> Two sources with direct knowledge of discussions between Facebook and the Egyptian government said Free Basics was blocked because the company would not allow the government to circumvent the service's security to conduct surveillance.
Sure sounds like Facebook refused to hand the Egyptian government their https root keys.
> Now, those using the Free Basics mobile app can connect directly with encryption to secure sites. Those connecting via the Free Basics website can connect securely to Facebook, which decrypts and then re-encrypts user traffic before sending it along to partner sites.
The problem is Facebook has the ability to see everything. I can't believe those of us who rallied against LinkedIn when they tried to mitm our emails are now suddenly OK with Facebook doing the same in the band of free basics.
I don't see how you can read that in those texts. Also, I'm sure facebook would be open to fix that given the tools to do so (maybe http proxy).
Plus I find it extremely hard to believe a government is concerned about it's citizen's privacy. I find it much more likely that the Egyptian government wanted guarantees that it could spy on everything done on Egyptian wireless networks.
It seems to me what that sentence is saying is just the opposite of what you claim : that Facebook refused to let the Egyptian government spy on all traffic over their free basics.
