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The internet for the poor: kindness or business? Q&R
“A very valuable tool for making information available” THANE RICHARD COO/Editor, Outernet
How did Outernet get off the ground? The idea came from Syed Karim, Outernet’s founder and CEO. Through his previous jobs, Syed met with and invested in ventures working on independent media projects all over the world, and the key problem of information access became something of an overarching problem he wanted to fix.
For Internet, go this way. / FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
Connectivity. Plans to bring the internet to the world’s poorest people seem like a humanitarian action on a large scale, but some critics describe it as the business move of the century. Moneyed entrepreneurs and tech firms like Facebook, Google and Virgin seek to bolster plans to provide lowcost internet for some of the world’s poorest. Most projects are betting on the use of satellites, drones and cables, but all are looking to expand connectivity levels worldwide under the premise that internet access is a human right. According to a new Deloitte report released, last January of the world’s 7 billion, 2.7 billion have access to the internet while the vast
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ways to get the world’s poorest people connected
Will censorship with Outernet totally disappear? Sadly, elimination of all censorship is likely still a long way away. However, just because a problem is difficult to solve does not mean we shouldn’t take meaningful steps towards solving it. Outernet is a very valuable tool for making information available everywhere.
the data receiver we are currently raising funds for, will be available in the third quarter of 2015. The internet will be free for all very soon too, right? The internet is a two-way communication, which means it provides two services: information access and opportunity for expression. Providing both of these services is an expensive proposition that is still years away from being universal. While Outernet does have plans to eventually offer global internet service, there is still a much cheaper and faster interim solution. How will Outernet change the internet? The internet will not be changed. Outernet provides another method for people who cannot access the internet due to any number of factors like cost, infrastructure, political freedom, or geography to have access to the most valuable information online. What are the most significant hazards and challenges of this project? Outernet broadcasts to places where free access to information is not something a government allows its people to have. These governments are violating their citizens human rights. The greatest danger is that people who choose to access Outernet and exercise their rights will be punished for doing so.
majority of the 4.3 billion that remain unconnected live in developing countries. The unconnected are typically the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged populations. The study, called “Value of connectivity”, also suggests that extending internet access in developing nations to levels seen in developed economies today could generate more than 140 million new jobs. It’s this kind of statistics that have compelled new startups like Outernet to bring connectivity across the planet. “Information is one of many tools that people can use to change the world around them. Outernet is a new way to help guarantee that everyone has access to basic information,” said Thane Richard, COO and editor of Outernet, which plans to provide free access to web content through geostationary and low Earth orbit satellites. However, currently most of the internet-spreading pro-
jects to the poor are still in the planning stages. Google are testing drones, while Virgin are working on a ‘constellation’ of 650 micro satellites. Facebook is the only major firm to be operating a system that provides internet for poor people. The “Internet. org” project, led by the social media giant, is the most advanced of all, because it is already operating in countries like Zambia, India, Tanzania, Kenya, Colombia and Ghana through an app for smartphones that provides internet to users with scarce resources. Internet.org is also exploring a variety of technologies, including high-altitude longendurance planes, satellites and lasers to make affordable internet access possible in communities around the world. The first users of the app Internet.org say they left very satisfied, because the presence of the internet in their lives has given them access to a larger amount of infor-
mation, which in turn has helped them improve their business and even changed their lifestyle “Internet.org is a real help to me and I think that it changed my life,” said ‘Alice’, a mother and aspiring nurse from Kabwe, Zambia, in a YouTube video that gathers the experiences of the first users of the app launched by Facebook in July 2014. “Internet.org has a direct effect of my business,”said ‘Matthew’, a farmer from Zambia. While the testimony of the first users of the Internet. org shines Facebook in a favorable light, there are critics who accuse that this initiative serves in the main as publicity and good business for the social network. “Internet.org makes perfect business sense for Facebook. It’s an investment in getting more people online, which increases the potential Facebook user base, and because it’s presented as a philanthropic effort it also helps Facebook’s reputation,” Vlad Savov, senior editor at
The Verge, a U.S. tech news website, told Metro. Specialists and governments agree with the premise that internet access should be a human right and that being online could benefit the world’s poorest people; However, some experts warn about the premise of internetspreading, which appears as business under the guises of humanitarian actions. “Thus, to Silicon Valley’s question of
‘Is Internet access a human right?’ one could respond by turning the tables: What kind of ‘Internet,’ and what kind of ‘access’?” wrote Evgeny Morozov, author of “The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom”, in a column published in The New York Times.
Satellites. In early January 2015, Virgin and Qualcomm announced that they will be leading investments in a satellite ‘constellation’ that will be comprised of 648 low-weight, low orbit, low latency satellites that will work with mobile providers on the ground to provide high-speed internet connectivity to areas where it’s too expensive to provide conventionally.
Drones. In 2014, Google acquired Titan Aerospace, a firm that specializes in developing drones that are powered by solar energy and designed to cruise at 65,000 feet for up to five years. These systems may eventually be used to provide Internet connections in remote areas, according to the search engine giant’s plans.
Lasers. A team hired by Facebook is developing solar-powered drones with what’s known as free-space optical communication (FSO), and hopes to use lasers to send messages between drones and the ground. If they succeed, the technology could offer speeds comparable to fiber optic cables.
Lantern. The dainty device called the “Lantern”, a data receiver and media storage system, is being designed and developed by Outernet that will be a “completely self-contained, high-speed receiver” that is “solar-powered, weatherproof, and creates a wireless hotspot to allow WiFi-enabled devices to access content.”
App. Last year Facebook launched an Android app that provides free data access to services like Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, and more. With this app, users can browse a set of useful health, employment and local information services without data charges.
When will the technology be available? We turned on a signal covering North America, Europe, parts of the Middle East and North Africa on August last year. That can be received using special technology. In December we added Sub-Saharan Africa. Lantern,
INTERVIEW BY DANIEL CASILLAS AND DMITRY BEYLAEV / MWN
DANIEL CASILLAS MWN