MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar has also submitted his comment as a letter to Ravi Shankar Prasad.
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In its report, the DoT had opposed Zero Rating plans from content material suppliers like Facebook and had stated that “content material and software suppliers can’t be permitted to behave as gatekeepers and use community operations to extract worth in violation of core rules of Net Neutrality, even whether it is for an ostensible public function”. It opted out of deposing earlier than the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT wanting into Net Neutrality, regardless of receiving a selected invite from the committee.
The government will firm up regulations on the issue after considering public opinion and telecom regulator The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) suggestions. After these revelations from MediaNama regarding Google’s stand, it is now clear why DoT was not able to mention Zero Rating in their report. Zero Rating is a plan conceived by (cash rich) Internet operators in collaboration with telecome providers to offer apps and websites for free.
Google argued that there was no consensus among Internet companies on the issue.
It is but obvious for us to glance over Google’s stance over net neutrality in other countries.
Google’s change in direction and the apparent lobbying by the IAMAI is a murky reminder of how Goliath corporations are teaming up to destroy the level playing ground for content providers and instead create a well contained ecosystems that thrives on dictating over the user’s choices. Most people who shared their views have lent their support to Net neutrality, which means equal treatment for all Internet traffic, without discrimination or priority for any person, entity or company.
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It’s value mentioning that to date, Google has chosen to stay silent on the matter of net neutrality in India. Internet.org, Airtel Zero, Telecom operators subsidizing specific services/applications all point out at creating a rift between the services and directly meddling with the consumers choice.
