India Trades Free Basics For Internet Freedom

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Publish Date:
February 9, 2016
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Tech News World
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Summary

India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority on Monday ruled in favor of Net neutrality, effectively banning Facebook’s Free Basics Internet access app.

“This is a very important decision for the future of the Internet in India,” said Barbara van Schewick, director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, whose paper the TRA cited in its ruling.

The TRA decided “ISPs should not pick winners and losers online,” she told the E-Commerce Times. “The Internet is a level playing field where users, not ISPs, decide what they want to do online.”

“If ISPs really want to get more people online, they can, for example, offer 500 MB of bandwidth to everyone at 2G speeds, but what people do with that bandwidth is their choice,” van Schewick said.

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