Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality refers to the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favouring or blocking particular products or websites. In other words, Net neutrality is a principle that says Internet service providers should treat all traffic on their networks equally. That means companies should not block or slow down access to any website or content on the Web - for instance, to benefit their own services over those of competitors.

Net neutrality is an idea derived from how telephone lines have worked since the beginning of the 20th century. In case of a telephone line, you can dial any number and connect to it. It does not matter if you are calling from operator A to operator B. It doesn't matter if you are calling a restaurant or a drug dealer. The operators neither block the access to a number nor deliberately delay connection to a particular number, unless forced by the law. Most of the countries have rules that ask telecom operators to provide an unfiltered and unrestricted phone service.

Three basic points of net neutrality include:

• All sites must be equally accessible
• All sites must be accessible at the same speed.
• The cost of access must be the same for all sites (per Kb/Mb or as per data plan).

Why ‘Net Neutrality’ is in news?

Airtel has announced a new service called Airtel Zero where it will offer customers free access to certain apps and services, with cost of this data traffic being borne by the partner. For example, if Flipkart signs up as an Airtel Zero partner, you will not be charged for data you use while accessing Flipkart, and Airtel will bill Flipkart for that session.

While that may sound great on paper, experts say that in the long term it's against consumer interests, because consumers are more likely to use free services. They say smaller companies, who cannot afford to subsidise consumer access to their websites and services, are likely to lose out, stifling innovation in the country, which means fewer options for consumers in the long run.

Of course Airtel is not alone in this, with Facebook's Internet.org operating on a similar principle, and various other apps have tie-up with telcos in the past to offer consumers free access to their services.

TRAI, or Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, regulates all Internet access in India, and is currently in the process of forming the guidelines for all OTT players - essentially apps and services that operate over telco infrastructure like the Internet - that also includes subjects like net neutrality and zero rating.

Current Status of Net neutrality in India

As of 2015, India had no laws governing net neutrality. While the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines for the Unified Access Service license promote net neutrality, they are not enforced. The Information Technology Act, 2000 does not prohibit companies from throttling their service in accordance with their business interests. In March 2015, the TRAI released a formal consultation paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services, seeking comments from the public. The consultation paper was criticised for being one sided and having confusing statements. It was condemned by various politicians and internet users. By 24 April 2015, over a million emails had been sent to TRAI demanding net neutrality

Arguments in favor of Net Neutrality:

• Web users are free to connect to whatever website or service they want. ISPs do not bother with what kind of content is flowing from their servers. This has allowed the internet to grow into a truly global network and has allowed people to freely express themselves. For example, you can criticize your ISP on a blog post and the ISP will not restrict access to that post for its other subscribers even though the post may harm its business.

• Net neutrality has enabled a level playing field on the internet. To start a website, you don't need lot of money or connections. If your service is good, it will find favour with web users. This has led to creation Google, Facebook, Twitter and countless other services. All of these services had very humble beginnings. They started as a basic websites with modest resources. But they succeeded because net neutrality allowed web users to access these websites in an easy and unhindered way.

• Absence of net-neutrality also makes us susceptible to monopolistic behavior. Each telco would be able to create little monopolies on its network favoring a particular service.

• If there is no net neutrality, ISPs will have the power (and inclination) to shape internet traffic so that they can derive extra benefit from it.

• Lack of net neutrality, will also spell doom for innovation on the web. It is possible that ISPs will charge web companies to enable faster access to their websites. Those who don't pay may see that their websites will open slowly. This means bigger companies like Google will be able to pay more to make access to Youtube or Google+ faster for web users but a startup that wants to create a different and better video hosting site may not be able to do that.

Arguments against Net Neutrality:

• Users who download gigabytes of data may unfairly hog bandwidth resources from those who don't. By throttling certain users or types of data, ISPs can be sure that every user has an optimal experience.

• Certain important Internet services require heavy and uninterrupted bandwidth use, such as medical services or VOIP. ISPs want to give special preference to these unique services that could benefit from special treatment, and possibly could not exist without this preferential treatment.

• It gives the government more power over the Internet. If net neutrality went into effect, then the government would have to monitor the telecoms' and cable companies' broadband connections

• Tt makes perfect sense to allow ISPs to charge extra for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services, which clog up a lot of bandwidth. These services are hardly used by India’s poor and in fact end up slowing down access to the basic services that less economically-privileged citizens need more. This isn’t simply a matter of profitability; the question is how to maximize the efficiency of limited bandwidth.

• For people who are not on the internet having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all. That’s why programs like Internet.org are important and can co-exist with net neutrality regulations.

• The internet is one of the most powerful tools for social and economic progress, giving people access to jobs, knowledge and opportunities, something that everyone in the world deserves access to.

• By partnering with mobile operators and governments in different countries, Internet.org offers free access in local languages to basic internet services in areas like jobs, health, education and messaging. Internet.org lowers the cost of accessing the Internet and raises the awareness of the internet’s value.

References: Wikipedia, Times of India, Indian Express, NDTV, Business Standard

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