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OK Google, meet Net Neutrality

India has Net Neutrality for internet access providers. Does it also need Net Neutrality to counter Google’s Android market share?

22/02/19

Arundhati Ramanathan

Android, in combination with Play Store, has become a formidable gatekeeper to mobile internet

Android’s omniscience makes it as much a utility as a telco’s pipes that carry internet  

Since the rules of Net Neutrality apply to the pipes, it is only logical that it extends to Android—the gatekeeper of mobile internet

Net Neutrality forbids blocking, degrading and favouring. Incidentally, three things Google does

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Exactly three years ago, in February 2016, India decisively dodged a bullet. Fighting back against an aggressive campaign of misinformation, lobbying and advertising from global internet giants like Facebook, India became one of the first major countries to adopt unambiguous rules to ensure Net Neutrality. The rules brought in by the telecom regulator, the Telecom…

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