Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.
Net neutrality is an idea of openness and freedom to the consumer. Its origin lies in how telephone lines have worked and evolved since the start of the 20th century. For example, you dial a number from your telephone; your service provider cannot control or manipulate who you are calling. It just cannot discriminate if you are calling for milk or some other person for wine. Its job is to keep the network up and running—that’s what you are paying for. Most of the countries have laws in place that safeguard with the European Union considering a shift in its policy towards net neutrality. India is trying to follow suit.
The basic structure of the internet is simply being connected. This connection is multifarious and extensive. It has since been growing manifold and has been sought to be controlled and manipulated by governments. They can succeed to some extent with the resources available to them but internet is a thing that cannot be fully controlled by anyway. Not even the “great firewall” of China. Even this can be sidestepped easily. Anyway, with the internet taking flight in 1980s and 1990s telecom operators were also ISPs, they adhered to the practice of connecting calls without discrimination. An ISP won’t manipulate the traffic that passes its servers. There also cannot be discrimination of speed when a user connects to a web service. Theoretically, data rate for Youtube videos and Facebook photos is same. The idea is that the end user can access any web service without any manipulation by the ISP.
There are no laws enforcing net neutrality in India. Although TRAI guidelines for the Unified Access Service license promotes net neutrality, it does not enforce it. The Information Technology Act, 2000 also does not prohibit companies from throttling their service in accordance with their business interests. Telecom operators and ISPs offering VoIP services have to pay a part of their revenues to the government. On 27 March 2015, TRAI released a consultation paper on over-the-top services (OTT) and net neutrality for public feedback. The regulator asked if telecom companies should be able to charge users extra fees for services like YouTube, WhatsApp and Skype on top of the fees people already pay for access to the Internet. The Communication and Information Technology Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said on 7 April that a committee will be formed to study the net neutrality issue.
The Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives and we easily imagine that it is going to remain free and an open platform of communication that it is right now. It needs to be a network where we can always access any lawful content we want. The companies that deliver internet service need to be roped in by the government and these companies cannot play favourites just because they want to charge more money.
Bound by blood. 