Soon after the Trai press conference, an e-mail reach my mail box saying, “we won.” It took me a few minutes scrolling through that e-mail from Change.org to fathom that this had reached the status of a movement. Likely a millennial model of liberty without being violent.
Trai has taught us a valuable lesson now – principle holds value. That the million voices of ordinary citizens on the internet can result in change. That you and I can sit back and trust to result in the much-needed correction in the web and telecom sector. But despite lobbying at their administration and having many millions of dollars in advertising budgets, corporates can not actually subvert true principles of liberty in India!
And I went to pride from a feeling of gloom. The greatest democracy in the world has reason to encourage. Principle also drives the country having the most amount of brains in technology. We’re a democracy, and we’ve given both sides to express their side of the narrative.
Web-neutrality
All this did not occur immediately. And all this surely can not occur due to one specific section of the demographic.
A principle-driven fight shortly had two camps. There were three sides to the narrative before we realised. One demanding that services like Free Fundamentals be prohibited. On the opposite side, there are two added views, be permitted, or Free Principles must be moderated. Astonishingly, some are sung about that stand also. It may be an intimidating endeavor, to be honest.
Through all this, Trai has taken a stand that’s an example to the planet. I was instantly reminded of the international fiscal crisis of 2008. Guilty as charged, I believed our banking system was rooted in red-tapism and could likely do better. The resultant, along with till the drop of Lehman domino effect got me consider otherwise. Now, I am greatly grateful to the Indian banking system that is protective.
Don’t distinguish between information/services: Basically, an operator CAn’t offer tariffs based on whether you use WhatsApp, YouTube or Facebook. Thus say farewell to all those allegedly enticing strategies that were being advertised till now. In about six months, they had need to stop.
Realign and operators should settle back: As a customer, I feel grateful for having a regulator like Trai!
The net in India would remain impartial: Trai has attested to the value of neutrality that was net during the course of the discussion on several occasions.
A neutral network could provide free content on say its own network, while one packet is unable to be prioritised over the other. For example, if it wants to, an operator could choose to provide a free section on its music portal site. Nevertheless, under no conditions could it prioritise its own music service over another services like Hungama Spotify or Saavn to name some.
What occurs to net connectivity in India? Well, Trai before have addressed that too.
To sum it up, I Had say, Facebook is welcome to allow access to the millions that are unconnected, but preserving the sanctity of the web is a lot more essential than that last mile of connectivity. The powers that be liable for that lapse in connectivity will be held by us.