it is not about doing favors. people decide whether they want connectivity or not. i do and i am sure you do as well. the farmer in Rajahstan whose children are working in Delhi or abroad wants it as well. he doesn't need the power grid or a desktop computer for this, all he needs is a mobile phone. it's 2014, travel a bit more and you'll see he already has one. in a few years his next phone will be a smartphone, and be it only for the reason that dumbphones will be no longer manufactured.

Mr. Zuckerbergs plans seem more like a personal hobby to me. but i don't see how it will harm anybody, it might be beneficial to the people living in the very remotest areas of this planet, although i got a feeling that even there there will be mobile phone mast before one of his drones.

Mr. Soros' hobbies are of far more concern to me.

moshi...

You make assumptions (all unproven) that I've not traveled enough (to meet some or your standard), that people in Rajahstan have the same desires as people in the Philippines and elsewhere, and that you and I want more connectivity...that it's a hobby for Zuckerberg (and not a business) and that it will harm no one...you simply make one assumption after another with no visible support. Maybe they're correct, and maybe they're partially or completely incorrect. 

Finally, this is the Personal Computing Forum. No politics allowed, please.

People who live in areas affected will ultimately decide for themselves. No one is or will if you want force them to use it.

If it is able to being used only for Facebook and whatever Zuckerberg businesses entails they are certainly not doing them a favour but then I am biased as I don't have and don't want one.

If it is for pure internet connection it definitely will benefit them as with internet there is a lot of know how or how to do if you want. From purifying water and building houses to pure education.  

Old?  Haven't a clue.  Cranky?  You are a true peace maker, in my experience on these boards.  (remember?)  I do.  Data mining?  Maybe because that's exactly what Z.yada.burg and NSA do as a prime directive.   Scotty, beam me way up to a truly decent, kind, and fair world. LOL. 

Because you are paying attention?

As far as I'm concerned, Zuckerberg can piss off.  He's no better than a parasite sucking your blood, and there's nothing he offers that I want or need.  I signed up ith Facebook because there were people who thought it 'd be a good idea, but that's the only time I ever went there... I thought better of it and decided to never go back.

Agreed! I deleted my account ages ago. As far as I'm concerned there should be no such thing as social sites, or even cell phone texting! Whatever happened to telephone and face to face conversations.

Agreed. Problem is young people live on the site. So to keep in touch with nieces, nephews and grandchildren I go to this site a couple times a week to see what they are doing. May not like it bit it dose have its small uses.

Just don't think it's gone...

It was suggested to me that I join up with Facebook to keep up with the young ones and vice versa, but I figured if there was anything I really needed to know, they have my frickin' phone number.... and if I have anything to share I ring I'll ring my sister, who in turn passes it on to all the Facebook users in the family.

For mine, Facebook leaks like a sieve and has too many privacy issues for my liking.  Just about everyone I know who has a Facebook account has been hacked at one time or another and had their pages/information tampered with.  Nah, that's not my idea of fun

I joined facebook, to improve contact with youth group (explorer post) I volunteered with.  Quickly, I received way too much additional junk mail, etc.  "Closed" account.  Actually, is impossible, FB refused to 'delete' it.  Keep in touch via texting.  I get an email, each day, from facebook, telling me to log on again.  Everyday? oye!  I actulayy resent that I may not actually delete my info from facebook servers.  Feels like theft to me. 

Texting is great if you are meeting a group, say for a movie, etc.  to coordinate.  FB is made up of two 'four' letter words.  They got the first letter correct. 

Yup, they send out shiploads, and what really pissed me off was how many times a day they'd ask if I knew this or that person on the other siide of the world... and how many times they notified me that so-and-so had posted on their walls... or how this twit invited that twit to join his/her page or group.  There would be days when I'd receive 40 or more emails from the pr*cks.  I got so sick of it I blocked both sender and domain... cos asking them to piss off politely just fell on deaf ears.

I was told that deleting your account was nigh impossible so I didn't bother trying... and I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of my logging in again.  Besides, I provided the very minimum of information when I signed up, and I never responded to friend requests, etc, so I'm not too concerned with what they may do with what little I gave them.

True, and if the 2nd word had 8 letters it could be fuk'n bastards.

the mobile perpetration rate of the Philippines is about 120%, that's higher than in the US, Paraguay has almost the same rate as the US, and even a very poor country like India has a higher rate than Canada. the main reason for this is of course the missing infrastructure for landline phones. so, yes people do want connectivity, they don't buy those phones/contracts to decorate their houses. 

mobile phone infrastructure is a lot cheaper than landline phone infrastructure what made connectivity accessible for billions of people. and they use it. it may be an assumption, but i have a feeling the other folks have not much interest to be left behind. some tribes in the Amazon forest might be an exception. i also suggest reading about the success of M-Pesa in East Africa, very interesting story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_the_Asia_Pacific_region#Philippines

btw. i never said that you would want more connectivity. i said that you want connectivity. it may be an assumption, but the simple fact that you post on an internet forum and stay in contact with your family members makes me think so. i might of course be wrong, but i rather like to think you enjoy that kind of connectivity.

in may opinion it is pretty sad that buzzwords like "Facebook" and "drones" seem to automatically trigger negative responses. basically it is infrastructure, infrastructure and infrastructure what countries need for development, and as i think those plans will not be prfitable anytime soon if at all, i think this is rather a hobby than a business endeavour. after all Mr. Zuckerberg donates quite a lot of money to charity.

Indeed sad. Sad that people have forgotten the real meaning of 'friend', real outdoors, real contact. It's nice to say hi to folks abroad...folks you haven't met and might not, but at the end of the day, it's real (nonvirtual) life that determines so much more...computers have great games...but the graphics outside are so much better.

As for the negative responses to drones? I can't imagine why. Certain words just seem to do that. You'd have to acknowledge that there is something to be said for Logical Positivism (pun intended).

Connectivity isn't an absolute concept like pregnancy. It can be limited to getting email or be as pervasive and invasive as facebook. What I enjoy isn't germane. The point was it's arrogant to assume those folks will.

As for profitability? I'm certain that once the drones are in the sky, they'll be selling access and collecting info. But that's just me. I think he has a charitable side and a business side...and they meet somewhere. That doesn't mean his acts are 'bad' or 'good'. It only mens that at the end of the day, they're mercantile.

The point is that no one is showing the pluses and minuses to these people. Maybe the peoples in aboriginal cultures have a richer emotional/family life than ours. Maybe they won't realize that until it's lost. I see large downsides to 'machine/virtual connectivity' as opposed to 'real/contact connectivity'.