Viral Now: AIB guns for Net Neutrality

All India Bakchod, in its quintessential style, breaks down what net neutrality is and why one must make enough noise about it and save the internet.

If you have been sneaking out of the 'Save the Internet' or 'Net Neutrality' debates, presuming it's not your business, then All India Bakchod's (AIB) latest video will shatter your notions.

The stand-up comedy group, which made headlines after its 'Roast' video, is back again, this time to 'Save the Internet'. AIB's latest video features its founders breaking down the complex net neutrality issue in its signature style urging users to act and speak for net neutrality.

Uploaded on April 11, the video has garnered 1.1 million views on YouTube as of Monday evening. The nine-minute-long video explains that net neutrality means all content is equal and all sites must be equally accessible. Whether it's a Honey Singh video or a breaking news report about a terrorist attack or a cat GIF. All content on the internet is equal and must be equal always.

The video further states that neutrality means once you have an internet plan you should be allowed to access any website you want without discrimination. If a telecom operator has a deal with a particular website, say a Flipkart, it cannot make Amazon website load slower for you, forcing you to shop only from Flipkart.

"The only thing worse than no internet is slow internet," the video states, adding that telecom operators are aiming to carve the internet into different sections, such that subscribers have to pay extra to access each one of them.

Imagine paying extra for accessing your daily dose of social and digital media via messenger apps (WhatsApp, Viber, Snapchat, Hike), photo sharing (Instagram), e-commerce sites (Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal)!

The 'net neutrality' debate sparked off with telecom major Bharti Airtel announcing 'Airtel Zero', subscribing to which consumers will get to access a set of website and apps for free. This was clearly a big blow to small companies and start-ups which cannot afford to sign up for such plans.

Telecom operators like Airtel and Vodafone have been lobbying hard with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to allow them to block apps and websites which will only be available at a higher price, which is an extreme violation of net neutrality.

Is there a way out then? TRAI has conveniently uploaded a consultation paper with 20 questions spread across 118 pages on its website on March 27, and invited people to send their comments against the same by an e-mail by April 24.

The AIB video urges users to log on to Savetheinternet.in and send a pre-drafted legally precise response to the TRAI (at advqos@trai.gov.in) before the deadline. One can also edit the responses created and then re-send it.