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India: Govt. will provide an 'open' internet

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Re: India: Govt. will provide an 'open' internet

#11
post #3

Considering that individual governments are already in a position to screw with internet using legislation (e-parasite, sopa, protect-ip bills), this may not be such a bad idea. When a council of countries are involved, may be governments wont resolve to such unilateral acts.

> When a council of countries are involved, may be governments wont resolve to such unilateral acts.

Of course they will. They'll make all sorts of unilateral acts that benefit countries.

Consider the UN. It's all about govts, not people. It can't be anything else because it's a group of govts.

Re: India: Govt. will provide an 'open' internet

#12

Actually it looks like the opposite: Internet controlled by the United Nations. > India’s spokesman, Mr Dushyant Singh, argued that the proposal “should not be viewed as an attempt by governments to ‘take over’ or ‘regulate and circumscribe’ the Internet.” If a politician says it isn't, then it probably is. If the Internet is to be ruled the way Indian, South African and Brazilian governments work, expect to pay brib…

> If a politician says it isn't, then it probably is. Feel bad that I can upvote you only once. With India's definition of broadband still at 256kbps and they are 'aiming' to increase it to 2mbps by 2015, I would say the govt already has a lot on it's plate. More than it can deal with. They should just let someone else care about this kind of problems.

I is simply not true. 2 MBPS is _easily_ available for home connections from all the vendors, and is pretty popular plan.

Re: India: Govt. will provide an 'open' internet

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If a politician says it isn't, then it probably is. Feel bad that I can upvote you only once. With India's definition of broadband still at 256kbps and they are 'aiming' to increase it to 2mbps by 2015, I would say the govt already has a lot on it's plate. More than it can deal with. They should just let someone else care about this kind of problems.

I is simply not true. 2 MBPS is _easily_ available for home connections from all the vendors, and is pretty popular plan.

You seem to have misunderstood. I did not mean the availability of speeds. I meant the definition as per TRAI. As per what I checked just now, TRAI's definition of "broadband" in India has been updated to 512kbps since Jan-2011.

According to Google, the page here http://www.trai.gov.in/broadbandpolicy.asp was updated/cached last in 2006 so maybe thats why it still says 256kbps

Re: India: Govt. will provide an 'open' internet

#14
Please don't let the Indian government anywhere near the Internet. On my one visit to India I saw at first hand the infinite gulf that exists between the great, charming and interesting people of India and their idiotic government officials.

Several hundred of us spent about four hours queuing (standing in lines) in a stiflingly hot airport hall (over 40C), just to be allowed to leave and embark. At the head of each consecutive queue of several hundred people presided one of these officials with yet another poor quality paper form to be filled in, serving no logical purpose that I could discern apart from providing employment for these idiots. When I slowly worked my way to the head of the first queue, the official asked me (politely) to borrow my pencil, as he had nothing to fill the paperwork with!

They did not seem to think that there was anything at all unusual about any of this, presumably putting all travellers through this unnecessary hell. The very idea of controlling the Internet, which would necessarily end up this way, is the stuff of nightmares.

I am only relaying my personal experience, not having any particular wish to single out the Indian government for criticism. Unfortunately most governments share much the same motivation and 'efficiency' to various degrees. It is just one of the blessings of India that it makes one comprehend essential principles with greater depth and clarity than before.

Re: India: Govt. will provide an 'open' internet

#15
"Coordinate and oversee the bodies responsible for technical and operational functioning of the Internet, including global standards setting;"

All they need to do now is write up their proposal as a draft RFC and mass post it to important hacker mailing lists (open source, Internet engineering, standards groups) on April 1st, 2012.

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