Why Zuckerberg wants everyone to have the Internet as a ‘human right’
MARK Zuckerberg, the billionaire behind Facebook, has just announced that he’s joining forces with other tech firms in order to try and bring the internet to everyone. One the grounds that internet access for the 4 billion humans that don’t currently have it is akin to a human right:
Mark Zuckerberg’s altruistic finger is twitching just as usage of his free content ad network appears to have plateaued.
In a post on his personal Facebook account, Zuck asked: “Is connectivity a human right?”
An actual human right, no, that sounds a little too far. The right to free speech, to association, to a fair trial, yes, these are indeed human rights. But to an internet connection? No, I think not.
The reason he’s doing this of course isn’t anything at all to do with human rights. It’s because Facebook has some 1 billion of the world’s 2 billion people on the internet as a customer. Which is great: but the other 1 billion already on the net don’t seem to want to have a Facebook account. So, in order to expand the number of people he can show ads to Zuckerberg needs to increase the number of people on the internet. And then hope that some decent section of the new arrivals will set up Facebook accounts.
Who knows, might even work. But it’s not quite as selfless as some are portraying it, this let’s bring cheap internet to the masses.
Photo: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to make internet access available around the globe by launching a new initiative to make getting online more affordable. The Facebook chief executive is launching internet.org in partnership with other companies including Ericsson, Samsung and Nokia, which will develop joint projects and share knowledge to bring the world online. S
Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
