There are tons of debate on net neutrality. Several of our friends advocate net neutrality. Yesterday, radio was advertising that if free basics is allowed, then it will be like east India company coming back.
Net neutrality ensures that all sites should be allowed as a whole. However, does it have merit or is it just on the name of freedom to use whatever sites. There are some merits in the arguments, however I disagree on the criticism of free basics. People are free to disagree, write valid points and debate it.
We have seen ISPs are blocking sites as per government direction like torrents, porn, anti-national etc. We are used to it. When we subscribe to kindle unlimited subscription and kindle free books, Only few books are part of this subscription, you have to pay for getting books which is not part of this subscription. This is part of life. So why are people cribbing now. It will be good to have everything free and available. But no one will have incentive. So it will remain with few people ready to spend 200-1000 Rs/month on data plan.
Lots of people in India are living tough life. They cannot access internet due to cost. If companies are ready to sponsor some money for them to get free data for accessing free basic websites, what is the problem. Of course, facebook will promote facebook and they have tons of money to spend. There will be others who has money and will be happy to jump on this to get more customers. New startups will suffer, innovation may have disadvantage but they have to live with it. Google is allowing us to use their search engine, gmail, maps etc for free. It is possible to do that because they make up from advertisements. Similar model needs to be evolved for free basics.
I do believe that free basics should be allowed but TRAI/government should have restriction on few basics sites like search engine, emails, wikipedia, blog sites, all government sites, medium to communicate with government people (twitter, facebook, email, whatsapp) etc to be part of the free basics as requirement. Of course facebook and twitter should pay for it too. Every ISP should be free to add other websites as free basics based on sponsorships. That can be delightful experience for millions of indians who are not connected to the digital world due to cost factor. Lets hope that right decision will be taken on this front and help will come to millions of poor people.
Of course if you wish to access all sites, pay for your data plan. No one stops you.
-- Dr. Shashank Sinha
(Manager - RGBSI
Bangalore
Email: shsinha@gmail.com)
Net neutrality ensures that all sites should be allowed as a whole. However, does it have merit or is it just on the name of freedom to use whatever sites. There are some merits in the arguments, however I disagree on the criticism of free basics. People are free to disagree, write valid points and debate it.
We have seen ISPs are blocking sites as per government direction like torrents, porn, anti-national etc. We are used to it. When we subscribe to kindle unlimited subscription and kindle free books, Only few books are part of this subscription, you have to pay for getting books which is not part of this subscription. This is part of life. So why are people cribbing now. It will be good to have everything free and available. But no one will have incentive. So it will remain with few people ready to spend 200-1000 Rs/month on data plan.
Lots of people in India are living tough life. They cannot access internet due to cost. If companies are ready to sponsor some money for them to get free data for accessing free basic websites, what is the problem. Of course, facebook will promote facebook and they have tons of money to spend. There will be others who has money and will be happy to jump on this to get more customers. New startups will suffer, innovation may have disadvantage but they have to live with it. Google is allowing us to use their search engine, gmail, maps etc for free. It is possible to do that because they make up from advertisements. Similar model needs to be evolved for free basics.
I do believe that free basics should be allowed but TRAI/government should have restriction on few basics sites like search engine, emails, wikipedia, blog sites, all government sites, medium to communicate with government people (twitter, facebook, email, whatsapp) etc to be part of the free basics as requirement. Of course facebook and twitter should pay for it too. Every ISP should be free to add other websites as free basics based on sponsorships. That can be delightful experience for millions of indians who are not connected to the digital world due to cost factor. Lets hope that right decision will be taken on this front and help will come to millions of poor people.
Of course if you wish to access all sites, pay for your data plan. No one stops you.
-- Dr. Shashank Sinha
(Manager - RGBSI
Bangalore
Email: shsinha@gmail.com)
