What is Net Neutrality?
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Index
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Introduction
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| Net Neutrality |
Net
Neutrality (also called as Internet Neutrality, Net
Equality, and Network
Neutrality), Networks
and Computers are the platforms that serve all the needs of different age
groups and different purposes via internet, Some
sites are free to access but some sites require memberships to
access, some sites requires special authentication for access, some
sites are highly secure and accessibility is available to only few persons
of organisations. Some sites have limited accessibility, but most of the
sites in this world are free to access. At present there are more than 97
Crores see live stats of number of websites in the
world.
Only
a small part of this as less than as 1% percent of them has some genuine nature
and useful content.
Accessing to
this site from one system or from one device to another device requires
connection via internet which is provided by Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
ISP
are the companies (AT&T, Verizon, Spring, Quest, Q-Net, Google Fiber and
many others) that get licences from the regulating authorities and
controlling authorities (government bodies, FCC, In India TRAI) and provides
Internet access to a companies, private users even mobile users, Understanding
the concept of net neutrality is bit difficult; however in this
article we try to explain the concept will relevant pictures and information as
follows below, Many definitions
are available on the internet media, but we try to understand with the
following
Definition of Net Neutrality
It
is the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISP) and
Governments should treat all information on the Internet as equal, not showing
any partiality/charging different by user, content, site, platform,
application, type of attached equipment, as per
Wikipedia
In India:
We
can find one more recent example of this – Recently Government of India
instructed the Internet Service Providers to block 857 Porn sites as per
government instructions (of course the government had step back again)
Rules/principles have to be followed by Internet Service Providers
to stand up on the side of Net Neutrality acceptance concept.
Each
country’s government and regulating bodies are responsible for regulating the
Internet Service Providers.
In US: FCC The Federal
Communications Commission regulates interstate and
international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable
in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
Rules
to define Net Neutrality as defined by FCC Link Here
Bright Line Rules:
No-Blocking: Broadband providers may not block
access to legal content, information, applications, services or non-harmful
devices
No Throttling: Broadband providers
may not impair or degrade lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content,
applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
No Paid Prioritization: Broadband providers
may not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in
exchange for consideration of any kind—in other words, no “fast lanes.” This
rule also bans ISPs from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates.
Example
Imagine if
we are charged a special fee $2 for accessing these three websites
say Face book, You-tube and Twitter. Only limited users will be able to
access these sites only those who can afford to pay for these sites, the
information is not available to others who can’t afford. Some content is
not treated equally in the internet platform, why
Internet service providers are charging, what made them to charge for
providing access these sites for fee? Read the whole article.
From
the above example we can say that Internet Service Provider (Not the
destination website owner) is not enabling the services or access to
some websites. This is against the principle of Net neutrality or Net
Equality.
Why is the Net Neutrality
recent issue in India?
There
are no regulations and laws governing the concept of net neutrality in India as
of August 2015. There have been many violations of the neutrality principles by
Indian Service providers.
Examples: Face book’s Internet.org, Aircel’s
Wikipedia Zero, Aircel’s free access to face book, Reliance free access to
Internet etc
As
the old Information Technology Act, 2000 does have necessary
guidelines and do not provide the companies to strictly follow the net
neutrality principles.
Recently TRAI released a
formal Consultation paper on OTT
(Regulatory Framework for over-the -top) service,
seeking public opinion (March 2015), By the end of April 24th 2015, more than ten
lakh emails had been sent to TRAI demanding net neutrality.
Recent Issues in India
Mark Zuckerberg idea that providing free
internet to everyone makes all to connect and to have much more accessibility
to internet basic services, Face book’s Free Basics program is seen by activists
as a net neutrality violation, based on its provision
of free-of-cost access to dozens of sites, in collaboration with
telecom operators. There were protests online and on ground against the Free
Basics program, Face book free access to internet
and Reilance.org all are against the principle of net
neutrality which violates net neutrality principles
What happen if free
internet access is provided?
The
common logic is that if free access to internet is provided by companies, the
new customers increase to them, which gains a lot of traffic throwing
other service providers into losses. And they are under compulsion to provide
free services. So as to retain old customers who charges a fee to access to
other sites. (Ex Face book, Google, twitter=3$).completely violates the
principles of Net neutrality. Disturbing the complex free access to the
public to charge as per the competition of other providers
Conclusion
The
Internet platform should be in the way that should be accessible to all general
public without any discrimination, following the Principle’s of Net Neutrality,
although the idea of free internet is good, but the idea can take or
push into a complex revolution of competition among service
providers disturbing the Net neutrality principles.
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