[governance] Net neutrality on mobiles

Sun Aug 8 12:08:02 EDT 2010

Dear Ginger

Airtel, as the mobile Internet Operator, and a Nationwide 'ISP' for all
mobile phones on airtel network is supposed to be neutral to facebook, Ning,
LinkedIn or Orkut.

When Airtel says, free download for facebook subscribers, it is promoting
facebook traffic over Ning or Orkut traffic. It is an indirect way of
freelaning traffic, if not fastlaning.

That is not NetNeutral. I don't understand why it is difficult to see this
as a NN isue.

Sivasubramanian M

On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 6:07 PM, Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ian and Parminder,
>
> This is an interesting point for me, but I wonder where the line is between
> advertising and other issues, like 'free benefits' which David mentions. For
> instance, when text messaging was first available in Venezuela, it was free.
> It was free for long enough to get everyone hooked on it. Then they started
> charging for it.
>
> It is difficult for me to see this as a NN issue since it sounds more like
> a 'free trial', or a 'package deal' that attracts customers. My serious
> issues with NN are lack of transparency, not marketing.
>
> Where do you see this 'line'?
>
> I think this is a good time to discuss NN so that we can be more productive
> in Vilnius.
>
> Best, Ginger
>
>
> On 8/7/2010 11:23 PM, Ian Peter wrote:
>
>> Hi Parminder,
>>
>> Unfortunately Australia has already jumped ship on this too. It is common
>> practice for ISPs here (who have volume charging regimes) to create free
>> zones of their partner sites which do not attract volume charges and/or
>> traffic shaping when people exceed download limits. Nobody here seems to
>> want to pick this up as an issue. To me, this is a distortion of a free
>> market and an open Internet at the same time and should be attracting a
>> lot
>> more attention.
>>
>> The mobile world, as you mention, brings with it other distortions and
>> potential distortions (eg built in apps and interfaces)
>>
>>
>> I agree - we should discuss.
>>
>>
>> Ian Peter
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> From: parminder<parminder at itforchange.net>
>>> Reply-To:<governance at lists.cpsr.org>, parminder<
>>> parminder at itforchange.net>
>>> Date: Sun, 08 Aug 2010 08:51:02 +0530
>>> To:<governance at lists.cpsr.org>,<ciresearchers at vancouvercommunity.net>
>>> Subject: [governance] Net neutrality on mobiles
>>>
>>> Hi All
>>>
>>> The biggest mobile operator in India, Airtel, is providing Facebook free
>>> of data download charges in India (apparently, only for 2 months). I
>>> understand this is happening in other countries too; i read about
>>> something similar in Russia.
>>>
>>> I consider this as an outright violation of net neutrality (NN).
>>>
>>> Since there are existing codes of conduct on NN in some countries like
>>> Norway and Brazil, I will like to know from those who know and
>>> understand these country specific arrangements well if such a thing as
>>> above will be considered a NN violation under these codes.
>>>
>>> If indeed developing countries are to have any chance of being a part of
>>> shaping and governing the future of the Internet, we should start
>>> testing such cases as above with the telecom regulatory  authourities,
>>> and if needed with courts and anti-trust bodies.
>>>
>>> Parminder
>>>
>>> PS: See latest developments on NN debate in the US at
>>>
>>>
>>> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/google-verizon-close-to-their-
>>> own-net-neutrality-deal.ars
>>>
>>>
>>> It appears that there is some move to treat wireless or mobile based
>>> Internet on a different level vis a vis NN than wired Internet.
>>>
>>> As the largest market players - here, Verizon and Google - seek to
>>> arrive at a mutually convenient  arrangement, and the only other party
>>> to it is the US gov, itself representing very partisan, and largely
>>> dominant, interests, as far as the global public Internet is concerned,
>>> the real shape of global IG is quite evident. Where does the IGF, and
>>> indeed the IGC come into this may be a question that we need to ponder
>>> upon.
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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