Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said that the right to access the Internet is non-negotiable and no single entity can have a monopoly over it.
Mr. Prasad’s comments follow the U.S. proposal to roll back earlier rules related to open internet, clearing the way for service providers to charge users differently based on content or restrict access to some content.
“The right of access is not negotiable,” the Minister said.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed the need for ensuring Net neutrality while pointing out that the right had come under serious challenge in many parts of the world.
He added that India believes in multiple gates and will not accept and allow “locking of gates”.
The Sri Lankan PM lauded India, which is the world’s second largest internet user base, for “critical step in this direction” by issuing regulations for banning zero rating products such as Facebook Free Basics and Airtel zero rating.
“Net neutrality lowers the barriers of entry by preserving the internet as a fair and level playing field... Similarly, the open Internet facilitated by net neutrality allows marginalised and oppressed segments that are not adequately represented in mainstream media to tell their story,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said.
Speaking against state-administered internet shutdowns, the Prime Minister recalled political adversities that included the blocking of Internet that prevented speaking freely online. “When we came to power, we made good of our promise to ensure freedom to use the internet by reviewing state orchestrated blocks and other forms of restrictions in cyber space.”
Stressing that the rules of politics should also apply to the governance of cyberspace, he said: "Transparency is central to insuring durable cyber space security."
On the issue of privacy, Mr Wickremesinghe said contrary to traditional thinking, the use of open data does not compromise the idea of security, rather can contribute in gathering more accurate information. He cited the example of super computer being used to pinpoint location of Osama Bin Laden “with startling accuracy at a time when human experts thought he was in an entirely different country,” in 2011.
“This can be more effective than collecting and using data in a clandestine manner without a very specified target infringing on liberty and individual freedom,” he said.
On Privacy, Mr Prasad said, “Being a democratic country, India upholds privacy governed by the rule of law and constitution. But privacy cannot prohibit innovation. Data analysis, data growth are big instruments of growth and we want to push it.”
He emphasised that privacy can not be used as a shield by “the corrupt, terrorist and the extremists. That is how we have to balance the whole idea.”
