Do you have any idea why 'Internet.org' was renamed to 'Free Basics' just for India?

About 1 year ago, when Internet.org was launched in India, many netizens protested and
stopped it as it was against the net neutrality. Facebook was shocked by this response.
So, the marketing department of Facebook renamed it to 'FREE BASICS' and relaunched
as they thought Indians will never say 'no' to anything which is given for free.
Now, Facebook is aggressively marketing to get it accepted by India's Telecom regulator.
They are publishing full page newspaper ads, roadside banners and online ads. They
stooped so low from their standards and started sending constant notifications to all
their Indian Users to click a button which will send a mail to TRAI saying that you
support 'Free basics'. They even 'accidentally' sent these notification to foreign users.
They make their ads look like they are doing a favor for India through 'Free basics' and
ourevil government is stopping their good efforts. And, if you do not accept their nagging
notifications, then they make it look like you are a bad person who doe'n't support
'digital equality' showing the list of your friends who support it.
'Digital equality'- another term coined by Facebook for their ads. Does that word look
suspiciously similar to 'Net neutrality'? Aye?

What is 'Free basics'/'Internet dot org' according to Facebook?

Free Basics by Facebook provides free access to basic internet services to a billion people
all over the world.
Free Basics makes the internet accessible to more people by providing them access to a
range of free basic services like news, maternal health, travel, local jobs, sports,
communication, and local government information.
To date, weve been able to offer these services to a billion people across Asia, Africa and
Latin America. By introducing people to the benefits of the internet through these
services, we hope to bring more people online and help improve their lives.
Source: Free Basics - Documentation - Facebook for Developers

That really really makes it look so world changingly good, right? Who doesn't want
free unlimited internet?
You can imagine that a poor kid in a Chhatisgarh village in central India should be able
to see Khan Academy videos, her Dad should be able to look up agricultural spot prices
on Google or a commodity exchange and perhaps her Mom could look for a betterpaying job at a top job board. But natch, none of these are part of the so-called
"Internet/Free Basics" that Facebook offers the poor. Videos in fact, are not available at
all, presumably to conserve bandwidth so it can be retained for more important things
like villagers sending each other Candy Crush requests.
There is no Google, there is no Linkedin, there's no Alibaba, there's no Amazon, there's
no Flipkart, there's no eBay. No place these folks can buy, or sell or trade. There's no
Kiva or other bottom-of-pyramid money service. No loans they can receive. No
government sites, no banks. No Coursera or EdX or Khan Academy - so it's not about
education either. Forget about entertainment - there's absolutely none of that. And no
Quora, of course. You name any possible site of importance to someone who needs
information and opportunities, and it's not there. But, hey, I guess then you can always
poke folks in the next village!
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i...
What is 'free basics' according to rest of us?
Free basics give free internet access to Facebook and few other internet services
approved by Facebook.
The internet market growth is getting saturated in the western world as most people are
already using internet. India and other Asian countries have a large untapped population
who are yet to use internet. Facebook wants to acquire these users by any means
possible. One easy way to make Facebook popular among these users is to give it for free.
Do you know how drug-agents get college students addicted to their drugs? They first
give it for completely free. Then once the students get addicted to it, they start charging
them heftily.
Free basics is launched for Facebook's best interests. Otherwise why are they so pushy
about this and investing millions for the ad campaign itself, when people are clearly
protesting against it? Reliance - the official network partner of Free basics advertises it
as 'Free Facebook' on newspapers (Source)
What are 'basics'?
Facebook or Whatsapp wasn't a basic internet service 10 years ago. If some other
company X had offered their service free from past 15 years then facebook/whatsapp
wouldn't have even existed.

The things which may look basic now may not be basic in next 10 years. By giving
Facebook control of which apps to give for free, we are creating a monopoly. New
startups won't be able to compete as everyone will use the Facebook's free alternative.
For example:- If free basics was launched in 2010, then Whatsapp would never have
been so popular as 'Facebook Messenger' would have been free, while you would have to
pay data charges to use 'Whatsapp' or any other service. This creates a monopolistic
environment where only Facebook will thrive.
What is Net neutrality?
Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should
treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by
user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of
communication.
It is one of the fundamental principle due to which Internet exists in the form we see
today.
Source: Net neutrality- Wikipedia
Look how pushy is facebook about this?
Poster ads at railway stations:-

Source: Vinay Rawat on Twitter

Ads on google search (Facebook paid money to google to put this ad on your search.)

Today's newspaper- Two full page ads.

(2nd and 3rd page Times of India 25-dec) Photo source:- I captured and uploaded it.

