Net Neutrality: How Will PM Modi Save Internet?
BENGALURU: As India slumps down to putting restrictions on the use of the Internet, several questions arise on whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to keep the Internet free from restrictions. It was the Prime Minister himself, who emphasized greatly on the use of the Internet, as reported by Money Life.
Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over the charge, Indian government has increased its presence on Social Media websites like Twitter and Facebook. However, after going through the paper submitted by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), it appears that things are not in favor of the growth of Internet in India.
In its paper, TRAI asked several telecom operators about which over-the-top (OTT) services should be made limited in use and which not. As per Net Neutrality, this is a clear scenario of shaping the Internet traffic, where users will be using only those applications, which are allowed.
Prof. Tim Wu first coined the term Net Neutrality. According to the principle of Net Neutrality, a public information network will end up being more useful if all content, sites, and platforms are treated equally.
The need for rethinking the business model by Telecommunications Service Providers (TSP) is because of the decrease in calling and increase in usage of VoIP based services like Skype, WhatsApp, and many more, which only requires an Internet connection.
India’s one of the largest TSP, Airtel, said that it will thinking to launch a separate VoIP pack, for which users have to pay extra on top of what they already pay for Internet. A VoIP pack would enable the usage of services like Skype, Google Hangouts and many more.
Such control over what will be allowed on the Internet and what will not be allowed creates unevenness in Information that will be posted across the Internet. Furthermore, it also takes away the freedom of expression from people to highlight their opinion because of the limited use of the Internet.
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