What is Net Neutrality and Why it is Important?
What do we love about the Internet? The openness it provides us to connect and trade information freely if the information or service is not illegal. When we search for something on the net, we want it to show all the websites without being biased. We don't want your cable or phone company to mess up with the search results. This is a power of net neutrality! If enjoy the present scenario of the internet, you should be aware of net neutrality. Many web users got to know about this during a controversial phase when in 2015 many of activists forced the Federal Communications Commission to embrace net neutrality decides that keep the web free and open — enabling us to share and get to data of our picking without impedance.
What is Net Neutrality?
The concept behind data neutrality is that Internet Service Providers (ISP) should treat everyone's data equally. Providers can't block content or can deliberately bring down the downtime of any websites. The ethic was firstly approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2010, which states that access to the internet is the human right and should be available to each and everyone.
What if Net Neutrality doesn't exist?
If we lose it then the internet will no longer be the same. Today where the internet is open it gives more opportunity for innovation, creativity and a stage where people can speak freely. By losing neutrality, the Internet will become a closed-down network where our cable and phone providers will take a call and decide which websites, content, and applications to be shown to the user. Companies such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon will get the authority to take a call who should be heard and seen, and who shouldn't! They get the power to block the websites and applications that compete with them, no matter even if they are best in the market.
Rather than having free access there will be package promotions such as if you pay ₹499 to ISP, you'll get access to the websites that are based in India. In order to get access to the global websites, the user has to pay more. Without neutrality, ISP will also get the authority to allocate different connection speed to different content which will eventually depend upon how much you are paying for the service and what's your package. Lack of net neutrality will also affect the innovation industry on Internet because providers will charge companies to get quicker access to their website. Those who paid for it will have better speed. Henceforth better traffic on their websites. Whereas who didn't pay will notice that their website will open slowly no matter how good the back language of the website is.
This will affect the company's business because there will be less traffic. Apart from the business scenario, have you ever thought what will happen to social movements, right to express and speak freely or to innovation and creativity with net neutrality! Providers are saying that net neutrality will enhance the user experience and will show quality content to them.
However, I personally feel it will be more like an advertisement and dictatorship environment What is the scenario of Net Neutrality in India? If spoken legally, the idea net neutrality doesn't exist in India.
According to Sunil Abraham - Director of Center for Internet and Society in Bangalore, TRAI which regulates the telecom industry has many times tried to form rules in relevance to net neutrality. But no formal rules have been formed yet to enforce it. Though there is no legal rule in India when it comes to net neutrality, still Internet Service Providers in India mostly cling to the principle of it. Yes, there have been few cases where ISP's have disregard net neutrality but extremely few!
Future of Net Neutrality!
Net neutrality is an ethic that Internet providers should follow. Net neutrality has been here for 30+ years and will still be there in the future. It has survived and will survive because there are few people who understand the potential Internet has! In the present era where Internet has become such an internal part of society, ISP's from all over the globe are trying to this in order to shape and control it. Now it's the duty of the consumers to demand ISPs proceed with their hands-off approach from the web movement. If as a user you notice an infringement of net neutrality, they should adopt a proactive strategy and enlist their disappointment with the ISP. They ought to likewise compensate ISPs that maintain the net neutrality.
