
Wikipedia Zero grows readership in Africa and Asia - TopTrix
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/10/29/wikipedia-zero-grows-readership-in-africa-and-asia/
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gioele
This result, although positive, may have much bigger drawback in the not-so-
long term: this is a first blow to net neutrality.

First net neutrality is broken for obviously good sites: Wikipedia & Co. Then
it is broken for obviously useful sites: Google, Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook.
Then news sites. Then some sport sites. In the end new sites (let's call them
competitors) will find themselves confined in the "for pay" area, unable to
enjoy the growth of the other sites (let's call them incumbent) because they
cannot afford the expensive fees that the carries will charge to move you to
the "for free area".

I do not like this trend. I especially do not like Wikipedia and Africa being
used as pilot cases for breaking the network neutrality.

~~~
freehunter
I hear what you're saying, and I agree. Giving priority to Wikipedia is
troubling from a neutrality standpoint. I do worry about a trend arising from
this.

However, like others commenting, I think in this instance it's a good thing.
It wouldn't even have to be Wikipedia for this to be my opinion; we could see
Facebook Zero and I would like it. My take on it is, it's better to have
something with a catch than nothing at all. Think of the Space Race: should
government be controlling the rockets? Should taxpayers be footing the bill
for this immense research? It got us off the ground, and I would argue that's
a good thing. Now there is a booming private space industry, because the
initial investment, while cause for concern, got people demanding space
technology.

If people in African and Asian nations get a taste for web services, for the
spread of information, for the ease of communication the Internet can offer,
I'm predicting a similar end as the Space Race: private industry will boom
once the demand reaches a high enough level. While net neutrality might be at
risk in the short term, the important thing is getting the ball rolling. I
can't predict the future, but I can extrapolate from the past. People will be
demanding this technology in developing markets, and with the Internet comes
education, business, and opportunities for improving the quality of life.

~~~
dbaupp
There is Facebook Zero[1]; I believe that it is (to some degree) the
inspiration for the Wikipedia Zero project.

An article[2] about it was submitted to HN a little while ago, and it argued
that Facebook Zero is an attempt get people to think that "internet" and
"Facebook" are synonyms.

[1]: <http://0.facebook.com/>

[2]: Possibly: [http://qz.com/5180/facebooks-plan-to-find-its-next-
billion-u...](http://qz.com/5180/facebooks-plan-to-find-its-next-billion-
users-convince-them-the-internet-and-facebook-are-the-same/) It's not loading
for me so I can't be sure, but it is in my browser history.

~~~
Donch
Zero Facebook only works on some networks in certain countries:

[http://readwrite.com/2010/05/18/free_mobile_facebook_with_0f...](http://readwrite.com/2010/05/18/free_mobile_facebook_with_0facebookcom)

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singold
Really interesting. Just yesterday I saw in TV that in my country (Uruguay
[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay]>) there would be free access to
"Registered Educational Contents", at first I thougth "Great!" but then it
came to me that voice that says "What about net neutrality??"

I hope to see a good discusion here

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worldsayshi
1\. This is great! 2\. Does this bring an interesting/problematic angle to net
neutrality? (Not really right?)

