There is no intention to police the Internet, says Trai Chairman Rahul Khullar

As net neutrality debate rages on, TRAI today said it does not intend to police the internet but there are three unexceptional principles including ’no blocking’ which are not debatable. “Anybody in right frame of mind would not try to regulate or police the internet. They would find a way around. But we need to understand that there are certain issues that need to be addressed,” TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar said while speaking at an event organised by O P Jindal University. He, however, added that there cannot be any debate on three unexceptional principles. “No blocking, transparency and no throttling or degrading adware. There can’t be simply no debate on this.” TRAI has recently floated a consultation paper for regulatory framework on over-the-top (OTT) service like internet-based calling and messaging services and net neutrality. The regulator has received over 10 lakh response on its paper favouring net neutrality which means that no artificial barrier like slowing down of internet speed or differentiating between services available on internet, especially on payment basis. Khullar said Trai did not issue paper on the matter with intention to regulate internet. “People have confused this idea. I have been in civil services for 40 years and have some sense how public policy is made. We tend to form opinion in advance of facts…which in my view is extremely dangerous,” Khullar said. He said that if telecom companies are going to do traffic management then it should be disclosed to public that they are not abusing authority. An intense debate is going on on net neutrality in the country after telecom major Airtel in December decided to charge separately for VoIP or internet based calls. The debate was triggered after Airtel announced a zero rating platform in April which allows its subscribers freely access applications on its Airtel Zero platform but applications are required to pay certain fee for joining its platform. PTI