2015-03-08

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Internet.org, Connecting the World (video)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discusses Internet.org and plans to connect the world with Bloomberg's Emily Chang in an episode of "Studio 1.0" airing Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Bloomberg Television.

Some are suspicious of the social implications of a walled-garden version of the Internet with content curated by telecom operators and a social network. “I am actually incredibly afraid of what happens if Internet.org succeeds,” says Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation. “We need to be behind the Internet as an open marketplace for ideas.” (source infra)

Zuckerberg and Others Discuss Growing the Internet | MIT Technology Review: "... less than 40 percent of the world’s population has Internet access, the global consulting firm McKinsey estimated late last year. Many believe that getting the Internet to the other 60 percent will require new approaches. A Google executive at Mobile World Congress, for example, said that the company continues to experiment with both drones and balloons to provide signals to remote locations... cost remains a big barrier for many people who remain offline. Kartik Sheth, CEO for data and devices at Bharti Airtel, an Indian telecommunications company, said during a seminar on digital inclusion that Internet usage rates in some of his markets are only half of smartphone ownership rates. He said local phone salesmen advise some users not to activate data to avoid high data charges."

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