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: