At the moment, India who is known to be a peace loving nation has actually become a battleground in an attempt to revolt against Mark Zuckerberg's plan to introduce Facebook's Free Basic program with the telecom operator. The plan has actually been fought by a large number of people since many believe it is designed to violate the principles of net neutrality. However, latest reports confirm that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) has actually put a hold on the implementation of the policy till the end of January.
For promoting the policy of Free Basics on a personal front, even Mark appeared on a video and also wrote a personal appeal in one of the leading newspapers. We believe that connectivity is a human right and that getting connectivity for the world is one of the fundamental challenges of our generation. When people are connected, we can accomplish some pretty amazing things. We can get closer to the people that we care about, we can get access to new jobs and opportunities and ideas. We can receive education and healthcare and communication and access to new services, he said in the video post.
To make the process of replies easier and user friendly, Facebook has ben constantly urging its users, both through its social networking platform and through mobile to send a response to TRAI by dialling a number that automatically generates a response on the users' behalf. In addition to this, the company has also issued a series of full-page newspaper advertisements and billboard banners making this a type of aggressive campaign.
Critics, however, have a different perception as they consider that policy of Free Basics violates the principal of net neutrality by offering some services for free, giving them an advantage over competitors. Also, Facebook acts as a gatekeeper for Free Basics, permitting some services, while rejecting others.
TRAI is taking all necessary actions as another report indicates that TRAI had also asked Reliance Communications (RCom) to put Facebook’s Free Basics service on hold since they are the only telecom partner to offer a basic set of internet services free to its subscribers in India. The report quotes a senior government official as saying, We have asked them (Reliance Communications) to stop it and they have given us a compliance report that it has been stopped. Free Basics, which was earlier known as Internet.org, has been criticised heavily in India as being against net neutrality.