IIT, IISc faculty slam Facebook's Free Basics

Academicians from India's premier institutes IITs and IISc have slammed Facebook's Free Basics initiative, terming it "flawed" and "misleading". In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, around 50 faculty members from IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Madras, Patna) and IISc Bengaluru have denounced the proposal dubbing it a "lethal combination that will lead to total lack of freedom on how Indians can use the internet". Listing three major flaws in the programme, the scientists urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to "thoroughly reject" Facebook's "free basics" proposal. "The first obvious flaw in the proposal is that Facebook assumes control of defining what a 'basic' service is. "Facebook will have access to all your apps' contents. "This flaw is not visible to the lay person as it's a technical detail, but it has deep and disturbing implications. Since Facebook can access un-encrypted contents of users' 'basic' services, either we get to consider health apps to be not basic, or risk revealing health records of all Indians to Facebook. "The third flaw is that the term 'free' in 'free basics' is a marketing gimmick." Top Comment Yes i support Net Neutrality and Free Basic will create problem in Digital IndiaMilind Mahindrakar The academicians said that the 'Free Basics' proposal "is flawed as above is alarming but not surprising, for it violates one of the core architectural principles of internet design: net neutrality. "Compromising net neutrality, an important design principle of the internet, would invariably lead to deep consequences on people's freedom to access and use information. "We, therefore, urge that the TRAI should support net neutrality in its strongest form, and thoroughly reject Facebook's 'free basics' proposal."

Facebook class action lawsuits to go ahead

  Two US class action lawsuits against Facebook by shareholders alleging it hid growth concerns ahead of its 2012 public listing can now go ahead. A federal judge certified the legal proceedings, Reuters reports, saying investors who claim they lost money could pursue their claims as groups. Facebook told the BBC that it was disappointed with the decision and it has launched an appeal against it. The firm's initial public offering (IPO) in May 2012 raised $16bn (£10bn). The investors say that by purchasing the firm's shares at inflated prices they lost money. That year, its shares began trading on 18 May in New York at $38 per share, but the price fell to almost half the amount of $17.55 on 4 September. The price stayed below the IPO price for more than a year, but shares ultimately rebounded and closed up at $107.26 on the Nasdaq index on Tuesday. District judge Robert Sweet gave the lawsuits class action certification on 11 December, but the order was made public on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg not giving away his millions to you: Report

Did you come across a Facebook post claiming that Mark Zuckerberg would be giving away 10% of his Facebook shares to "people like you and me" if you could just share the same status on your Wall? Well, that's a hoax, Tech Insider reported. This came after Facebook CEO's announcement in late November that he and his wife Priscilla would be giving away nearly all of their Facebook shares to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC. The hoax began earlier this month, has several variations by now, and people are still falling for it. 15 Revolutionary Car Designs: They Changed EverythingCarophile Stormfall: Free And Addicting Strategy Game! Prepare For War!Stormfall - Online Game Recommended By Colombia The post claims that Zuckerberg is giving out $4.5 million to 1,000 Facebook users as long as they copy and paste a status on their profile. Here is one variation: "According to Good Morning America, Not a hoax! Mark Zuckerberg has announced that he is giving away $45 billion of Facebook stock. What you may not have heard is that he plans to give 10% of it away to people like YOU and ME!"

How the internet misled you in 2015

It was another busy year for journalists debunking fake or misleading images on social media. In 2015, many pictures and videos went viral, some for all the wrong reasons. There were deliberate fakes created to deceive the public and then there were misleading images shared, often during breaking news situations, that were entirely unrelated to the story. Were you caught out by any of these? The haunting picture shared during the Nepal earthquake Image copyright NA Son Nguyen This was one of the most shared photos in the wake of the Nepal earthquake in April. It's not a fake, but misleading nonetheless. Labelled as showing a "two-year-old sister protected by four-year-old brother in Nepal", it was shared across Facebook and Twitter and prompted calls for donations. The photograph was actually taken in a remote village in Vietnam back in 2007. "This is perhaps my most shared photo," says the photographer Na Son Nguyen, "but unfortunately in the wrong context."

