India: Preserve Net Neutrality For Innovation And Growth
By George Abraham
21 April, 2015
Countercurrents.org
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)
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