Facebook为印度穷人提供免费网络引争议
New Delhi — The last time Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the United States, he stood with Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman and declared, for some reason, “May the force be with you.” This month, when he meets the Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in Menlo Park, Calif., Indians hope their leader won’t yell, “Don’t be evil.”
新德里——印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪(Narendra Modi)上一次访问美国时曾和“金刚狼”休·杰克曼(Hugh Jackman)同台，出于某种原因，他说了一句“愿原力与你同在”。本月，当他和Facebook创始人马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)在加州的门洛帕克市见面时，印度民众希望自己的领导人别喊出“不作恶”来。
But if he does end up shouting Google’s motto in Facebook’s headquarters, some Indians would be pleased. For that is what they wish to tell Facebook.
但如果他最后真的在Facebook总部说出这句谷歌(Google)格言，有一部分印度人会比较高兴。因为这正是他们想对Facebook说的。
Mr. Modi wants every Indian to get online, and Mr. Zuckerberg has figured out a way to do this. But the Modi government has been under pressure from the minority of Indians who consume most of the nation’s bandwidth to pass legislation that would deny free Internet access to the poor.
莫迪想让所有印度人都用上网络，扎克伯格想到了一个实现的方法。但莫迪政府受到来自少数印度民众的压力，这些人享用着印度大部分带宽，却想要通过一项不给穷人提供上网途径的法案。
In February, Facebook and its partners introduced in India, a diminished but free Internet for the more than 100 million mobile subscribers of Reliance Communications. More than 75 percent of Indians do not use or have access to the Internet, but almost every Indian has a mobile phone. So, millions of Indians now have access, in seven languages, to dozens of websites and applications, including BBC News, Wikipedia and, of course, Facebook.
今年2月，Facebook及其合作伙伴将引入了印度，它可以让印度信实通信公司(Reliance Communications)的1亿手机用户享受到不完整但却完全免费的网络。超过75%印度人不上网或没有上网途径，但他们几乎人手一部手机。所以，现在有数百万印度人可以浏览几十种网站和应用，包括BBC新闻、Wikipedia，当然还有Facebook，这些服务有七种语言可以选择。
would not have drawn much rage if not for something else that was going on. Weeks after the initiative emerged, an Indian telecom operator tried to introduce a service that would make it free or cheap or faster for people to gain access to some applications that have a commercial agreement with the operator.
如果不是因为还有一些其他的事，不会引起太多怨愤。这一计划推出几周后，一家印度通信运营商试图引入一项服务，可以让人们免费或以更低的价格或更快的速度下载一些与该运营商有商业协议的应用。
There is a global movement against strategies that corrupt the open nature of the Internet, and Indians joined the lament. The movement ended up including Internet for the poor among the offending telecom strategies. This was a flawed, principled stand. And it fit well in the history of the Indian elite deploying ideology to the detriment of the poor — central planning instead of a market economy, a focus on higher education over primary education and rocket science over virology.
目前全球在进行一场运动，反对破坏互联网开放属性的策略，印度也加入了控诉的一方。这场运动最终把为穷人提供网络列为不合理的电信策略。这是一个有缺陷的、坚持原则的立场。它与印度精英阶层宣传对穷人不利的意识形态的历史一脉相承，这些人强调中央计划，而非市场经济；重视高等教育大过基础教育；重视火箭科学大过病毒研究。
Mr. Zuckerberg has been at pains to tell Indians that his offer of free Internet to the poor does not violate any ethics. Facebook does not charge for any application that wishes to be on , and it does not post ads on the Facebook pages of the users. Also, the company does not pay Reliance to provide the free service. Mr. Zuckerberg has said that any telecom operator would be allowed to carry . A Facebook spokesman told me, “We are actively in discussions with other mobile phone operators in India.”
扎克伯格一直在竭力让印度人明白，他给贫穷阶层提供的免费网络服务并不违反任何道德准则。Facebook不向任何希望出现在上的应用收费，不在用户的Facebook页面上发广告。而且，Facebook也不为信实通信公司提供的免费网络服务买单。扎克伯格已经表示，任何通信运营商都可以为其用户提供的免费应用。一位Facebook发言人告诉我，“我正在积极地和印度的其他手机运营商进行商谈。”
He said that “more than 40 percent of those coming online via” are so intoxicated by the idea of connectivity that they soon pay the telecom operator for data and enjoy the full expanse of online life. So, the telecom operator has commercial rewards in offering an exceptional social service. It is an idea that can transform India.
他表示，通过免费应用接触到网络后，有“超过40％的人都非常沉醉于联网的感觉，会很快给通信运营商付费购买流量，以享受完整的网络乐趣。所以，通信运营商在提供一项杰出的社会服务的同时，也可以获得商业回报。这是一个可以改变印度面貌的观念。
The elite Indian condemnation of Internet for the poor is cloaked in righteous objections. For instance, that it is “restrictive,” thereby violating the fundamental spirit of the web. But is limited because data is expensive, not because it promotes some websites over others. In fact, it is paid Internet that is restrictive because it denies the web to those who cannot pay.
印度精英阶层反对为贫穷阶层提供网络，有一些表面看似正当的理由。比如，他们指责它是“限制性的”，因此违反互联网的基本精神。但之所以有所限制，是因为数据太昂贵，而不是为优先推广某些网站。事实上，真正有限制的是付费互联网，因为它们把不能付费的人挡在了门外。
Another objection is that the poor would think Facebook is the Internet as many in other nations do. But then in India “xerox” is a verb that means photocopying, and many think the Internet is an American company. If the whole world were surveyed, it would come across as generally ill informed. Many are ignorant because they never had the opportunities, like being connected, to be informed.
他们反对的另一个理由是，印度贫穷阶层会和其他国家的许多人一样，认为Facebook就代表互联网。但在印度，“xerox”只是意为“复印”的动词，不代表施乐公司，还有很多人认为“互联网”就是一个美国公司。如果在全球进行问卷调查，印度人会给人以孤陋寡闻的印象。很多人那么无知，是因为他们没有机会接触网络等获取新知的途径。
Also, there is a view that free Internet is just a ploy by Facebook to capture new markets. The history of modern India is proof that corporate self-interest is often more useful to society than altruism.
还有一种观点认为，网络只是Facebook为了占领新市场而策划的阴谋。现代印度发展的历史证明，企业的自利往往比利他主义对社会更有益。
Mr. Modi, instead of banishing , may consider uploading government websites on it. Facebook is discussing that possibility with his team.
莫迪可能会把印度政府网站放在上，而不是驱逐它。Facebook正和他的团队就这一可能进行讨论。
