Net neutrality is a principle that treats Internet as a public utility
which treats traffic equally. It is based on the simple rule that a
network and the data that flows through it are two separate entities and
implies that the entities that control the network (the telecom
companies and the internet service providers or ISPs) should not have
any say on the content that move through their networks.ISPs should not discriminate the way i choose to use the internet or the brands I use to surf the internet.
The debate over net neutrality has grabbed headlines in India after Bharti Airtel announced a product through which mobile 'app' makers pay for data usage to allow customers to use their apps for free.
(Image courtesy: Reddit India)
“I think net neutrality is important to make sure network operators don’t discriminate and limit access to services people want to use, especially in countries where most people are online.”
“For people who are not on the internet though, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all.”
The debate over net neutrality has grabbed headlines in India after Bharti Airtel announced a product through which mobile 'app' makers pay for data usage to allow customers to use their apps for free.
(Image courtesy: Reddit India)
“I think net neutrality is important to make sure network operators don’t discriminate and limit access to services people want to use, especially in countries where most people are online.”
“For people who are not on the internet though, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg
"It must be noted that this is not an issue of just elite as it is being
made out to be. It will affect even the poor because so many services
are delivered over the internet today. The government is trying to
extend its services to the people through this medium because it will be
effective and inexpensive. Present usage of the net seems to encompass
everyone, rich or poor, particularly the younger people,"
"While the underprivileged deserve much more than what is available,
nobody should decide what exactly are their requirements. You cannot
force a person to use a certain mobile application because the telecom
company believes that it should be doing so,"
"Let us remember that the internet is not the market place but the market is made inside the internet,"
Odisha CM Navin Patnaik
“When we talk of net-neutrality there are many implications … advantages, limitations, the kind of architecture that we need to address it, the technical and regulatory, we need to examine the best practices that are available globally … these are important to have a structured view.”
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Sam Pitroda
.
Net Neutrality was a simple concept that says that all citizens should get equal access to the Internet. But this government wants to divide the Internet and hand it over to a few big companies. India needs a Net Neutrality law that won’t allow the Internet to be divided into parts,
"National Internet Exchange of India as the neutral exchange in the country, strongly supports Neutrality of the internet which is the only way forward to make the Internet open, free and innovative. "Any move by Telcos to bundle application or content selectively will hamper the very basic concept of internet,"
Splitting the internet between the rich and the poor means sounding the death knell for mobile internet commerce;
The simple solution could have been limited free data usage to ensure that those who can’t afford to buy data can explore the realms of the internet.
"Net neutrality in India is fundamental to the future of democracy,
development, demography and disparity. It is not about business,
economics, customer service or the opinion of a few educated elites,"
savetheinternet.in have written an open letter to Our PrimeMinister Sri Narendra Modi for Net Neutrality.
.
Read the complete letter below:
To
Shri Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
Copy to
Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister of Communications and Information Technology
Copy to
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry
Dated: April 24, 2015
Subject: Protect the Open Internet in India
Dear Sir,
We are writing to you as founders and stakeholders of Indian technology startups.
Each of us set out on this entrepreneurial journey with a dream
to create a world-leading technology company from India. We dream that
an Indian startup may one day become the next Google, Facebook or
Amazon. We know that you share our dream.
We share another dream with you, the dream of a Digital India. We
dream of this as Indians, and also as businesses that wish to serve a
fast-growing Indian internet market.
These dreams cannot be achieved without the open Internet.
Preserving the Startup Ecosystem
The Internet is a fountain of creativity because it is a single,
global market where anyone can offer a product and be reachable by every
user. This results in global competition and exchange of ideas, and
drives innovation and progress.
If startups or online service providers had to first obtain a
government license, or pay each Internet Service Provider in the world
(there are tens of thousands of them), this global market, competition
and innovation would disappear.
This is what we stand to lose if telecom operators are allowed to
strike deals to favour some online services over their competitors.
Under these deals, companies may pay the ISP to make their competitors’
websites inaccessible, slower or more expensive to access than their
own.
These practices, if allowed, will exclude promising startups from
the Internet and end our dream of seeing them flourish. The western
companies that dominate the Indian internet ecosystem today will use
their deep pockets to perpetuate their position. The few startups that
can afford it will be forced to find growth in foreign markets before
they can return to India with the funds to pay ISPs, while the rest shut
shop.
