(By Nikhil Pahwa & Vikas SN) Net Neutrality is a terrible, technical sounding phrase, and suffers for the lack of an easy definition. Here's how we look at it: Telecom operators/ISPs are access services providers, and can control either how much you access, what you access, how fast you access and how much you pay to access content and services on the Internet. It's important for access to knowledge, services and free speech, as well as freedom and ease of doing business online, for this access to be neutral: - All sites must be equally accessible - The same access speed at the telco/ISP level for each (independent of telco selection) - The same data cost for access to each site (per KB/MB). This means, Net Neutrality is about: - No telecom-style licensing of Internet companies (see this and this) - No gateways (Internet.org, Airtel OneTouch Internet, Data VAS), censorship or selection; - No speeding up of specific websites (that may or may not pay telcos) - No "zero rating" or making some sites free over others (and that goes for you too, Wikipedia and twitter). * Yesterday, US President Barack Obama came in support of Net Neutrality, urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to implement the strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality and ensure that "neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online". He added - "We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best…
