Well, this was "news" to me, today. Perhaps you too ...
Zuckerberg’s Manifest Destiny: Connecting The 5 Billion People Without Internet
by Josh Constine, techcrunch.com -- 2013/09/11
[...]
Last month, Zuckerberg launched Internet.org with a 10-page whitepaper he wrote himself. It’s a web access initiative and partnership with six telecommunications and mobile companies. Together, they’ll build new data-compression technologies, network infrastructure, and business models that make it possible to not only get everyone a smartphone, but make the data that powers them affordable. This is critical because most of the cost of owning a smartphone is the data, not the hardware.
Some will say it’s simply Facebook’s plot to get more users, but at its core, the mission is truly altruistic. Internet access leads to education, empowerment, and economic mobility. Everywhere it’s come it’s increased GDP and helped people stay in closer touch with those they love. Could it earn money for Facebook? Sure. But that doesn’t make it the driving motive.
[...]
Facebook And 6 Phone Companies Launch Internet.org To Bring Affordable Access To Everyone
by Josh Constine, techcrunch.com -- 2013/08/20
[...]
The three major initiatives of the partnership are:
Making access affordable through cheaper smartphones, and working with mobile operators to extend Internet access to underserved communities.
Using data more efficiently so people don’t run up high costs. Internet.org partners may look to build data-compression tools, bolster network efficiency, and improve data caching.
Helping businesses drive access to grow mobile businesses sustainably. Partners will aim to create mutually beneficial incentives for app developers, device OEMs, and operators that will get more people online. The companies will also work together to help mobile devices support more languages to demolish barriers to usage.
[...]
In his whitepaper, Zuckerberg explains:
“I’m focused on this because I believe it is one of the greatest challenges of our generation. The unfair economic reality is that those already on Facebook have way more money than the rest of the world combined, so it may not actually be profitable for us to serve the next few billion people for a very long time, if ever. But we believe everyone deserves to be connected.”
Every one of us. #ConnectTheWorld
link to video
posted by Internet.org
Today, the internet isn’t accessible for two thirds of the world. Imagine a world where it connects us all.
[...]
Partners
Ericsson, MediaTek Inc., Opera, Samsung, Facebook, Nokia, Qualcomm
Is Connectivity A Human Right? (pdf)
Whitepaper by Mark Zuckerberg
[...]
But as we started thinking about connecting the next 5 billion people, we realized something important: the vast majority of people in the world don’t have any access to the internet.
[...]
Today, only 2.7 billion people -- a little more than one third of the world’s population -- have internet access. Even more surprising, internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year, which is slow considering how early we are in its development and that it is expected to slow
further.
There are more than 5 billion mobile phones in the world, with almost 4 billion feature phones and more than 1 billion smartphones. As smartphone prices come down, many people who currently have feature phones will be able to afford smartphones over the next 5 years.
[...]
This is because, in many countries, the cost of a data plan is vastly more expensive than the price of a smartphone. In the US, for example, an iPhone with a typical two-year data plan costs about $2,000, where about $500-600 of that is the phone and $1,500 is the data.
[...]
Well you got to admire the broad humanitarian goals, anyways.
Information IS powerful afterall -- especially to those without it.
What do you think?
Is Zuckerberg just an NSA tool, or simply another Billionaire, that still has a heart?