To Stop Neutering The Net, Keep it Neutral :-
There’s been a big debate on for the last few weeks on net neutrality. Nobody above 40 has any idea what this debate is about. I tweeted vehemently in support of it without a clue of what Iwas supporting. It seemed to me by basic logic that neutral things are better than non-neutral things in a largely partial world.
Naturally, being clueless, I was guided by my philosophical belief system shaped mostly when I was in kindergarten, not by the specific facts, which were that I may have to pay to use WhatsApp and Skype. Had I known what I know now, I’d be even louder in support. (I would have written in all caps, I suppose.)
But it now turns out that the debate has been won. Young people revolted online in whatever means they revolt now: by creating memes, signing virtual letters, making ironic music videos. No morchas (which is good because it’s getting very hot outside). Also showing up outside Flipkart’s and Airtel’s offices and shouting wouldn’t have been effective because there are security guards.
Better a revolution by Wi-Fi, sitting at home eating toast. Political parties can take a few lessons from this when they send goons out to protest. Victorious young people have said they are happy that the internet remains free. And not just from British rule.
I was convinced that the net neutrality debate had no relevance to me, a middle-aged man reasonably happy with his mobile phone people and his Wi-Fi people. Yes, I have different providers. I like living on the edge. Actually, no. I meant I like living away from the edge. Living on the edge would be having one provider for both mobile and Wi-Fi and praying they don’t leave India fearing a retrospective tax. Yes, I was a very distant observer to this battle (read: browsing a different url), convinced that this has something to do with the speed at which teenagers can view videos of Kejriwal impersonators.
It doesn’t. It has to do with how we live — not how we will live, but how we live now. In this column, I have often written about what to expect from the future.
But even as I wrote it, I didn’t entirely believe it would transform how we live immediately. A sort of Indian mindset believes: yes, the internet is all wonderful, but basically it’s a place to idle away one’s time commenting on Modi’s shawls or viewing two-minute videos of a cat playing a mandolin. At most, buying online — but paying cash only when a physical person shows up, naturally. Life, as one knew it — the groceries, the maid, the driver, the auto guy, the bank, the multiplex — still remained outside the internet.
The generation before mine had such a profound distrust of online credit card transactions that I once watched an uncle impatiently waiting after he’d loaded his card details as he watched the ‘purchasing now’ graphic circle-thing turn. He then got even more anxious, got up and looked behind the laptop to see where his money may have gone.
Today, as I found out at a recent technology conference in Pune, the internet on the computer plays second fiddle to apps on the mobile phone. It is where people do buy vegetables, tables, tickets and air-conditioners. There are apps to find an autorickshaw, to buy homes, life insurance, get a degree and find a life partner. Someone told me of an app to find a toilet.
It is where people speak more than with voice out of a mouth. The smartphone for the young is their wise grandmother, their best friend, their worst enemy, every phone directory, all maps, most emotions, all memories, any information they’ll ever need and every single transaction they’ll ever do. It is where India lives now. To that generation, an equal internet —i.e., every website loading equally —is not about watching cats-on-trampoline videos. It is about taking away the road outside their house and replacing it with a lake that you’d have to pay to cross by boat.
To the rest of urban India that doesn’t understand this and says, ‘I’ll dive into this modern era when I’m ready’, buster, you’re already swimming in it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look at all the physical shops closing because everyone just buys stuff online and has it delivered. Yes, young people will tell me, “Uncle, I knew all this already.” To which all I have to say is, “Had I known what Iknow now….”.
There’s been a big debate on for the last few weeks on net neutrality. Nobody above 40 has any idea what this debate is about. I tweeted vehemently in support of it without a clue of what Iwas supporting. It seemed to me by basic logic that neutral things are better than non-neutral things in a largely partial world.
Naturally, being clueless, I was guided by my philosophical belief system shaped mostly when I was in kindergarten, not by the specific facts, which were that I may have to pay to use WhatsApp and Skype. Had I known what I know now, I’d be even louder in support. (I would have written in all caps, I suppose.)
But it now turns out that the debate has been won. Young people revolted online in whatever means they revolt now: by creating memes, signing virtual letters, making ironic music videos. No morchas (which is good because it’s getting very hot outside). Also showing up outside Flipkart’s and Airtel’s offices and shouting wouldn’t have been effective because there are security guards.
Better a revolution by Wi-Fi, sitting at home eating toast. Political parties can take a few lessons from this when they send goons out to protest. Victorious young people have said they are happy that the internet remains free. And not just from British rule.
I was convinced that the net neutrality debate had no relevance to me, a middle-aged man reasonably happy with his mobile phone people and his Wi-Fi people. Yes, I have different providers. I like living on the edge. Actually, no. I meant I like living away from the edge. Living on the edge would be having one provider for both mobile and Wi-Fi and praying they don’t leave India fearing a retrospective tax. Yes, I was a very distant observer to this battle (read: browsing a different url), convinced that this has something to do with the speed at which teenagers can view videos of Kejriwal impersonators.
 |
| Neutering The Net |
But even as I wrote it, I didn’t entirely believe it would transform how we live immediately. A sort of Indian mindset believes: yes, the internet is all wonderful, but basically it’s a place to idle away one’s time commenting on Modi’s shawls or viewing two-minute videos of a cat playing a mandolin. At most, buying online — but paying cash only when a physical person shows up, naturally. Life, as one knew it — the groceries, the maid, the driver, the auto guy, the bank, the multiplex — still remained outside the internet.
The generation before mine had such a profound distrust of online credit card transactions that I once watched an uncle impatiently waiting after he’d loaded his card details as he watched the ‘purchasing now’ graphic circle-thing turn. He then got even more anxious, got up and looked behind the laptop to see where his money may have gone.
Today, as I found out at a recent technology conference in Pune, the internet on the computer plays second fiddle to apps on the mobile phone. It is where people do buy vegetables, tables, tickets and air-conditioners. There are apps to find an autorickshaw, to buy homes, life insurance, get a degree and find a life partner. Someone told me of an app to find a toilet.
It is where people speak more than with voice out of a mouth. The smartphone for the young is their wise grandmother, their best friend, their worst enemy, every phone directory, all maps, most emotions, all memories, any information they’ll ever need and every single transaction they’ll ever do. It is where India lives now. To that generation, an equal internet —i.e., every website loading equally —is not about watching cats-on-trampoline videos. It is about taking away the road outside their house and replacing it with a lake that you’d have to pay to cross by boat.
To the rest of urban India that doesn’t understand this and says, ‘I’ll dive into this modern era when I’m ready’, buster, you’re already swimming in it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look at all the physical shops closing because everyone just buys stuff online and has it delivered. Yes, young people will tell me, “Uncle, I knew all this already.” To which all I have to say is, “Had I known what Iknow now….”.
