FACEBOOK’S FREE BASICS INITIATIVE AND ITS IMPACTS ON NET NEUTRALITY IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD: DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY, CONTENT REGULATION AND ECONOMIC REPERCUSSIONS FOR BRAZIL Lucas Anjos | Institute for Research on Internet and Society

FACEBOOK’S FREE BASICS “FreeBasicsbyFacebookprovidespeoplewithaccesstousefulservicesontheirmobilephonesinmarketswhereinternetaccessmaybelessaffordable.Thewebsitesareavailableforfreewithoutdatacharges,andincludecontentonthingslikenews,employment,health,educationandlocalinformation.Byintroducingpeopletothebenefitsoftheinternetthroughthesewebsites,wehopetobringmorepeopleonlineandhelpimprovetheirlives”

FACEBOOK’S FREE BASICS Free Basics is available in 49 countries:

Africa & Middle East: Angola; Benin; Cape Verde; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Iraq; Kenya; Liberia; Madagascar; Malawi; Mauritania; Mozambique; Niger; Nigeria; Republic of Congo; Rwanda; Senegal; Seychelles; South Africa; Tanzania; Zambia

Asia Pacific: Bangladesh; Cambodia; Indonesia; Maldives; Mongolia; Myanmar; Pakistan; Philippines; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Vanuatu

Latin Americ: Aruba; Barbados; Bolivia; Bonaire; Colombia; Curaçao; El Salvador; Guatemala; Jamaica; Mexico; Panama; Peru; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago

NET NEUTRALITY IN BRAZIL 2014 > Brazilian Civil Framework for the Internet (Marco Civil)

Art. 9: Providers responsible for transmission, commuting or routing have the duty to treat equally any data package, without discrimination due to content, origin, destiny, service, terminal or application. § 1o Traffic discrimination is only allowed in cases of: indispensable technical requisites; and to prioritize emergency services.

NET NEUTRALITY IN BRAZIL 2016 > Decree 8.771 (Dilma’s last day in government)

Art. 5o Matters of network security, such as restrictions to spam, or DoS (Denial of Service) attacks; exceptional network congestion, such as emergency situations and main route interruptions

FREE BASICS X NET NEUTRALITY

  Does Free Basics break net neutrality?   According to Brazilian law: yes.

  However:

   - Penetration rate in Brazil: 35% (North); 40% (Northeast); 60% (Southeast)

   - Penetration rate in urban areas: 56%

   - Penetration rate in rural areas: 22%

   (TIC Domicílios 2014 | Cetic.br)

ZERO-RATING AND NET NEUTRALITY

Network expansion

Innovation

Competition regulation

FREE BASICS X NET NEUTRALITY

   Free Basics may create highly concentrated markets

   Few substitute providers would be inclined to compete

   It is already a governmental policy (Art. 24 Brazilian Civil Framework for the Internet)

   Personal data and privacy issues still unregulated in Brazil and in several other

countries

   Transparency criteria with regard to content discrimination

   Access x digital inclusion

NET NEUTRALITY IN BRAZIL

Lucas Costa dos Anjos lucas@irisbh.com.br irisbh.com.br