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Facebook denies stepping back on its zero rated Internet.Org in India

Facebook on Internet.org

The social media giant Facebook denies the fact of stepping back on its operations in India for its zero-rated (toll-free) internet access platform internet.org. Internet.org has been in debate this entire year in India due to controversy that it is supposed to be violating the concept of Net Neutrality.

Internet.org

Internet,org is Facebook’s initiative to provide free access to some part of internet to 5 bn people online. For this, Facebook has been partnered to big brands, telecom and technology giants – Samsung, Qualcomm and mobile operator Reliance Communications in India. Users can access internet.org currently only through reliance networks in India and then there they can browse the websites listed with Internet.org.

Kevin Martin, vice-president for Facebook’s Mobile and Global Access Policy, on internet.org

It does not violate the principles of net neutrality, as it offers an opportunity to all developers if they provide lighter versions that use limited bandwidth. He also said that the program is not exclusive and is open to all operators.

Net-Neutrality

What is Net Neutrality? Net Neutrality means in-discriminated, unbiased, non prejudiced  accessibility to all content over the internet.

According to Wikipedia definition, Net neutrality (also network neutrality, Internet neutrality, ornet equality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differently by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.

Principles of Net-Neutrality

  • No blocking. Your Internet Service Provider should not be allowed to block any websites if the content is legal.
  • No throttling. Your Internet Service Provider should not be allowed to intentionally slow down some websites depending on ISP’s own interest and beneficial .
  • No Paid Prioritization. Your Internet Service Provider should not be allowed to speed up selected websites because they paid extra for it while others did not.

Controversy Over Net-Neutrality In India

Controversy glared up in India last year when telecom operator Airtel started ‘Airtel Zero’ where users can access some websites registered with Airtel without having to pay anything. Companies could register themselves for Airtel Zero by paying some amount to Airtel and people could access these sites on Airtel’s network for free.

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