Headline March 05, 2018/ ''' PANTHERS -FACEBOOK- POVERTY '''

''' PANTHERS -FACEBOOK- POVERTY '''

*ENGINEER AND TECHNOLOGIST AMIN MALIK*, CHICAGO, as the Head, and Engineer and Technologist Ahmar Bari Khan, Apple, And -

STUDENT SHAHZAIB KHAN- : I have the singular honor, to nominate as a committee, to Globally Head, - the design of the Master Portal, of The World Students Society.

All students of the world, should stop, track these original thinkers, and say a very respectful hello, and give them a standing ovation, and to the students of the United States.

All studies and research show and suggest that a large proportion of Free Basics users see the app as a way to get extra free time on Facebook friends without using up their Data Plans -and-

Not as an ''on ramp'' to the Web.

Facebook does not appear to be introducing people to the open Internet, but it is making it easy for people who can afford smartphones and data plans to spend unlimited time in the company's closed,  for-profit environment.

And the world's poorest people are typically left offline, regardless of where they live, because they cannot afford a smartphone.

But is it really better to have restricted Internet access than none at all?

One reason Free Basics may be missing the mark is that a mobile phone app isn't a good way to get  poor people online.

In rural areas, people are often disconnected because their region lacks cables, towers or a signal, rendering a mobile app useless.

And the world's poorest people are typically left offline, regardless of where they live, because they cannot afford a smartphone.

For the people who are getting a taste of the web through Free Basics, what does the app look like?

The offerings differ in each region.

Researchers testing the app in six countries found that more than half of the websites on the app's  main screen belong to big companies like ESPN, Johnson & Johnson and Disney.

Free Basics typically features some news sites {usually BBC and one or two national daily newspapers} and sites dedicated to things like finance and health care.

But, at best, a user can see only about 150 websites, all of which are selected either by Facebook or by the site operators.

Free Basic users cannot see video. Many photos are removed. And if they want to click a link to explore an issue further, they can rarely do so.

The unclickable links, the unloadable videos and paltry supply of websites all appear to be part of an effort to minimize the cost of data traveling through the network.

Perhaps those limitations do keep costs down - and make it possible for the service to be free - but this technical design also helps benefit Facebook's bottom line.

It keeps users in a confined space, where the company can monitor and analyze their habits for profit.

Whenever users click a website in Free Basics, that click sends packets of data to Facebook's servers.

The company collects information about the websites that users visit and other data like their phone numbers.

This is no small matter.

The Likes and sharing habits of Facebook's billions of users provide a trove of data to sell to advertisers, eliminating the guesswork of figuring what consumers care about or want to buy.

For any advertiser, from the hyperlocal to the multinational, this is in the truest sense of the world ''empirical gold''.

Facebook has done good work to help improve Internet infrastructure, Project Aries, which uses the  radio spectrum to increase Internet efficiency and speed in rural areas. It is also a powerful force in Internet policy-making around the world.

It could become a leader in this type of innovation and a forceful advocate for public policies that would increase Internet access.

Or, at a minimum, Facebook could work with telecom companies to help offer users a few free daily hours of  Internet - purely as an act of good will.

What the company has done instead cuts against the power of the open Internet, where people can follow their curiosity, build new knowledge from scratch and participate in civic and economic life at local and even global levels.

Facebook portrays itself as a benevolent entity that is introducing people to the web for the simple reason, cited in Free Basics promotional materials, that :

''The more we connect, the better it gets. The question is better for whom''. 
With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Technology companies, Social Networks, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all ''register'' on !WOW! -The World Students Society and Twitter- !E-WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

''' International Citizens '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless