JAKARTA (IndoTelko) - The Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII) expressed its support for the implementation of Net Neutrality in Indonesia to ensure fair competition in the Internet business.
"We support Net Neutrality because network providers must not take sides. Network providers must focus on providing content, it must not wandering away, the business won’t be healthy if providers begins to take sides," said APJII Chairman Samuel A Pangerapan, last week.
Samuel said that if Net Neutrality cannot be applied then network providers might turn into some content players which trigger business discomfort practices.
"The best example is the case of intrusive advertising. If later the browser owners also make intrusive ads then it will create loss for content owners," Samuel said.
Conflict
APJII's attitude is contradictory to the Telecommunications Organizer Association of Indonesia (ATSI) some time ago when giving rejection signs to Net Neutrality as it’s based on operator's network and wanted equal benefit in utilization with players Over the Top (OTT).
Net Neutrality issue is re-emerged after being approved by the FCC in the United States on March 12, 2015. The beleid was taken to court by USTelecom and Alamo Broadband operators.
In Net Neutrality, operators will be prohibited from discriminating quality and rates are given access to the content in the network. The net neutrality term was first introduced by Media Law Professor from the Columbia University Tim Wu in 2003.
In Indonesia, operator relationships with local OTT were escalated after the rising of intrusive advertising practices some time ago.
Indonesian E-Commerce Association (IDEA), Digital Indonesian Association (IDA), the Association of Indonesian Internet Service Provider (APJII), Internet Domain Name Management Indonesia (PANDI), Association of Asia Pacific Advertising Media, and the Association of Advertising Indonesia (P3I) stated to reject this type of advertising practices which was done by two major providers, Telkomsel and XL.
The rejected practice was the interstitial ads which featuring full-page ads when about to enter a website and the off-deck ads where advertising inserts are placed at the top of the site to be accessed. The online petition rejecting the intrusive advertising practices is already signed by over 18,000 people.(es)