FSMI Hyderabad launches campaign against Free Basics

The Hyderabad chapter of the Free Software Movement of India (FSMI) is going to organize a four-day long campaign against Facebook's controversial Free Basics initiative. "Facebook misinformed and under informed its users about Free Basics," Siddhartha, a member of Swecha, part of FSMI, told ET. FSMI is a national coalition of various regional and sectoral free software movements operating in different parts of India, and is also running an online campaign to highlight the problems with Free Basics through its website. Free Basics, which Facebook says is part of its Internet.org initiative, aims to provide free access to basic internet services by partnering with telecom companies. Such practices, commonly referred to as "zero-rating," allows users to access select applications or websites, free of data charges, by striking deals with telecom operators. Facebook's "Save Free Basics" campaign, launched a couple of weeks ago, is urging users to show support for digital equality in India, in response to a paper by the telecom regulator which is seeking comments on differential pricing practices such as Airtel Zero of Facebook's Free Basics.

Open to advertising for revenue: Internet.org VP

Facebook's Free Basics program may be open to exploring advertising avenues for revenue at a later date. Internet.org vice president Chris Daniels hinted at the possibility in a keenly followed Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Saturday with aggressive questioning from Redditors. The hour-long AMA session had nearly 500 comments by the time it was over. "While we haven't found any business model where ad revenue could pay for people's access to the internet (look at Facebook's revenue, its far, far less than revenue operators receive from data charges), if there is a way that we can do so, then we want to be able to explore that in the future," Daniels said, responding to a question about the feasibility of such a model, as used by Gigato and Mozilla. In September this year, the social networking giant had renamed its Internet.org program to "Free Basics by Facebook." Free Basics is now a part of the larger Internet.org program. Under Free Basics, telcos and developers can tie up with Facebook by complying with certain tech standards. The services of these developers are then offered without any charge for data consumption to end users. Are Multiple Sclerosis Patients Experts?Living Like You by Novartis Released: New Cheap Hotel Finder From Save70.comSave70 Recommended By Colombia This practice has been described as "zero-rating," and has been panned by various activists who say it violates the principle of net neutrality. According to the principle, all data online should be treated equally. This AMA happened on a day when the save the internet campaign, that has taken a vocal stance against Free Basics, crossed the one-lakh figure in the letters sent to the telecom regulator from its platform for an ongoing consultation on differential data pricing.

Facebook's Free Basics Trai submission runs into hot water

Various Facebook users on Friday reported that they had been "signed up" as supporters of Facebook's Free Basics service against their will. Multiple users reported being automatically signed up when they scrolled down the page using which one can send a template email to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in support of Free Basics, a Facebook program which provides certain internet services for free. Even as a strong verbal volley ensued, Facebook issued a formal statement saying no one was being signed up against their will. "Got conned into signing the #FreeBasics petition on FB. DON'T "SCROLL DOWN TO LEARN MORE"! Signs you up immediately!" tweeted@ accidenteshwari, along with a mobile phone screenshot of the prompt page. "OKay... FB just listed an uncle's account as having signed up to support Free Basics. He passed away two years ago," wrote@grondmaster on Twitter. In an official statement reacting to these user reports, Facebook said: "People are not being auto enrolled. To show support for Free Basics people are required to click 'send email' before their submission is made. There is a clear action required." At the time of going to press it wasn't yet known if this was a result of a programming bug. The letter to Trai in support of Free Basics says, "I support digital equality for India. Free Basics provides free access to essential Internet services, such as communication, education, healthcare, employment, farming information and more. It helps those who can't afford to pay for data, or who need a little help with getting started online. And it's open to all people, developers and mobile networks. With 1 billion Indian people not yet connected, shutting down Free Basics would hurt our country's most vulnerable people. I support Free Basics and digital equality for India. Thank you."

Facebook's Instant Articles feature for Android goes global

Federal regulators want to know more about the revenue Facebook gets from mobile devices, its $1 billion deal to buy Instagram and the control CEO Mark Zuckerberg has over the company.Federal regulators want to know more about the revenue Facebook gets from mobile devices, its $1 billion deal ... Read More Facebook Inc said it has launched its instant articles service for Android users which allows media firms to publish articles directly to the social network's news feeds. The service involves more than 350 publications worldwide including the New York Times, NBC News, the Guardian, Haaretz and Al Jazeera English. Latest Comment Facebook also lets publishers track data and traffic through ComScore and other analytics tools.bharat asija Instant articles was launched in May and has been available on iOS devices since October. The service allows publishers to either sell and embed advertisements in the articles and keep all of the revenue, or allow Facebook to sell ads. Facebook also lets publishers track data and traffic through ComScore and other analytics tools.