The Department of Communications (DoT) has come out with recommendations on the future of "net neutrality" in India. Here are a few key points from the report- Positives:- India should not allow blocking, throttling or prioritisation of data on networks.  No licence required by over the top players (OTTs) for instant messaging services and international VOIP calls. Content and application providers like Internet.org should not be permitted to act as a "gatekeeper". Negatives:- Zero-rated plans by telcos to be vetted on a case to case basis. Prone to legal tussle and still not clear as to if it leans towards allowing telco zero rated plans. The paper doesn't specifically target telco zero rated plans like it did for internet.org. Local VOIP calls like local Watsapp to Watsapp and other VOIP app calls will have to get license under  "same service,same rules". This differentiation cannot possibly be made without deep packet inspection that compromises our privacy. Secondly the same service rules sets a bad precedent as tomorrow cable cum ISPs could argue that video streaming apps are bleeding their business or cannibalising their revenues and ask for regulating the same and this logic could be used then to slowly regulate various apps on the internet. The fight for net neutrality is not over. Though there are some positives in the recommendations of the DoT committee, a lot needs to be done to ensure Internet is an open and fair space. Share this update on Facebook and Twitter and ask your friends to join in the movement. Thank you for taking action, Sandeep Pillai