Facebook renames Internet.org platform as Free Basic, adds encrypted services

Facebook has renamed of its Internet.org app and mobile website to Free Basics by Facebook and also announced it will now allow the use of encrypted services on its Internet.org without charging data fees.

According to The Next Web, now the users of the app or mobile Web version can navigate to a menu to select free services to add to their list or search for a service by name or description.

The Internet.org platform is developed by Facebook aim to connect underserved communities worldwide to the internet, providing free online access to basic websites in developing countries in partnership with carriers. The company opened the platform to developers in May, but had maintained a no-encryption rule based on infrastructure barriers in various countries.

Internet.org will expand encryption in its Free Basics program, according to a blog post.

Traffic is already automatically encrypted end-to-end with the Android app unless a developer chooses to support just HTTP. The service has now been extended to services on the Web version.

According to the post, this change provides meaningfully more security than is available these days, particularly for people who may not fully trust their internet connection.

In a mobile browser, when accessing a Free Basics website the service uses a dual certificate security model where the first certificate is for traffic encrypted between the users device and Internet.org servers in both directions. For services offered through Free Basics that support HTTPS, a second certificate will be used for traffic encrypted between its servers and developers.

The information is temporarily decrypted when using the Free Basics mobile website on secure servers to ensure proper functionality. The program preserves privacy by storing only the domain name of the service, data usage and cookies stored in an encrypted, unreadable format.