Internet Net Neutrality petition is now a days very hot debated topic in recent news, Because Internet Net Neutrality pro and cons is very vast and really affecting subject to all of us, those are related to online world. We are go on the subject of What is net neutrality debate step by steps here for better understanding and digesting the net neutrality meaning.
Purely for the sake of innovation on the web, net neutrality is imperative. If the fabric of the net was not neutral back in the 90’s, then we would’ve existed in a world without the likes of a Google and Facebook. Now, the irony is that some of these big internet companies are in cahoots with telecom operators and are in ways breaking the fabric of the internet.
Internet Net Neutrality and Internet Service Providers
Here is a collective articles on Internet Net Neutrality,
What is internet net neutrality petition:
Net Neutrality is incredibly important to the Student Net Alliance because it allows the free flow of ideas to shape our education. An open Internet provides one of the purest forms of democracy today, allowing students to access a limitless supply of information, for relatively low cost and with great ease.
When those invaluable avenues for education and social interaction are threatened by entrenched corporations acting as gatekeepers in pursuit of profit, the Student Net Alliance (SNA) mobilizes students, educators, and alumni worldwide to defend the Internet as a tool for everyone to use with equal caliber.
We can’t stand idly by while the Internet is sold to the highest bidder. Join us in asking the FCC to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service.
History Of Net Neutrality:
Why Net Neutrality Important?
The principle of Internet net neutrality can be broken in many ways. In the US, some service providers toyed with the idea of a ‘fast lane’ for certain services. Even in India, Airtel, decided to charge extra for Internet VOIP services like WhatsApp, but thanks to a timely backlash on social media, it decided against to go ahead with the plan.
The basic idea is that every packet of data has to be treated normally – in terms of speed, access and cost for the sake of innovation and long term health of the world wide web, and more importantly to avoid fragmentation.
Why are web users angry with Airtel and Flipkart?
Airtel has come up with a new marketing platform called Airtel Zero. Through this plan developers who sign up for Airtel Zero will pick up the data charges for parts or all elements of their app, hence making the data charges for the app free for the consumers. So, it has been reported that Flipkart has signed up for Airtel Zero, which means that users of Airtel’s network will get access to the Flipkart app without any data costs.
What is Internet Net Neutrality?
What Net Neutrality is about: a simple explanation for Internet Net Neutrality is a terrible, technical sounding phrase, and suffers for the lack of an easy definition. Here’s how we look at it:
Telecom operators/ISPs are access services providers, and can control either how much you access, what you access, how fast you access and how much you pay to access content and services on the Internet.
It’s important for access to knowledge, services and free speech, as well as freedom and ease of doing business online, for this access to be neutral:
- All sites must be equally accessible
- The same access speed at the telco/ISP level for each (independent of telco selection)
- The same data cost for access to each site (per KB/MB).
This means, Net Neutrality is about:
- No telecom-style licensing of Internet companies.
- No gateways (Internet.org, Airtel OneTouch Internet, Data VAS), censorship or selection;
- No speeding up of specific websites (that may or may not pay telcos)
- No “zero rating” or making some sites free over others (and that goes for you too, Wikipedia and twitter).
- No blocking: If a consumer requests access to a website or a service, ISPs should not be permitted to block it, enabling every player “gets a fair shot at your business.”
- No throttling: ISPs should not intentionally slow down some content or speed up others based on the type of service or their preferences.
- Increased transparency: The connection between consumers and ISPs is not the only place some sites might get special treatment. Hence, if necessary, FCC should apply net neutrality rules to points of interconnection between the ISP and the rest of the Internet.
- No paid prioritization: No service should be stuck in a “slow lane” because it does not pay a fee. Obama asked for an explicit ban on paid prioritization and any other restriction that has a similar effect.
Internet Net Neutrality wiki
Net neutrality (also network neutrality, Internet neutrality, or net equality) 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. The term was coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wu in 2003, as an extension of the longstanding concept of a common carrier.
India is the latest country to join the concept of net neutrality with most of the users , thus bypassing the current holder – USA.
Debate in India on Net Neutrality
In recent times, the debate in India about Net Neutrality is heating up with a website doing an online campaign against it, and asking people to get associated. Major newspapers have reported how ‘fight for net neutrality’ has ‘united internet’
During the last few days, More than 0.15 million of e-mails and online petitions have been sent to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Union Ministry for Communication and Information Technology ‘to act against the violation of net neutrality by corporate interests’.
This online petition is in response to a consultation paper on over-the-top services (OTT) and net neutrality for public feedback released by TRAI.
How Did Net Neutrality Shape Internet?
Net neutrality has shaped the internet in two fundamental ways.
One, web users are free to connect to whatever website or service they want. ISPs do not bother with what kind of content is flowing from their servers. This has allowed the internet to grow into a truly global network and has allowed people to freely express themselves. For example, you can criticize your ISP on a blog post and the ISP will not restrict access to that post for its other subscribers even though the post may harm its business.
