Dear Mark Zuckerberg, here’s a protest

As the fight for Net neutrality continues, the target now is Facebook. Over 29,000 people came together to “blackout” Facebook on April 24. Starting from 12 midnight to 11.55 pm on Friday, supporters, including city folks, deactivated their profiles in support of Net neutrality.

City’s Harsha Pandula, who joined the show of support for Net neutrality, says, “Obviously I wouldn’t want to pay more to access the Internet. Having said that, in the larger picture, Internet today is about accessibility of information, of services and of growth. But what’s important is that people are taking initiatives to bring the change.”

Harsha’s belief also resonates with the campaign, that points out: “In a country that is constantly divided by cast, creed and colour, the Internet seems to be the last level-playing field left.” The statement on fbnn.in, also adds: “The Internet doesn’t care who you are or what you do, it will treat you the same way as it treats companies like Facebook (and they don’t like that).”

With the growing dissent, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, on April 17, had vowed loyalty to Net neutrality. In his defence of internet.org, he wrote: “By partnering with mobile operators and governments in different countries, internet.org offers free access in local languages to basic Internet services in areas like jobs, health, education and messaging. Internet.org lowers the cost of accessing the Internet and raises awareness of the internet’s value.” He insisted: “Inter-net.org doesn’t block or throttle any other services or create fast lanes — and it never will.”

No matter how good Zuckerberg’s statement sounds on the face of it, the truth is going to be that, “You can access the stuff only the good people at Facebook allow you to (kind of the way North Korea maintains control over its citizens).”

Small businesses are the ones helming the fight to retain net neutrality. Start ups, especially those dependent on social media, are the ones that are most unhappy. Naren Pal Singh, who has been working with city watering holes and organising events, recently started a new social media wing called The Brand Sardar.

Although he works mostly on Facebook and Twitter, Naren is not happy with the way internet.org works. “If Zuckerberg is talking about empowering the poor of the country, then he should be working towards better access of Internet, and not just Facebook. But then, Internet is empowering people to voice their anger even against Net neutrality. It may sound ironical but that’s the way it is and should be.”