It had been widely speculated that if Trump was elected President, he would dramatically change the guidelines on Net Neutrality adopted by the Obama Administration, as he had opposed the idea of an open internet since his campaign days. Now with his move on commissioning Ajit Pai to head the US Federal Communications Commission(FCC) who has always openly revolted net neutrality , questions arise on the future of net neutrality in the country and its implications to the rest of the world.
Who is Ajit Pai?
Pai, a former justice department FCC is expected to roll back many of the Obama administration's telecommunications and internet policies. Pai will also have a key role in deciding whether to approve or reject or impose conditions on mergers involving cable and telephone companies.
The new FCC chairman has said that he believes net neutrality is "a solution that won't work for a problem that doesn't exist". Speaking further on net neutrality he said that he hasn't seen any evidence which would suggest that the normal netizen would be in any way disadvantaged by ISP's discriminating between content, which thus makes the need for an open internet useless and would harm small ISP's.
How will this move affect India?
Reacting to the move, Manish Tewari, former union Minister of state for I&B said "This move would definitely be hard hitting for India, however its exact impacts cannot be determined unless the US comes out with a clear answer for the subject, however it could be a pushback to India."
Talking about the impact of this move on India Rajan Matthews , director general COAI said "We had always believed that India would need to define NN in a way which addressed its specific needs. So while the new route the US has taken will be instructive and will need to be studied carefully for applicability, it does not answer how NN is to be formulated for India."
A physical wall on the American border with Mexico along with a virtual wall on the internet, it would be worth a wait to see how Trump will make America great again.
