[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #442: Beam it up

Wed Jun 17 10:30:16 EDT 2015

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OPLIN 4cast #442: Beam it up
June 17th, 2015

[image: drone]Facebook and Google are both involved in ambitious and
interesting projects to economically expand Internet access to some of the
most remote areas on earth by using the skies above us. Google's Project
Loon would use balloons in the stratosphere to connect cell phones on earth
to the global Internet. Facebook's Internet.org (with several other
partners) would use a variety of aerial means, including drones, to do
something similar. The technology behind these projects is pretty
interesting, and certainly the goals are commendable. But some people are
worried that the organizations driving this expansion of connectivity are
for-profit Internet companies.

   - How Loon works <https://www.google.com/loon/how/> (Project Loon |
   Google) "Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km
   in diameter using a wireless communications technology called LTE. To use
   LTE, Project Loon partners with telecommunications companies to share
   cellular spectrum so that people will be able to access the Internet
   everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices.
   Balloons relay wireless traffic from cell phones and other devices back to
   the global Internet using high-speed links."
   - Connecting the world from the sky
   <https://fbcdn-dragon-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t39.2365-6/851574_611544752265540_1262758947_n.pdf>
   [pdf] (internet.org/projects | Mark Zuckerberg) "For lower population
   densities, where people are spread out across a large area, the higher up
   you go, the more cost effective it becomes to place trunk stations and to
   deliver the internet. But signal loss will also be higher, so satellite
   access is only really a way of providing a basic internet experience for
   remote communities. Likewise, for high population densities, only lower
   altitude platforms will be truly effective, and connection speeds will be
   faster and the experience better for a lot of people. Given these
   challenges, Facebook is working on a range of technologies that will
   provide different options for connecting people."
   - Facebook's Internet.org platform is a privacy nightmare
   <http://www.medianama.com/2015/05/223-facebooks-internet-org-privacy/>
   (MediaNama | Nikhil Pahwa) "First up, no matter what Facebook says about
   Internet.org being a means of promoting Internet usage, it isn't. It's a
   fundamental, permanent change in the way the Internet works by splitting it
   into free vs paid access. It isn't the same as giving someone Rs 10 of data
   access or even 100 mb. It is a permanent shift. While the kingmaker issue
   has been somewhat addressed by opening up the platform, there is only one
   true king in all of this, which is Facebook."
   - Critics fear tech giant dominance of airborne internet
   <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/critics-fear-tech-giant-dominance-airborne-internet-150610095035742.html>
   (Al Jazeera | Tarek Bazley) "But critics say Google's search engine is
   already a powerful force online and any move that would see it controlling
   infrastructure as well, would give the company too much power. 'Drones and
   balloons, these are awesome but what are they being used for?' says Aral
   Balkan, an independent internet developer. 'Are the underlying power
   dynamics changing? Or is it again a very small group of people exerting
   their power and control over a much larger group?'"

 *Articles from Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Project Loon.
   <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=c4598bfa-b308-4b8a-ae1c-d1dcb17ba607%40sessionmgr4002&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect%253dtrue%2526db%253dbuh%2526AN%253d101084612%2526site%253dehost-live&hid=4104&vid=0&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=101084612>
   (*Technology Review*, Mar./Apr. 2015, p.40-45 | Tom Simonite)
   - Facebook sparks net neutrality battle.
   <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=3b2e81a4-8f07-4279-9087-56358dbeb216%40sessionmgr4004&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect%253dtrue%2526db%253dbuh%2526AN%253d101676350%2526site%253dehost-live&hid=4104&vid=0&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=101676350>
   (*African Business*, March 2015, p.52-55 | Tom Jackson)
   - Dark side of the Loon.
   <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=7c54a08e-e491-4b37-b8dc-247829828c6d%40sessionmgr4003&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect%253dtrue%2526db%253dbuh%2526AN%253d95579662%2526site%253dehost-live&hid=4104&vid=0&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=95579662>
   (*Newsweek Global*, 4/18/2014, p.86-90 | Kevin Maney)

    ------------------------------
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