Articles and videos urging us to join the fight for net neutrality have gone viral of late. But what is this net neutrality that we need to fight for and why? Read on to get a clear idea…
What does net neutrality mean?
Net neutrality refers to fair and open usage of internet. At present, we can use whatsapp, viber, skype , google, amazon and other websites for free. We are not charged extra for using these services. This freedom of using internet for accessing the content and site of our choice is termed as net neutrality.
Why are we fighting for net neutrality?
Major telecom companies, along with our government, are now planning to curb this freedom and charge us extra for using whatsapp, viber, skype and many other websites.
They want to make more money by having a control over the websites and apps we are using.
As such, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which sets internet rules in India, is planning to do away with the concept of net neutrality.
Now, if there will be no net neutrality, then we will have to pay more for accessing our desired apps and websites and if we are not willing to pay more, then we will have to use the sites and apps which the ISP providers provide us for free as per their choice.
Obviously we don’t want this to happen. So, we need to fight for it.
How to participate in the fight?
Here fighting doesn’t imply to taking to streets or fighting with arms.
To fight for net neutrality, we just need to log on to the website
http://www.savetheinternet.in, fill in the form in favour of net neutrality and email it to TRAI @ advqos@trai.gov.in.
Till date, TRAI has received nearly 1.5 lakh mails in support of net neutrality.The last date for submitting the form to TRAI is April 24, 2015.
You can watch a video on net neutrality here: