Save the Internet - Vote for Net Neutrality in India

Net Neutrality What is Net Neutrality? Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication. nternet Net Neutrality in India There is a growing debate about net neutrality and how the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will regulate Internet service providers (ISPS) like Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel and Reliance. People from film industry to many political parties are fully supporting net neutrality and have asked the government to direct the telecom regulator TRAI to scrap an ongoing public consultation on whether telecom operators should impose differential charges for different users for services like Facebook, Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and other such services. regulatory india way broadband data isps g also regulation internet rules access neutrality consultation Why Is It So Important? Purely for the sake of innovation on the web. If the fabric of the net was not neutral back in the 1990's, then we would've existed in a world without the likes of a Google, Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp. Why Are Users Angry With Airtel And Flipkart? Users airtel internet VS flipkart.com Airtel has come up with a new marketing platform (plan) called Airtel Zero through developers who sign up for Airtel Zero will pick up the data charges for parts or all elements of their app/website, hence making the data charges for the app free for the consumers. What Are The Regulators and Government Doing About This? Legally – unfortunately, the concept of net neutrality doesn't exist in India and there are no regulatory rules regarding it. TRAI, the telecom regulatory authority of India recently came up with a paper for the formation of regulations regarding net neutrality and the fate of over the top (OTT) Internet based services like WhatsApp. What Will Happen If There Is No Net Neutrality? ISPS RELIANCE AIRCEL airtel If there is no net neutrality, (ISPS) will have the power to shape internet traffic so that they can earn extra benefit from it. For example, several ISPS believe that they should be allowed to charge companies for services like YouTube, Skype, Facebook, WhatsApp and Netflix because these services consume way more bandwidth compared to a normal small website. You in e a. Web Services In short, these ISPS want a share in the money that these companies like Facebook, Youtube, WhatsApp, Skype earn. Websites that may have to pay to get traffice include; ecommerce sites like Flipkart, Amazon, ebay, social networking, video streaming & live chat sites/apps like Facebook, Youtube, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber hurting start-ups. Consumers For consumers, instead of free access, there could be "package plans" based on services and speed of net making the internet a VIP culture making a big gap between the poor and the rich. What You Can Do about This? You can actually do more than the Government and TRAI to save the fabric of the internet. There is a petition on Change.Org, which wants TRAI to not 'allow differential pricing of services on the Internet & let the consumers choose how they want to use Internet'. There is another website called www.savethelnternet.in that allows people to make arguments to the TRAI in favour of Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality in India Timeline 2012 Jul 20 Aug 10 airtel ISPS slam brakes on Google, Facebook should BitTorrent speeds. share revenue with us. 2013 Oct 16 Jul 25 RELIANCE AIRCEL Reliance to offer unlimited Aircel customers can now WhatsApp, Facebook for Rs 16 per month. access Wikipedia on their mobile phones for free. 2014 Feb 27 Aug 19 TRAI rejects telcos' airtel Instant messaging app proposal to charge fee on popular services like WhatsApp, Viber and Skype. firms should regulated: Airtel CEO. Oct 15 Dec 27 airtel Facebook, WhatsApp, Airtel move to charge VolP others must be taxed: calls not illegal: TRAI chief Vodafone. Rahul Khullar. Oct 15 #AirtelFuture Rage against Airtel spills onto social networking sites . 2015 Apr 6 Apr 8 airtel airtel App developers, tech startups slam Airtel's Airtel to offer free internet access via new marketing platform Airtel Zero. move to allow free access to certain websites, apps. Apr 10 Apr 13 flipkart Over 1.5 lakh mails and counting: India lodges one of its biggest online Net neutrality supporters downvote Flipkart app after its CEO supports protests over net neutrality. Airtel Zero. Apr 14 Apr 16 flipkart Public outrage forces Flipkart to pull out of Airtel Zero partnership. Airtel Zero plan prima facie violates the principle of net neutrality, says TRAI. Apr 17 STODAIS UNION Youth Cong, NSUI march in favour of net neutrality. Join the battle for Net Neutrality in India #Save Thelnternet Sources: http://www.netneutrality.in/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality_in_India http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/04/11/aib-net-neutrality_n_7046006.html http://www.medianama.com/2014/11/223-net-neutrality-simple-explanation/ http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/the-importance-of-net-neutralitylarticle7065661.ece tradeindia.com by Sher Thapa OF INDIA