In
a recent Lok Sabha session, Rahul Gandhi, Vice-President of the Indian
National Congress accused the Modi Government of trying to carve out the
‘Net and hand it over to the corporates. According to him, over one
million people are fighting for net neutrality on various social media
platforms. Obviously, Mr. Gandhi was trying to highlight an issue before
the public that might have remained obscure if not for the tech savvy
populace of India.
According to the press reports, as of April
2015, there were no laws governing net neutrality in India. The issue
surfaced after Airtel, a mobile service provider in India announced in
December 2014 that they would be charging additional rates for making
Voice calls (VoIP – Voice over IP) from its network using various mobile
applications like WhatsApp, Skype etc.
In response, Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a formal consultation
paper on Services seeking comments from the public. It has created a
torrent of criticism for the way in which the statements were presented
to the public. Regardless, over a million people, through their emails,
demanded net neutrality.
Net neutrality translates into an open
Internet where users can have full freedom of access and navigation. It
means innovators can develop products and services without restraints.
The broadband providers cannot block, throttle or create special ‘fast
lane’ (prioritize) for their preferred set of users and content
providers.
Wikipedia defines ‘net neutrality’ as a principle
that Internet service providers, like TWC and COMCAST, and governments
should treat all data on Internet equally, not discriminating or
charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application,
type of attached equipment, or mode of communication. The term was said
to be coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wu in 2003.
The
Internet is said to be the fastest deploying technology in world
history that fostered innovation, access to knowledge and freedom of
expression – all in part due to the principle of net neutrality. It has
cut distance between two points and helped to transform the world into a
global village where ideas and information get transacted in
milliseconds. It has indeed provided a platform for entrepreneurs,
visionaries and even to kids in remote areas to innovate and excel.
Although
net neutrality was built into the fabric of Internet, there is great
temptation now on the part of Telecom groups who also act as Internet
service providers to alter the current status. If the Government
authorities are not ready to protect the greater good of the public in
this regard, they could easily undermine the medium’s openness.
Therefore, the challenge facing many countries today is to sustain the
same level of creativity for new content and services on the Internet
without seeking permission from the Service providers. That may in turn
force the authorities to put in net neutrality laws to protect the
medium’s openness.
The recent ruling by the FCC (Federal
Communications Commission) in United States was prompted by similar
challenges. The ruling was in response to the argument that service
providers invest billions of dollars in infrastructure while content
creators are having a free ride. They apparently would have preferred to
create different level of services (fast & slow) to create
additional revenue for themselves while taking control of the Internet.
Also the merger proposals between Comcast and Time Warner has created
further anxiety for the future of an open and free Internet. Finally, on
November 10, 2014, President Obama directed FCC to reclassify broadband
Internet service as a Telecommunications service in order to preserve
net neutrality.
Net neutrality is a complex issue however; India
can take a page from the experience of the United States. According to
experts, though both countries have democratic Institutions, there are
important differences to consider dealing with this issue. India is
still growing and evolving in this arena and the majority of the
population seems to access the Internet through their mobile devices.
There has to be room to hear competing claims by various stake holders
without compromising the basic principle of freedom and openness.
Although
India is often referred to as an IT superpower, those who are
proficient in the field know that most of the fundamental research in
the field is still done here in U.S. Obviously, India lacks a digital
ecosystem to compete with some of the world’s advanced countries at the
same level. Unless some of its best University campuses are turned into
Research Institutions, India will continue to rely on U.S. or Western
Europe for its advanced technology needs. It is certainly not the lack
of brain trust, but a certain cultural underpinning that is holding the
country back from a full blown innovative dynamism that is key to its
economic success.
The recent ruling by the Supreme Court striking
down section 66A of the Information Technology Act made history by
upholding the values of freedom of speech and expression. It indeed
points to a resurgent India that values Internet freedom and was willing
to challenge even the powerful institutions of the country to protect
those rights.
Although over a million people have spoken in favor
of Net neutrality, there is no way of figuring out how the Modi
Government would rule in this regard. There are already plenty of
allegations of crony capitalism where the Government is alleged to be
beholden to corporate interests over the aspirations of its average
citizen. The recent wrangling over the Land Acquisition Act clearly
sheds light into thinking of the new Government that it would be willing
to sacrifice even the interests of the farmers in a mostly agrarian
society!
India is still at its infancy when it comes to
technology innovation and the Internet is key to that success. If India
is to become a future hub of innovation promoting competition and
investment in emerging technologies, let it preserve a free and open
Internet for generations to come. Let India not extend its VIP culture
on to the Internet.
(The writer is a former Chief Technology
Officer of the United Nations and Chairman of the Indian National
Overseas Congress, USA)
