Net Neutrality and Why does it matter?

The TRAI is all set to issue recommendations on net neutrality. The regulator’s recommendations to the telecom department will form a vital component of the government’s policy on net neutrality, a principle that guarantees consumers equal access to all Internet services, with no discrimination on the basis of tariffs or speed. Here is a look at what the developments mean for consumers and companies.

Net neutrality is the principle that internet providers treat all web traffic equally, and it’s pretty much how the internet has worked since its creation. But regulators, consumers advocates and internet companies were concerned about what broadband companies could do with their power as the pathway to the internet – blocking or slowing down apps that rival their own services.

In US, big telecom companies say they don’t want the stricter regulation that comes with the net neutrality rules. They say the regulations can undermine investment in broadband and introduced uncertainty about what were acceptable business practices. There were concerns about potential price regulation, even though the Federal Communications Commission had said it won’t set prices for consumer internet service.

Internet companies such as Google have strongly backed net neutrality but many tech firms have been more muted in their activism this year. Netflix, which had been vocal in support of the rules in 2015, said that weaker net neutrality wouldn’t hurt it because it’s now too popular with users for broadband providers to interfere.

FCC Chairman distributed his alternative plan to other FCC commissioners in preparation for a vote. Although the FCC two Democrats said they will oppose the proposal, the repeal is likely to prevail as Republicans dominate 3-2. The vote for net neutrality in 2015 was also along party lines, but Democrats dominated then. The TRAI fought a battle in 2016 against plans that promised select Internet services to poor people by offering them free of cost. The regulator issued differential pricing regulations by which it banned what’s known as zero-rating plans.

Past and Future of Internet

In December 2015, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation asked Apple to open a ‘backdoor’ to break into a phone recovered during the San Bernardino massacre. Apple refused, and is now fighting a battle to overturn a court order that went in favor of the FBI. In January 2016, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India banned the use of differential pricing by telecom companies, effectively putting an end to Facebook plan to roll out Free Basics, a scheme under which subscribers of a partner telecom companies would have free access to a subset of websites.

Both incidents appear to pitch the state versus a technology company. However, a brief history of the Internet will show, the implications to be drawn for the future of Internet governance are different in each case. In the 1990s, as the Internet grew in scope, the US government contracted the Domain Name System (DNS) registry, the task of ensuring unique identifiers for the different servers connected by the Internet, to Network Solutions Inc., creating a private monopoly of $1 Billion.

However, in 1992, the Internet society (ISOC) created a memorandum of understanding to assign governance functions, with representatives from businesses, intergovernmental organizations and ISOC itself. In 1988, the US department of commerce rejected the MoU process and recommended the DNS system be managed by a non-profit company, leading to the creation of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The past 15 years have seen a remarkable growth of the Internet, with the number of websites increasing from 12 Million at the turn of the Millennium to over 1 Billion today.

However, traffic is heavily concentrated in websites belonging to a few corporations. The global slowdown and the decline of the BRICS have resulted in the coining of a new acronym of power – FANG, referring to Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. Many Internet Companies are based in the US and place their servers there, thus giving the US government access to data from foreign countries while reducing the control of local governments over their information, and their ability to prosecute the managements of these companies.

So far, users have been willing to give away large amounts of information for the benefit of free services. However, the possibility that the government can gain access to their information may exercise a chilling effect on their usage and create an insurmountable obstacle for the future of the Internet Business Model. For the first time, as the Apple Episode shows, the US has specific interests which may be best served by allowing other states the freedom to pursue their own goals with respect to the Internet, thereby giving US itself similar powers, despite its diminished share of the Internet market. 

Things to know about Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality has been in the news and on social media these days. Everyone in the world is talking about Net Neutrality. Some people are in support of it and some are not. The debate over net neutrality has now snowballed into a national movement and this is good news for a consumer. Here are few things to know about Net Neutrality.

A neutral internet is one in which all the websites are equally accessible on all internet connected devices. All of these should be accessible at the same speed and one should pay the same amount for said data regardless of the kind of content one is looking for. The fuss triggered by Airtel Zero which is a new platform created by telecom major which allows other corporations to pay, so that user get access to a particular service for free.

The TRAI has put up a consultation paper on regulatory framework for over the top services (OTT) on its website. It defines typical OTT services as Viber, Skype, Whatsapp, Chat On, Snapchat, Instagram, Hike, Line, e-commerce sites, videos and gaming sites. The telecom service providers aim to more closely watch and control these OTT services so that they can charge more or differential rates.

Telecom and Internet companies have spent huge sums of money on setting up infrastructure and that cost needs to be recouped. Their argument is that hugely profitable companies that provide OTT services have built massive profits by utilizing neutrality. All of these companies use internet pipe for free and in turn profit from millions of consumers. As an individual one must care for net neutrality.

If one don’t care or support net neutrality then in future one will face difficulty in accessing data on internet. There will be fast lanes and slow lanes of internet traffic. A company which pays more to an internet provider will come under fast lane. Access to information could be controlled online. E-commerce or other business sites can pay internet providers to block negative reviews sites. One might have to pay more and separate for different type of content online. As a whole one must support net neutrality and make these things to stop happening in future. After all, Internet can make India a trillion economy and there will be no living without Internet.