There's an interesting phenomenon where people in developing countries begin to think that Facebook is the full extent of the internet:<p><i>Indonesians surveyed by Galpaya told her that they didn’t use the internet. But in focus groups, they would talk enthusiastically about how much time they spent on Facebook. Galpaya, a researcher (and now CEO) with LIRNEasia, a think tank, called Rohan Samarajiva, her boss at the time, to tell him what she had discovered. “It seemed that in their minds, the Internet did not exist; only Facebook,” he concluded.</i> [1]<p>I feel extremely lucky and privileged to have grown up with an open internet, where there was at least some (diminishing) percent of websites that did not treat me like a product to be marketed to advertisers, prodding and analyzing, constantly gamifying and creeping ever-inwards on my privacy. I deactivated my account a few months ago because it felt like Facebook was taking more from me in terms of time and energy than I was gaining from it.<p>There is a huge benefit to bringing the connectivity of Facebook to developing countries and remote territories. Many people wouldn't be able to run businesses or keep in touch with family without it.<p>I just wish it didn't come with the strangely uncomfortable, sell-your-soul type of vibe that a project funded by publicly owned, for-profit venture usually generates. Especially when PR tries to spin it off as a charitable or humane act. Once you go public, it's about profit and it always will be. And a lot of the time, that's fine. Our country was founded and continues to run on capitalistic principles. Just don't hide behind any false pretenses and you'll have my support 100%.<p>[1] <a href="http://qz.com/333313/milliions-of-facebook-users-have-no-idea-theyre-using-the-internet/" rel="nofollow">http://qz.com/333313/milliions-of-facebook-users-have-no-ide...</a>
This is not an effort to provide the full internet. See this critique by the EFF for more details: <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/05/internetorg-not-neutral-not-secure-and-not-internet" rel="nofollow">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/05/internetorg-not-neutra...</a>
Just, no.<p>This is frightening on many levels. A facebook plane? To get people on facebook, right? To get them on the internet is secondary to Zuckerbergs goals here, lets be honest. A walled garden? Come on. It should be the whole internet or they shouldn't even bother.<p>A walled garden, with no security protocols, with the intention of getting the entire world on facebook? Not cool.
This is quite a thing.<p>Does anyone know how they're achieving the 10gbps data rate? I'm wondering if they're doing something like vortex beam forming... <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/twisted-light-beam-data-transmission-vienna/34713/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gizmag.com/twisted-light-beam-data-transmission-v...</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030401809011043" rel="nofollow">http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030401809...</a> (Although this article is about using a physical fiber).
I hate Facebook and what it does to people. There is nothing worse than sitting in a room full of zombies on their mobiles. Despite all the great tech my first thought is how satisfying it would be for one of these to be taken down by a ground to Facebook missile.
This video has given me a newfound respect for Facebook.<p>Many engineers at tech companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. report that they feel overqualified for their work. I imagine many yearn for the chance to work on moonshot projects like these - is there any reason why secretive research divisions at these companies are so small, when there is plenty of engineering talent to go around internally?
Why are people on HN actually supporting this? Facebook built a plane to beam its horrible timesink to even more people. Facebook is not a good thing. No company "gives things away" out of the good of their heart. They built a PLANE. Honestly, the only word I can describe this with is: scary.
So Facebook is the new AOL/Compuserve in some places. Did AOL die because people prefer the full open Internet, or did AOL die because it was too limited? Either way, history will likely repeat itself. Are people on this thread really worried that as things develop, people won't want to reach outside of the wall garden eventually? I think they will naturally.
I believe that as facebook gains the territory, so does Instagram, messenger, WhatsApp, and every other acquired product. So the plan isn't really to just deliver internet service but to buy up the social world in the area without competitors. Since about 1.49 billion of the 1/3 of the internet enabled regions use one of Facebook products even with the competitions, it's evident that this project would triple their impact.
Another attempt at producing a machine that can fly for months. The Pluto project[1]:<p><i>"The nuclear engine could, in principle, operate for months, so a Pluto cruise missile could be left airborne for a prolonged time before being directed to carry out its attack."</i><p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto</a>
So the NSA`s 'surveillance' activities can now look like a benevolent mary poppins feel good internet provider? Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to have worked on such a project ... just not for FB ... sorry, not a fan.
multiple months on station - dream come true for data acquisition in a lot of civilian and not very civilian applications. Like a platform for that gigapixel/Argus continuously recording everything happening in the city. Almost not existent noise and IR signature, and with carbon fiber construction i'd suppose very low radar cross-section. It can toil for months near China/Russia/etc. airspace listening/watching/etc. Or electronic CAP/AWACS kind of mission during peace time over aircraft carrier group. Sky isn't even the limit :)
Lasers are a poor choice for atmospheric communication, unless this kind of infrastructure is specifically designed to be deployed in places like deserts with a clear sky all the year around!
I would like to see these used in the US to break the telco monopoly stranglehold.<p>Of course it's likely the FAA/FCC would make sure not to let that happen.<p>edit: I mean same tech, but not deployed by Facebook.
May 14th, 2024:<i></i><i>In other news, today marks the 11th time in recent months that ISIS terrorists were able to shoot down a Facebook Aquila V.9 autonomous internet drown. Cutting off Facebook and general internet access to millions of Facebook users in the arid region.</i><i></i><p><i></i><i>Officials from Facebook, the NSA, and the NTSB were unavailable to comment.</i><i></i><p><i></i><i>This tragedy highlighted on this, Mark Zuckerberg's 40th birthday.</i><i></i>