CSI organizes a workshop on net neutrality; strongly advocates an open Internet

Net neutrality is a widely debated topic, with different stakeholders advocating different views. To evaluate and debate different perspectives, The Computer Society of India (CSI), Noida Chapter recently organized a workshop on net neutrality where all the perspectives, ie, social and economic, were considered.

The workshop saw the presence of eminent names, including Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India, Dr Arvind Gupta, National Head, BJP IT Cell, CA Gopal Agarwal, Head, BJP Economic Cell and Social Rights Activist, and CS Anuj Agarwal, Chairman, Computer Society of India, Noida.

In the inaugural address, Anuj Agarwal of CSI said, “Internet is the only non-discriminatory medium and platform where nobody is discriminated based on nationality, color, caste creed, birth origin, social or economic status. Internet is not governed by any particular government or company and it is guided by the people, ‘the global citizen’.

Delivering his keynote address, Dr Arvind Gupta, National Head, IT Cell, BJP, said, “The telecom operators are like road and highway providers and the road cannot dictate where a person wants to go and at what speed. So let it be the choice of the person to decide where he wants to go and what speed etc. Since there is a massive amount of investment required to build the telecom highway to provide Internet access to the rural India, the content and platform providers like ">facebook.com wants to play a role in subsidizing the building the telecom highway and in return wants to have exclusive access to customers and users, which is not acceptable.”

The program was organized at IMS Institute Noida and was well attended by professionals from various fields, as well as faculty, and young students and entrepreneurs.