As the debate over net neutrality sparks up again in the West, Nikhil Pahwa, co-founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, talks victories of the past and the new challenges of keeping the Web-wide open.
Sitting at his Civil Lines residence in Delhi one evening in May, Pahwa, co-founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation – a volunteer-driven organisation that advocates and educates on Internet-related issues – is recounting how he came to spearhead one of the largest mass movements to defend the internet as we know it in India. As founder and chief editor of MediaNama, a popular website for news and analysis on digital media in the country, Pahwa had been observing, with increasing alarm, the actions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as it considered allowing certain Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to charge users for accessing specific online services.
The internet is basically an interconnection of ISPs across the world, he explains. “ISPs are the route to that public sphere. If the ISPs control what you can and can’t access in that public sphere, and if they start favouring a Google or an Apple or a Microsoft or an Amazon over you and me, we lose out on the opportunity to participate.” In other words, from being creators and consumers – aka users – we become only consumers.
For Pahwa, the stakes were personal. Having dropped out of engineering college, it was the internet that provided him gainful employment: He began writing for ContentSutra, another media analysis website, soon rising to chief editor. When he went into business for himself, establishing MediaNama in 2008, all it took was buying a domain and setting up a WordPress site. “It barely cost me anything,” he says. “I want everyone else to have that ability to participate, the way I did.”
この記事は GQ India の July 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は GQ India の July 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
The 30 Best Watches Of 2024
Rounding up the best shapes, materials, complications and sizes from this year's horological novelty treasure chest.
Wes Lang's Heroes of Love...
Last month, LA-based artist Wes Lang unveiled The Black Paintings, a monumental series of works that play like storyboards to a raucous midnight horror movieand a spiritual quest. Here, GQ collaborates with the artist on a fashion story that brings his stylish characters off the canvas.
The Miraculous Resurrection of Notre Dame
In 2019, a fire nearly destroyed the crown jewel of France-and the nation set a breakneck five-year deadline to bring it back from the ashes. This is the story of how an army of artisans turned back centuries to restore Notre-Dame by hand, and wound up reviving something even greater than the cathedral itself.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING PERFECT. IT'S ABOUT BEING REVOLUTIONARY."
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter talks business, legacy, art, and family
The Wedding Singers
Madboy Mink's dynamic duo, Saba Azad and Imaad Shah, redefine festive style.
A Watch Is More Than Just a Pretty Face
As collectors look to make their grail watches stand out, they're turning to unique vintage bracelets and paying thousands on thousands for straps on the secondary market.
The Fluidity of Cartier
Why Gen Z stars are obsessed with this historic maison.
A Princess with Passion
From restoring monuments to reviving hereditary crafts, Bhavnagar's Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil has her sights on the future.
THE FUTURE SOUNDS LIKE AT EEZ
The Coachella-slaying, multi-language-singing, genre-obliterating members of Ateez are quickly becoming load-bearing stars of our global pop universe.
DEMNA UNMASKED
He's the most influential designer of the past decade. He's also the most controversial. Now the creative director of Balenciaga is exploring a surprising source of inspiration: happiness. GQ's Samuel Hine witnesses the dawn of Demna's new era, in Paris, New York, and Shanghai. Photographs by Jason Nocito.