“As we all know, the internet has helped anyone with a good idea and he can rise to be a billionaire like Flipkart and Ola. Net neutrality is very crucial for small business owners, startups and entrepreneurs who rely on the open internet to launch or expand their businesses, advertise their products and services and distribute the products to the customers,” said Siddesh Bhagat heading the NGO.
Education too, they feel, will be hit if the freedom of the internet is curbed. Another member of the group, Amey Patil said, “Children these days don’t rely on books too much. They would prefer learning something new from Wikipedia or YouTube. If students have to pay extra to be updated with what is happening around them, it will only burden their minds. Also books can’t be updated and the internet is the best thing to help.”
With the call for the Internet Service Providers (ISP) and the government to treat data equally on the internet and not discriminate or charge differently based on content or user, the group has appealed to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to spread the message of saving the internet. Signing up to savetheinternet.in and sharing the link online are the best ways to get the message out, they said.
So far, the TRAI has confirmed the receipt of over four lakh responses to their regulatory framework for Over The Top (OTT) from all over India.