This would be a catastrophic outcome for our startup ecosystem.
Building a Digital India
India has the fastest growing internet user base in the world, but over 100 crore Indians still don’t use the Internet.
Bringing them online is not merely a question of infrastructure
or affordability; there should first be demand for Internet access.
No-one will begin using the Internet just because access is cheap or
even free, if all the content and applications are in foreign languages
and don’t solve their problems.
These content and applications will not be created by the large
western companies that dominate the Internet today, but by Indian
startups like us. We can only do this if there is a level playing field,
freedom to innovate, and yes, competition to drive us. Which of our
apps solves these problems best is a decision for each user to make, and
not for a corporate gatekeeper.
As consumer demand rises, and the profitable market for data will
drive an expansion in infrastructure. Cellular operators claim,
contradicting their own annual reports, that providing internet access
is not profitable enough to expand infrastructure. The fact that they
haven’t increased prices and continue to advertize their internet plans
heavily show that these claims are untrue.
The key to attaining a Digital India is to let Indian startups
experiment and build the must-have apps for the next 100 crore Internet
users.
Zero Rating is Harmful Discrimination
Some telecom operators and large foreign companies try to use
Digital India against the open Internet. They attempt to justify a form
of discrimination called zero-rating by saying it allows them to offer
“free internet for the poor”. We must point out that these offerings are
neither “free”, “the internet” nor “for the poor”.
They are not free but bundled with a paid mobile connection, just
as when a toothbrush is given “free” with toothpaste, it is really
priced together as a bundle. They don’t even pretend to provide Internet
access — the Internet has 100 crore websites and the freedom to start
your own, while these offers only have a few dozen cherry-picked
websites. Finally, these plans are not marketed to the poor or those who
currently lack access, but only to existing internet users of competing
operators.
Some argue that even with these flaws a few bundled websites are
better than none. On the contrary, permitting these plans will cause
serious harm — as a proprietary alternative to the public Internet, it
will slow down Internet adoption and delay Digital India. It must be
noted that websites of government departments, educational institutions,
healthcare providers and others are not accessible in these plans. In
addition, these offers will also cause a collapse of competition as
crores of Indians will be locked into a few cherry-picked services,
resulting in a decline in quality of service and progress.
There are other, equally economical ways to offer non-internet
users a bundled data plan to get acquainted with the Internet, that does
not take away their freedom.
Net Neutrality is in the Public Interest
Our desire for a level playing field on the Internet is shared
overwhelmingly by consumers. Over the last two weeks over 10 lakh of
India’s best-informed citizens have written to TRAI to ask it to uphold
equality on the Internet.
Many foreign nations share these views as well. Several, most
recently Brazil, have passed laws to ensure “network neutrality” or
non-discrimination by ISPs; many more countries like the US and European
Union are in the process of doing so.
The Way Forward
We sincerely wish that our government would also protect the
open, competitive Internet in India. We request that network neutrality
is enforced and all discriminatory practices by ISPs are forbidden —
including zero-rating, throttling, blocking, paid prioritization,
toll-gating and others. We also hope that the regressive proposal to
license online services will be dropped.
We, the startups that are at the forefront of creating the next
wave of online applications, request you to take action now. We need you
to protect our nation’s innovation ecosystem.
Best regards,
(Signatures)
Net Neutrality was a simple concept that says that all citizens should get equal access to the Internet. But this government wants to divide the Internet and hand it over to a few big companies. India needs a Net Neutrality law that won’t allow the Internet to be divided into parts,
"National Internet Exchange of India as the neutral exchange in the country, strongly supports Neutrality of the internet which is the only way forward to make the Internet open, free and innovative. "Any move by Telcos to bundle application or content selectively will hamper the very basic concept of internet,"
Splitting the internet between the rich and the poor means sounding the death knell for mobile internet commerce;
The simple solution could have been limited free data usage to ensure that those who can’t afford to buy data can explore the realms of the internet.
co-founder and MD, Foodpanda
”By restricting access to information and fair and free use of
Internet, these operators, just because they want to make some money,
are trying to manipulate and corrupt the system of licensed telecom
operations in India,”
Vivek Gupta (TMC)