Support Digital India

At the Facebook HQ, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CEO took part in a public Q&A and vowed their support to the Digital India initiative. Both of them changed their Facebook profile pictures to Digital India filter and people are following the same course.

By converting your Facebook profile pictures into the hue of Indian flag, you are unknowingly casting your vote to support Internet.org. Internet.org defies the basic idea of net neutrality (read free and open internet).

You may think this tricolor filtered profile picture is a gesture to support Digital India. However, it is not. Here seems to be a hidden agenda behind Zuckerberg's support for Digital India, and that is Internet.org– Facebook's much-criticized anti-net neutrality project – which has now been renamed to "Free Basics."

Yes, in the name of Modi's Digital India, Zuckerberg is silently promoting his Internet.org Campaign, which will potentially kill the Internet freedom in the Country.

Facebook, in collaboration with six companies, including Samsung, Media Tek, Software Nokia, Opera, Ericsson, and Qualcomm, launched Internet.org that aims at providing Free Internet services to developing nations.This move by Facebook is not exactly what it looks like. It actually is a blow to our Internet freedom and Net Neutrality, the one we are fighting for long.

Here's Why:

· The Facebook's free Internet service will be available to Reliance users only.

· Internet.org gives 'free access' only to Facebook and its 50 partner websites, which limits Internet users to stick to those services only.

· This Facebook Project is not giving Free Internet to people, instead giving free access to manipulated-Internet that Facebook wants users to see.

Isn't this violation of Net Neutrality? When Internet provider will decide what we are going to see on the Internet.

Issues:

· Death of Start-ups. With this move, we closed doors for another FlipKart or SnapDeal.

· Death of Small businesses. Local businesses will not grow, as the site who will pay more will be part of Facebook's free Internet project.

· Your Internet Remote in Facebook’s Hand. With internet.org, you are indirectly giving Facebook more power to control what you can access on the Internet.