France orders Facebook to stop tracking non-users

The Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has given Facebook three months to stop tracking Web users who are not members of the social network or face fines. The agency states that Facebook is violating users' rights to privacy, as it uses their data for targeted advertising without allowing people to prevent the collection of their data. In addition to this, Facebook is also thought to be using the now illegal Safe Harbour which allowed European data to be stored in the US, this was invalidated by the European Court of Justice last October. India has also banned Facebook's free Basics program - and all zero-rated internet services - from operating in the country.

Late last year, the Indian government temporarily banned Facebook’s free Basics program over net neutrality concerns. Now, it’s banned for good.

A new regulation issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India bans more than just Facebook’s offering: The ruling bans zero-rated internet services altogether. In simpler terms, that means that services which allow users access to some apps and sites without using up any of their mobile data allowance are now no longer allowed.

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Last year, Indian net neutrality activists argued that Free Basics was a way for Facebook to shape internet access. Which is true. Zuckerberg & Co. countered that it’s actually a way to connect people who may otherwise not have internet access. Which is also true!

But Facebook’s claims to be some kind of charitable foundation, tossing internet this way and that to the needy, don’t seem to hold much sway with Indian officials. In the new ruling, the Telecom Regulatory Authority writes plainly that “no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.”

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And with that, Facebook’s Free Basics is dead in India.

For its part, Facebook will be disappointed: It’s spent a lot of time, money and effort trying to roll out the scheme in India. And it’s already had to shut down a similar scheme in Egypt.

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All of which suggests that while providing internet to those without it is undoubtedly a good thing, doing so while providing only access to your own software and services doesn’t wash in the slightest. Time to try again, Facebook.

[Telecom Regulatory Authority of India via BBC]

Image by AP