Net neutrality debate triggered by corporate war between a media house and a telecom operator, says TRAI Chief : Report

Adding a new spark to the net neutrality debate, Telecom Regulatory of India’s Chief Rahul Khullar said that the net neutrality furore is the result of a ‘corporate war’ between a media house and a telecom operator reports Indian Express. Although he didn’t mention the names of the media house or the telecom operator, he called it is ‘confounding an already difficult matter’.

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“There are many others in between, that one should not ignore despite the passionate nature of the debate between the two extremes. We need a democratic debate on the issue, not shrill voices”, Khullar was quoted saying to a popular newspaper.

Meanwhile, the public outrage against zero-rated plans is growing stronger. The website saveinternet.in revealed that around 600990 mails had been sent to TRAI asking to keep internet free. Clubbed from the mails from other sources TRAI has received a whopping total of eight lakh petitions in support of net neutrality. People have time till April 24^th to file their petition, for which the TRAI will revert its comments by May 8. There are also chances for the regulartor to hold an open house debate on the issue.

Interestingly, TRAI has also released another discussion paper that suggests free internet-based calls and messaging services to become a threat for individual and national security.

“Most applications can trace the user’s location for underlying processes (such as GPS apps finding the nearest restaurants). This information may be used to commit a crime, or the location itself may be the target of a crime. Such threats can impact the nation’s security and financial health,” TRAI paper says.