Source Amit Kulkarni.

Another two page newspaper ad:-

Source:- Facebook shares 10 key facts about Free Basics. Here's what's wrong with all 10
of them
"What net neutrality activists won't tell you?" - Seriously? This is the title
they used in their newspaper ads.
The guys behind Save The Internet! have given a befitting reply.
You can read the reply here:1) There are other successful models (this, this, this) for providing free Internet access to
people, without giving a competitive advantage to Facebook. Free Basics is the worst of
our options.
2) Facebook doesnt pay for Free Basics, telecom operators do. Where do they make
money from? From users who pay. By encouraging people to choose Free Basics,
Facebook reduces the propensity to bring down data costs for paid Internet access.
3) Free Basics isnt about bringing people online. Its about keeping Facebook and its
partners free, while everything else remains paid. Users who pay for Internet access can
still access Free Basics for free, giving Facebook and its partners an advantage. Free
Basics is a violation of Net Neutrality
4) Internet access is growing rapidly in India. Weve added 100 million users in 2015.
Almost all the connections added in India in the last 1 year are NOT because of Free
Basics.
5) Free Basics is not an open platform. Facebook defines the technical guidelines for Free
Basics, and reserves the right to change them. They reserve the right to reject applicants,
who are forced to comply with Facebooks terms. In contrast they support
permissionless innovation in the US.

6) The only source of info on Facebooks Free Basics is Facebook, and it misleads people.
Facebook was criticised in Brazil for misleading advertising (source). Their
communication in India is misleading. People find the Free part of Free Basics
advertising from Facebook (or FreeNet free Internet) from Reliance misleading (source).
7) Facebook gets access to all the usage data and usage patterns of all the sites on Free
Basics. No website which wants to compete with Facebook will partner with them
because it will have to give them user data. Facebook gives data to the NSA (source) and
this is a security issue for India.
8) Research has shown that people prefer to use the open web for a shorter duration over
a limited set of sites for a longer duration. (source)
9) Facebook says that Free Basics doesnt have ads, but does not say that it will never
have ads on Free Basics.
10) Facebook has shown people as saying that they support Free Basics when they
havent. They may claim 3.2 million in support, but how many of those mails are
legitimate?
Facebook shares 10 key facts about Free Basics. Here's what's wrong with all 10 of them
What can facebook actually do without violating net neutrality?

Facebook can give all Indian users free full access to internet upto certain
data limit every month.(For example: 100MB internet free for everyone
every month without any restrictions. Facebook can pay for that as part of
their philanthropiceffort.)
Free internet at low speeds upto certain data limit
Ad supported free internet, but with no restrictions on which site/app you
can visit and which you can't.
Give subsidized data coupons like Rs10 for first 200MB of the month.
Lay the infrastructure(cables, routers etc) to connect villages/rural towns.
Give free unrestricted internet to poor people in selected regions.
They can create something like 'GoogleWebLight For Slow Internet' which
will reduce the data size of all websites and provide it for free.
Mozilla in partnership with Grameenphone in Bangladesh allows users to
receive 20 MB of data usage for free each day, in exchange for viewing an
advertisement.
Aircel is going to give free unrestricted internet at the speed of 64kbps
across the country.
Remember this. Internet exists in its current form because of net neutrality. (It is not
just a buzz word.) If it wasn't neutral then you wouldn't be reading opposing opinions.
Do you think Facebook will allow Save The Internet! in their platform?
Facebook just added savetheinternet website to the security blacklist and is showing this
warning to atleast some users.

What can you do to stop 'Free basics'?

You can go to Save The Internet! and sent an email to TRAI saying you are
against this. TRAI have already put a ban on 'free basics' till 31st Dec and is
asking user's input.
You can spread this information and ask your friends to also do the same.
They have made it very difficult to write convincing articles against it, as the
writer would end up looking like a jerk/elitist if they say "I am against free
basics for the poor". This is why it is important for the people who know the
truth to help others understand it. Is it possible to stand against a multi
million dollar advertising campaign containing the word 'free' by a company
which already has direct access to most internet users?
There is no such thing as a Free lunch.
Update:

Microsoft, Paytm and Truecaller have strongly opposed 'Free basics '(Source)
Mahesh Murthy (co-founder Seedfund) opposes 'Free basics' in his LinkedIn
article.
Tim Berners-Lee (Inventor of the World Wide Web) opposes 'Free basics'
(Source)
"Free Basic means 'Free Basic users for Facebook' and NOT 'Free Basic Internet for
poor'." - My tweet:- kshitij salgunan on Twitter