Net neutrality is the buzzword online. For the past week or so, hundreds of thousands of netizens across the country have been logging their objections to a proposal by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to regulate the internet. Netizens are fighting to keep the internet’s founding spirit of openness alive and to make sure that telecom companies and internet service providers continue to treat all internet traffic, websites and apps, on an equal footing and not to give certain content an advantage over others, purely for financial gain.
No wonder, net neutrality has become the talk of Technopark too, online and offline, as techies try to wrap their heads around the concept. In the words of the ‘save the internet’ campaign, one of the more vociferous of pro-net neutrality campaigners, ‘net neutrality requires that the internet be maintained as an open platform on which network providers treat all content, applications and services equally, without discrimination.’ Techies, though, have come up with interesting analogies to explain the concept of uncensored, equal and unrestricted access vs. blocked, censored and slow access, to those of us who don’t know a bit from a byte.
Renjith Ramachandran, for example, has one of the more quirky explanations. “Think of your internet service provider (ISP) as a vegetable vendor and you want to buy a carrot from him. He then says he will give it to you for Rs. 10 if it is to make sambhar and it will cost you Rs. 15 if it is for halwa! In short, we would have to pay different charges for different services, in addition to paying for the internet service itself. That’s what will happen if there is no net neutrality,” he says. Meanwhile, George G. Alexander, a technical analyst, explains it thus: “I like to think of the ISP and mobile phone companies as a highway where a scooter and a Mercedes have equal right of way. If there is no net neutrality the highway will be like a two lane road with a fast lane and a slow lane, with access to the former only available at a price.”
Syamjith Syamalan, an IT solution architect, has another one. “Not having net neutrality would mean that everyone who walks on the road in front of my house will have to give me money!” On a more serious note Sanjay Vijayakumar, CEO and co-founder of Mobme Wireless Solutions and Chairman of Startup Village, says: “The internet is one of the last frontiers where everyone is equal and this allows innovations to thrive. In the internet economy, the method of production is computers and means of exchange of goods is internet. For a free and fair internet economy, net neutrality is not just essential but the only way forward. That’s why Startup Village is pro net neutrality.”
What seems to have really got people up in arms is that they see TRAI’s move as an infringement on their freedom. Corporate communications executive Sudhish Radhakrishnan, who works at an MNC on campus, says:
“The very idea behind net neutrality is that the only person who can decide what content you can access is you yourself. Now, if there are people with vested interests telling you what you can and cannot hear, shop, watch, and read online, then it’s a definite infringement on my right to freedom of information. Also, we are well on the way to being a knowledge-based society and such a move to restrict access will be a huge hurdle for development.”
His colleague Kannan adds: “From what I have read up on the topic, the world over countries are moving to have internet access a fundamental right, given that internet has come to have such a central role in our individual and social lives. In India the reverse seems to be happening. To restrict access to it is a draconian move.” Renjith also calls it a ‘Tuglaqian’ move. “More than citizens we are now netizens and just as citizens have rights, netizens should have rights too. No one in their right minds would – or should – agree to TRAI’s move when all data is bits that are created equally. One must understand that telecom operators are pushing for internet management because their revenues from calls and messaging services have decreased substantially thanks to apps such as Whatsapp, Skype and Viber, which operate by piggybacking on them.”
To do their bit for the cause, many of the youngsters have sent off emails to TRAI, answering the 20 questions it has sought answers for in its ‘Consultation Paper On Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services’. Many of them have also been actively promoting the cause of net neutrality on social media.
Says Shyamjith: “A majority of internet users in the country are still not aware of the concept. My mother, for example, is, of late, active on Whatsapp. If that is restricted, then she and many others of her generation will simply stop using the service and lose their one connection with the internet world. We really need to step up our efforts and make more people aware of the issue and its importance.” Renjith, meanwhile, believes that phone companies should back off from over taxing customers and think of alternate revenue models. “Increase the rate, if needs be; up the quality of their own apps and games in their individual stores so that customers will choose them with their own free will…Meanwhile, it is the duty of internet users to spread the word and give net neutrality maximum visibility…,” he says.
