Is differential pricing fair? Electricity companies charge different rates for consumers and industries. Same power, different price. Given the power-crisis in India, it would be quiet fair to impose a higher pricing for households with excess power consumption (eg. multiple ACs, generators, etc). Such a pricing would encourage responsible use of electricity.
The shipping industry generally follows a weight+volume formula for cargo, but these formulas do not apply when the cargo is a human body. Airlines charge different fares for parcels and passengers. Hell! they have the audacity to charge you twice for 2 kids who are perfectly capable of fitting into one seat and still weigh less than an adult.
Indian telecom companies are demanding separate tariffs for VoIP and Video downloads. They argue that not all data download is created equal. As illustrated in the above examples, this is a perfectly sound argument.
Preferential treatment for individual services or companies is a valid concern. For instance, Airtel could price data downloads from its own music streaming service at a lower price (or at no cost) , compared to data downloaded from another music streaming service.
India needs a new bunch of laws for regulating telecom. Though those aren’t the only laws that need some updating.
A Home Grown Internet?
Indian Internet has never been neutral. As Obama recently admitted,
“We have owned the internet. Our companies have created it, expanded it, perfected it in ways that they (others) can’t compete…”
Barack Obama
A rich country with a muscular legal framework and low user-base, can afford to support and regulate a neutral internet. Americans would have no qualms supporting a neutral internet, because their regulatory framework dominates it. In spite of being on Indian soil, you’ve probably bumped into the Digital Millennium Copyright Protection Act a lot more than you’d like. It’s Indian counterpart would’ve hardly bothered you. A neutral internet is simply a vehicle of american hegemony.
We’re participants of a system where the NSA knows more about us than our own government. Indian security agencies have been struggling to effectively monitor communication over unregulated telecommunication systems.
Yes, India’s track record for legislation and governance thereof hasn’t been very commendable. But that is not an excuse to outsource our privacy & protection to a foreign entity.
Who will defend Indian start-ups from the internet monopolies of Google and Facebook ? These companies aren’t exactly mascots of liberty and freedom of speech. They are billion dollar ventures, that have repeatedly come under scanner for monopolistic and manipulative practices. In the business world, having deeper pockets is always a competitive advantage, net neutrality isn’t gonna change that.
Closing Arguments
Albeit controversially, China has created a protective environment, that has fostered the rise of it’s own tech-circle. The Chinese web ecosystem of alternative social networks, mobile and search platforms is a product of tremendous foresight and vision. And no, it wouldn’t have been possible with the framework of a neutral internet.
Let’s not get distracted by the voices of cheapskate activism. Our thirst for free (& sometimes illegal) videos & music cannot come at the cost of undermining our privacy (or our democracy). Even for activism the golden rule still applies:
“Don’t ape the west“.
Wisdom from the 90s
