it to the KPCC.” 

According to Shivakumar, any person wanting to join the Congress should accept the party’s leadership and its ideology. “Importantly, they should be first accepted by the cadre. If there's no acceptance from the cadre, then what's the point?” he said.

Comments

Abdullah
 - 
Saturday, 6 Jun 2020

should not vote them even if they return to congress. They are backstabbers of voters.

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May 25,2020

Mangaluru, May 25: Four domestic flights that were scheduled to operate from Mangaluru International Airport today have been cancelled. 

A total of six flights were scheduled to depart Mangaluru Airport today. 

Among them, two flights to Mumbai, one to Chennai and one to Bengaluru were cancelled due to lack of passengers and other reasons, sources said.

The remaining two flights – both to Bengaluru – are expected to take off with limited passengers later in the day.  

Domestic flight operations resumed in the country today after a gap of two months. All flight operations had ceased when the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March.

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