TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook, have been abuzz for the past couple of days after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) disclosed plans to regulate apps and online services. But in Goa, lack of awareness may be the reason behind lack of animated online protests to protect ‘free-dom’ of these services.
TRAI’s consultation paper on the regulatory framework for Over The Top (OTT) services hints against the concept of net neutrality or freedom of the internet. It places before the public a list of questions for suggestions and comments from users and companies on how internet apps and services should be regulated.
TRAI Sunday said it had received over 1.5 lakh responses from Indians against the charging of OTT services including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Skype. But in susegad Goa, net neutrality is an issue that has not evoked much response.
The youth, much like the older ones, either have no idea of the concept of net neutrality or are oblivious to the impact it will have in the State and the country as a whole. Aaron de Miranda Colaco, techie and student at Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna, who’s been promoting the concept of freedom on the internet said, “The awareness is very minimal and those who do know about it, tend not to do anything.”
Colaco is now planning to take the issue to his classmates at his college to get as many people as he can to respond to TRAI’s questions.
With the internet being an integral part of social communications now, it is important that people realize how it will shape the way it will work with control in their hands rather than in someone else’s to enable them to completely control our internet actions.
There is absolutely no need for ISPs to have power, to shape the internet traffic so that they ultimately benefit from it, said Prajyot Mainkar, founder of Androcid.
“Though net neutrality is not officially present in India, there is a need for it. Or else, ISPs will charge web companies to enable faster access to their websites,” he said.
In the event of TRAI implementing these rules, Goan netizens, like others, will have to face even more issues in addition to paying extra for specific apps and services, a reason for many to support net neutrality. “Internet in Goa has its own set of problems including bandwidth and coverage. But considering the overall scene, this is an initiative that should have support from Goans. For example, sites such as YouTube are well utilized in Goa by the masses. This means that companies such as Google will be able charge more to allow access to YouTube. This clearly shows how common internet user is at no-profit; and ISPs and companies collaboratively are at all-profits,” Mainkar pointed out.
“Today most of the OTT communication apps are offered to customers at near ‘no cost’ (or entirely free). This is primarily because of revenue streams other than subscription. These apps could generate revenues from advertisements, apps bundled with handsets, in-app purchases, and selling certain features through user licenses,” says the report.
And it is this revenue generation option that many telecom services are looking to cash on. An online campaign encouraging people to understand net neutrality has begun as also a website called www.savetheinternet.in. With the date of submission (April 24) of suggestions for the report approaching, it remains to be seen whether the internet will still be free, or will slow speeds and extra charges be the future
of the net.
