[caster_cp]

From the Internet.org website itself, comes a very timely affirmation: "The future of the world economy is a knowledge economy - the Internet, its backbone". Should this backbone be on the hands of, or at least controlled by, one single company (or cartel, or association)? This move is a very good strategic move to access the so called "other 3 billion", and the mixture of tech companies and public services in developing countries has been proven effective (see M-Pesa, an initiative that revolutionized the financial services ecosystem in Kenya). But there are very deep philosophical implications when private companies start taking the role of government on the internet. Nowadays, many public servants do not understand the implications of this "knowledge economy" referenced on the internet.org website. Specially when it relates to the forces that lead to huge market concentrations and even de facto monopolies in these industries (see Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, ...). The irony of this specific initiative is that a company that fights for net neutrality with the EFF against the telcos tries to do the same thing, but at a different layer, in developing countries. In reality, this raises a very important question for the future of the internet: what is the right amount of private interference on services that were previously considered public ones (identification being the most prominent of these nowadays)? Are we heading to a new Bell style monopoly, but at a global scale, nowadays? And what will be the outcome of the very important fight of internet versus infrastructure companies that is going on? Regarding these doubts, I really and firmly believe that the most interesting phenomenons will not happen in the US, but on the most unsuspecting countries out there (again, see M-Pesa). We just have to wait and see