Net Neutrality…Wait, FreeBasics

The Internet is a bunch of bits going here and there from computer to computer. It is the most secular, level playing field we know. Any random guy like me, can purchase a domain and present my content for this world to consume. In terms of availability I stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Facebook, Google etc. The operational mechanism of the internet does not interfere with the content. That is how it should be.

The internet is a utility, not a for-profit venture

The internet is so deeply integrated with everyday lives that as a whole, it should be treated as a utility and not a for-profit commercial service. That blog uses analogies of satellite TV space in India, or the real estate sector and how getting more number of subscribers or users is the motive of the entities in function. That should not be a motive in the first place, and FreeBasics does not claim to have it either.

When I say the internet should be treated as a utility, I look at it like electricity or water. The government or the private entities which supply it (Reliance or Tata) do not discriminate it based on the number or power of appliances used. It does not matter if you use 4 ACs or 3 electric irons at the same time. The charges you pay are for the units you consume and not the appliances you use.

Apart from this discrimination of who chooses to use what, it is also a privacy concern. I do not want my plumber to know what I use water for. That’s my private matter. With the ability to sniff packets of data, I’m giving unnecessary knowledge to my ISP. I have no reason to do so.

Who doesn’t love free?

Big conglomerates want to know what you do online. For the most part, they do know even today. Now the ISPs want the slice of the pie too. FreeBasics is just sugarcoating the malicious intentions and selling us, the consumer, as a commodity. Today you give them access to sniff your network traffic to and tomorrow they will start profiling based on what you access, create plans and packages for the internet and Balkanize it. This shouldn’t be allowed.

The Internet is not a commercial for-profit enterprise, it should never be so. The internet can be used as a platform for many commercial things and that is perfectly fine. But its core should remain intact and should not fall prey to overt commercialisation.

When something is for free, you are the product.

The unfair competition point is already covered in many links I have shared in my previous blog post. Yet, to use an analogy of TV which the OP talks about, I can give an example of InSync channel. It is a community-driven channel which works for the sustenance and betterment of Indian Classical Music. They were refused airtime from many channel service providers (like Tata Sky, Dish, Airtel etc.) because they refused to sell ads. The entertainment bigwigs choked a free voice because it has become an oligopoly. It is reprehensible. Eventually, they got access, (I do not know how), but this fight is exactly reason why we should not let the internet go down that path. The internet needs to secular and in the true sense of the word, open. Think about this, in a world where free and open internet seizes to exist, no new site as community-funded as Wikipedia can ever emerge.

A pursuit to fairness

Things are not fair, does not mean one should not fight for fairness. The internet is falling prey to commercial interests, and it is necessary to take arms and fight to keep it secular. It will always be a pursuit to fairness. I will always be up in arms for that. Hence the fight. TV is mainly for entertainment, The internet is for sustainability and collaboration. I can not draw parallels there.

As of today, the internet is fair. The fact that you can read this post without paying a separate charge for anything is the exact proof of that. I am not paying for channel providers for you to access this page, neither are you. That is being secular.

Charitable motive has alternatives

FreeBasics lauds itself as being the charitable initiative which plans to connect the poor and deprived with the biggest information source known to the world. Why someone gets to decide what information is basic, what information should be free? Is this a government initiative? No.

Although, I have a problem with the basic idea, I might be willing to positively consider an approach where the free sites are registered as non-profits, have an entire community funding, their content and presentation is no way connected with the quality and quantity of subscribers. I am still positively considering this, not standing with it as of now. Too many concerns to allow such a full frontal tear in the fabric we call the internet today.

What can be done?

Data is secular. If the motive is of pure charity, ISPs and Facebooks of the world can always team up and give some amount of MBs free of cost to the subscribers. That is pure charity. Let the users chose which website they want to visit. From porn to politics, and from e-banking to ticket booking, let the subscribers have complete choice. Why the tedious ways of channel partnerships?

One would argue that it is hard to decide which person can get the benefit of free data. That is true. This can be solved the same way Facebook is solving the FreeBasics reach right now, Oh! but wait, there is no such consideration. Like many other services like reservations in education, this will also fall in hands of the aware. In the process the only group stands to gain is the ISPs and Facebook.

That is why the current approach is wrong and forever will be.

On closing…

Today, I saw Facebook advertising FreeBasics on YouTube. With the free nature of Internet, this is possible. I can search for Apple in Google search, and only because of the free nature of Internet, it is possible. When was the last time you saw a Z-television program being advertised on Star group of channels? Don’t let the Internet fall down the ugly and dirty alleys of commercial interests and umbrella corporations. Let the information highway be free of tolls.

This is a call for action, please visit save the internet before the end of December 30, 2015. If you want to keep the Internet open and secular, Let TRAI know.