NET NEUTRALITY

What is Net Neutrality?

Net neutrality is the principle, that the internet service
providers and the government should treat all the data on
the internet equally, without discriminating or charging the users on
the basis of the content, site, platform, application, type of attached
equipment, or mode of communication.
This term was first coined by Columbia university media
law professor Tim Wu in 2003, as an extension of the longstanding
concept of a common carrier.

Net neutrality is the name of the movement to keep the Internet free
and open.
 State of Net neutrality in India
untill now
The telecom companies of in India are trying to lobby the
TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to in act the
regulation in such a way that will change the way we are using the
internet.

Telecom operators wants to carve the internet into a bunch of

sections such that we have to pay to access every single of them
separately.

TRAI had put the issue on their website in a 118 long consultation
paper on the OTT issue on 27th 2015 march with tight deadline of
24th 2015 April. It was the first interference by government of India
after a lot of activities by the telecos directing towards
discremenating policies.
What we should demand as Indian citizens ?

Freedom: We should be able to access information on

the terms we choose and not to be pushed into consumer
decisions by large telecom companies. We should be free
to access anything and everything on the internet.

If there is violation of net neutrality, we must take a

proactive approach.

Equality: We should be able to access everything on the

internet with the exact same speed.
What will happen if there is no net neutrality?
If there is no Net Neutrality,
ISPs(Internet service providers) will have the power to shape internet
traffic so that they can derive extra benefit from it.
Instead of free access, there could be "package plans" for consumers on
the OTT(over the top services and applications) such as Skype,
WhatsApp, Facebook, Flipkart, Instagram and many more.
There will be doom for innovation on the web. No new start-ups would
be possible.
The cost of using the internet(which would be very limited due to
barriers) would increase without any extra benefits.
 Save The Internet initiative
Save the internet(www.savetheinternet.in) is an Indian website made for the battle
against the discrimination of the internet.
The purpose was to assist supporters of strong net neutrality in giving their own views
on the matter in a legally precise manner, in order to submit a response to the TRAI
before the deadline on 24 April 2015.
A Youtube comedy channel AIB uploaded a video titles save the internet which got
over three millions views and urged people a lot to write emails o TRAI.
TRAI on 24 April received around one million emails by Indian netizens even though on
such a tight deadline regarding application or abolishment of net neutrality.
 Net Neutrality Today
As of August 2015, there were no laws governing net neutrality in India.
The TRAI on 8 February 2016 barred telecom service providers from charging differential rates
for data services, thus prohibiting Facebooks Free Basics and Airtel Zero platform by Airtel in
their present form.
In their latest ruling, they have stipulated that:
1. No service provider can offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of
content.
2. No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name
called, with any person, natural or legal, that the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services
being offered or charged by the service provider for the purpose of evading the prohibition in this
regulation.
3. Reduced tariff for accessing or providing emergency services, or at times of public emergency has
been permitted.
4. Financial disincentives for contravention of the regulation have also been specified.
5. TRAI may review these regulations after a period of two years.
More than any other invention of our time, the Internet has
unlocked possibilities we could just barely imagine a generation ago.
It connects millions of people worldwide.

SAVE THE WORLD

By
Raghav Bhatia