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Business News/ Opinion / Blogs/  In the name of Net neutrality
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In the name of Net neutrality

What we forgot in the shrill, almost one-sided debate is that zero-rated services are only an optionnot a compulsion

Nothing is more ridiculous than the argument that the first time users of zero rated services cannot fathom the vastness of the Internet with their limited access to a few websites. Photo: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP Premium
Nothing is more ridiculous than the argument that the first time users of zero rated services cannot fathom the vastness of the Internet with their limited access to a few websites. Photo: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP

What will you tell a friend if he sermonises to you that the government should stop its rural housing scheme unless it can either build a bungalow or promise a well-furnished 3BHK apartment for each poor family? And the reasoning he offers you is, “that’s how I live and everyone should live like that."

If the person is a good friend of yours, the conversation could proceed in a civilised manner as follows:

You: That’s a noble idea for sure, but who will pay for such expensive houses? It needs a huge amount of money. But what’s the problem, if the government builds decent pucca houses for the poor? At least, the poor will benefit immediately and they can one day aspire to build a bigger house when they are economically more affluent.

Friend: No, no. I don’t support that. Because if they start living in a modest pucca house, they will never aspire to ever live in a bigger house. Because they will consider the small house as their world.

At this stage, may be you will give up and tell your friend: Sathia Gaya Hai Kya? (Have you lost your mind?).

But this is exactly the way the debate on Net neutrality is progressing. A bunch of social media opinion makers who would not lose the first opportunity to tap the tortoise-speed free wi-fi connection in a coffee shop have decided that their less fortunate brethren in villages and slums must not touch anything remotely related to the Internet unless they have access to websites that teach how to make drones and the latest start-up apps that might challenge the dominance of Google and Facebook one day.

Because if he does that, he will be violating Net neutrality. And if you have ever accessed a free 10-day Facebook pack offered by your telecom service provider, you have already committed a sin. Though redemption is yet to be prescribed, you may start by not shooting those innocent wingless birds into a pig’s fortresses for at least 10 days.

So the two services which may persuade you to commit the sin in near future are Airtel Zero and Facebook’s Internet.org. Before I proceed further, a disclosure is due. I have used Airtel from the day I learnt handling a mobile phone. And I just moved back to its 2G data plan after using its 3G service for a few months; it ran slower than Aamir Khan in slow motion in the classic “Pehla Nasha..." song. So that’s how big a fan I am of Airtel services.

Now, to come back to the point. Both these products promise to provide access to a bunch of websites and applications without you paying for the data charges. The people who oppose these two services—let’s call them “Aadarsh Neutrals" in the true tradition of the social media and due to lack of any other neutral term—take offence because of mainly two reasons. One, such services will provide only a small fraction of the vast Internet free of cost, limiting your choice. Even if you have the option of going to another website outside the free pack, the free apps will tempt you to use them forever and ever. Second, it is anti-competitive because it will slow down your access to other competing websites and will act as a barrier for start-up companies, which may not have deep pockets to subsidise or pay for your data usage.

So what is the alternative the Aadarsh Neutrals have to offer? Simple. Pay for your data usage. And if a large swath of Bharat can’t save enough from their grocery budget or children’s tuition fees to pay for their data usage, then too the solution is simple. Wait till the day you can earn enough to pay for accessing even basic websites. Until then, you and your children must remain Internet-illiterate so that the flag of Net neutrality can fly high.

Let me be clear, if I haven’t been so far. I am all for Net neutrality in what it originally meant—that a service provider cannot restrict or prohibit access to any content under any guise. So I am all for unhindered use of so-called over-the-top apps like WhatsApp and Skype and hence I am against the pay-as-you-use proposition by telecom service providers. But I am absolutely against extending the Net neutrality logic to zero-rated services such as Airtel Zero or Internet.Org.

They are essentially marketing tools for companies who can pay for my data use. But it’s also a good opportunity, if not a perfect one, to use it to get millions of people at the bottom of the pyramid, who currently cannot afford to pay for the high data charges, initiated to the Internet. Think of it as Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) distributing its biscuit packets for free at certain rural schools as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandate. Will we also extend the Net neutrality logic to the physical world and argue that unless HUL distributes biscuits from ITC Ltd too, it should not be allowed to undertake such CSR activities.

And nothing is more ridiculous than the argument that the first time users of zero rated services cannot fathom the vastness of the Internet with their limited access to a few websites. Chill. Don’t underestimate the intelligence of the common man. And the argument that someone like me would purchase everything online on Flipkart and not on Snapdeal if I get free access to that particular website is not ridiculous, it’s stupid. May be I will spend more time on Flipkart, but I will buy on the platform that provides me the product at a cheaper price.

What we forgot in the shrill, almost one-sided debate is that zero-rated services are only an option. They are not being shoved down anybody’s throat. Whoever can pay will have access to everything on the Net. But how can you deny anybody the choice of using a few useful websites free of cost? The fear that greedy service providers may slow down competing apps may or may not be legitimate. But they can do so even now without being transparent about it. At least, we will know and will remain vigilant if there is transparency and will fight back. But killing innovations like zero-rated services will be a big disservice, particularly to the vast section of the underprivileged in our society. And then we don’t know what they want. Who are we—a bunch of self-proclaimed defenders of the idea of the Internet—to take a decision on their behalf? Who gave us this right?

Let’s allow the pucca houses to be built. One day the underprivileged will build their own mansions. Have faith!

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Published: 20 Apr 2015, 04:16 PM IST
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