I
fully support net neutrality and strongly oppose any attempts by
anyone to restrict my choices in selecting any web site ( called Apps
when used on mobile), unless it is being done to prevent for
strategic reasons or to prevent unlawful, criminal or pornographic activities.
Countries like China do restrict access of net users based in China,
to web sites, which go politically against the regime. This is
certainly a retrograde step from reaching 100 % net neutrality. But
there is nothing that outsiders can do in this case.
Net
neutrality can get restricted in three ways. First restriction can
come from the Government, for political reasons. There is a slight
variation of this, when restrictions under disguise (like those in
now defunct section of section 66A of Indian statute book) are
cleverly introduced by Government to muffle out freedom of expression. The third way in which net neutrality can get
restricted, can come from a device manufacturer or internet service
provider, purely for commercial reasons.( read profit making.)
A huge
controversy has broken out in India recently with more than three
hundred thousand people signing on a petition, sent to the telecom
regulator of India. The trouble started, when one of the
internet service providers, who provides data plans for its mobile
consumers, came out with a new idea of enhancing profits (nothing wrong in that), which it named as “Airtel
Zero.” The idea was fairly simple and was planned to work in this
fashion.
How
will ‘Airtel Zero’ work?
Mobile
app makers register with ‘Airtel Zero’ to give customers
toll-free access to their apps
Airtel
informs customers about these toll-free apps.
Customers
download and access these apps at zero data charges – and enjoy
their favorite online tasks (e.g. entertainment, shopping) for free –
even at zero mobile balance.
The
plan was made to sound like free lunches for the consumers. However
obviously it is not. Though the customers were not expected to pay
for any data charges, they could have access only to those Apps, which
would be toll-free and who have tied up with Airtel after making
payments to get preferential treatments. Let me give an example to
make things clear. Three of the most popular Apps that provide free
video viewing for net users ( uploaded by someone else) are “You
Tube,” “ Vimeo” and “Dailymothion.” For argument's sake, let
us assume that Dailymotion decides to make payment to Airtel to get
preferential treatment. What happens now is that any customer of
Airtel Zero plan, can download only Dailymotion App on their mobile
screen. If they try to download You Tube or Vimeo, Airtel will simply
say the access is denied. This is in essence, why everyone else is
opposing this, because it directly affects the net neutrality or
freedom of choice.
In all
probability, Airtel may scrap their plan in future. But if they
don't, there is a clever way in which, you can keep net neutrality at
a marginal extra cost. Before I elaborate on it, let me narrate
another case of infringement of net neutrality, this time by the big
daddy of all manufacturers, “Apple.”
A new
type of devices that are essentially network computers and are
connected to your TV screens, are becoming very popular these days.
About 2 years ago, I first obtained one such device, made by Apple,
which it calls as “Apple TV.” It is extremely simple gadget and
convenient to use and needs very little setting up procedure. When
connected, an user sees on his TV screen, mobile like Apps of most
popular web sites, such as You Tube, Flickr. Many of these are paid,
but some are free. It also allows the user to download songs and
films at a cost from Apple. It also allows you to transfer songs or
films on your Laptop to TV screen. OK, this is all fine. But what
struck me as most obstructive from point of net neutrality was the
fact that only Apple decides, what Apps are to be put on consumer's
screen, with consumer having no choice at all.
I
therefore started searching for another, stand alone device,
generally known as TV media controller. I found one that suited my
requirements, made by a company called A.C.Ryan. This device,
branded as Veolo 2, allows to download any App that is available on
Google play. In fact it presents a full mobile phone screen on my TV, with
full choice or total net neutrality. But this comes at the cost of
little inconvenience, as it is not as simple to set up and use as
Apple TV.
Now I
have tow media controllers connected to my TV. Whenever I want to
watch, one of the Apps allowed by Apple TV, I switch it on.
Otherwise, if I want to browse or watch any other site, I use the
other media controller.
In
this example, no doubt I have invested in a second media controller.
But with mobile phones, all that is needed is a phone which can accommodate two SIM cards. Whenever you want to watch any of the free
Apps provided by Airtel, switch on Airtel SIM, saving data charges
and if you want to watch any other App, switch over to SIM card of
some other service provider like BSNL. This way you can have the cake
and eat it too.
Most
likely, Airtel plan will be scrapped. However if it is not, we can
use it for free and for all other browsing, change over to other
SIM.
15th
April 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment