In Re: Net Neutrality

The Internet is an externality of the military powers to communicate with each other surreptitiously, but, ironically, the only thing left surreptitious on Internet now is the Google formula — which, incidentally, I think is the biggest hurdle to Net Neutrality. The recent debate is about the paid privilege of the telecom operators to sell their licensed bandwidths to the people in the manner found suitable by them vis-a-vis the rights of the consumers of Internet, both downloaders and uploaders. What the Airtel and Flipkart deal intended to do was to create an artificial distinction between the uploaders as suppliers and the downloaders as consumers: Flipkart was paying Airtel for the data downloaded by the visitors to their site, so that the visitors don’t have to pay anything, which would have ensured that their data was downloaded preferentially by the downloaders. This is obviously prejudicial to the consumer rights of the remaining uploaders. This distinction between the uploaders and the downloaders technologically doesn’t exists, and, even business wise, it is least prominent in the virtual world. Even if we were to assume that all revenues of the telecom operators may be generated through the uploaders and the downloaders never have to pay anything anymore for consuming the Internet, it would still be disastrous because the content would get diminished and marginalized to the whims and fancies of the uploaders. Though I agree things happens precisely like this in the real world — you watch whatever news is fed by a few news channels, you hear whatever songs are composed in Bollywood, you watch Cricket and nothing else, etc — but the virtual world offered an alternative promise where the Haves in the form of suppliers are supposed to be non-existent, and the present withdrawal of Flipkart from Airtel Zero deal is a maintenance of the status quo. But for how long! If not Airtels and Flipkarts, there are Reliances and Facebooks, and there is of course the Google.

About the Author

Ankur Mutreja
Ankur Mutreja is an advocate-cum-writer, and his blogs are amongst his modes of expression. He has also authored number of books, which can be downloaded from the links on the top menu.

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