But more importantly, net neutrality has enabled a level playing field on the internet. To start a website, you don’t need lot of money or connections. Just host your website and you are good to go. If your service is good, it will find favour with web users. Unlike the cable TV where you have to forge alliances with cable connection providers to make sure that your channel reaches viewers, on internet you don’t have to talk to ISPs to put your website online.
This has led to creation Google, Facebook, Twitter and countless other services. All of these services had very humble beginnings. They started as a basic websites with modest resources. But they succeeded because net neutrality allowed web users to access these websites in an easy and unhindered way.
What Happen If No Net Neutrality?
If there is no net neutrality, ISPs will have the power (and inclination) to shape internet traffic so that they can derive extra benefit from it. For example, several ISPs believe that they should be allowed to charge companies for services like YouTube and Netflix because these services consume more bandwidth compared to a normal website. Basically, these ISPs want a share in the money that YouTube or Netflix make.
Without net neutrality, the internet as we know it will not exist. Instead of free access, there could be “package plans” for consumers. For example, if you pay Rs 500, you will only be able to access websites based in India. To access international websites, you may have to pay a more. Or maybe there can be different connection speed for different type of content, depending on how much you are paying for the service and what “add-on package” you have bought.
Lack of net neutrality, will also spell doom for innovation on the web. It is possible that ISPs will charge web companies to enable faster access to their websites. Those who don’t pay may see that their websites will open slowly. This means bigger companies like Google will be able to pay more to make access to Youtube or Google+ faster for web users but a startup that wants to create a different and better video hosting site may not be able to do that.
Instead of an open and free internet, without net neutrality we are likely to get a web that has silos in it and to enter each silo, you will have to pay some “tax” to ISPs.
Will Concept Of Net Neutrality Survive?
Net neutrality is sort of gentleman’s agreement. It has survived so far because few people realized the potential of internet when it took off around 30 years ago. But now when the internet is an integral part of the society and incredibly important, ISPs across the world are trying to get the power to shape and control the traffic. But there are ways to keep net neutrality alive.
Net Neutrality Pros and Cons
Pros For Net Neutrality
- No Restrictions: Currently, there are no restrictions on what parts of the Internet that people can access, except for what local governments decide. For example, there are no restrictions or preferences over emailing, file sharing, instant messaging (IM), Voice over IP (VoIP), Video Conferencing, Podcasts, blogs, RSS feeds, USENET, etc.
- No Throttling: Currently, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can not change the download or upload transfer rates depending on what people are accessing.
- No Censorship: There are no restrictions on what or how much anyone can upload or download besides connection rates.
- Capitalism: Net Neutrality promotes a level playing field for competing companies, and allows start-ups easier access to new potential customers. Net Neutrality is equated to a free market.
Cons Against Net Neutrality
- Restrictions/Censorship: ISPs, in addition to governments, can decide what parts of the Internet that people can access and what parts are blocked. For instance, ISPs could block peer to peer file transfers. Additionally, ISPs could censor criticism against themselves, other companies, or politicians that they favor.
- Anti-Competition: Similar to the previous con, ISPs could block or prevent access to their competitors products, services, or web pages. Thus have restrictions against competition.
- Throttling: ISPs can decide what types of services have prefer transfer rates. For instance, Google’s Gmail could be fast why their competitors Microsoft’s Hotmail could be slower, depending on how much both companies pay the Internet Service Providers. Another common example would be high data transfers, such as peer to peer file transfers, could have slow rates than regular shorter data transfer, such as email.
- Money: ISPs could charge more money for more access to the Internet. ISPs believe that heavier users of the Internet should pay more. This extra money could be used to increase the bandwidth of the Internet for everyone and drive prices down. However, ISPs are already extremely profits and they can just as easily increase prices for everyone. Keep in mind, that Internet connection prices should be decreases why bandwidth increases. However in many parts of the world, this is not the case.
- Monitoring: There is already a lot of monitoring on the Internet, however without Net Neutrality, ISPs could literally monitor everything that their customers do on the Internet and sell or use that information as they choose.
In conclusion, I think it is obvious that Net Neutrality strongly favors people while the alternative favors corporations.Ref By philforhumanity.
This is Net Neutrality:
More than any other invention of our time, the Internet has unlocked possibilities we could just barely imagine a generation ago. And here’s a big reason we’ve seen such incredible growth and innovation: Most Internet providers have treated Internet traffic equally.
That’s a principle known as “net neutrality” — and it says that an entrepreneur’s fledgling company should have the same chance to succeed as established corporations, and that access to a high school student’s blog shouldn’t be unfairly slowed down to make way for advertisers with more money. Ref From- whitehouse.gov
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