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India Pushes Back Against Tech 'Colonization' by Internet Giants (nytimes.com)
In India, American companies dominate the internet. Facebook's WhatsApp is the most popular app on phones. Virtually every smartphone runs on Google's Android system. YouTube is the favorite video platform and Amazon is the No. 2 online retailer. For some Indian political leaders, it is as if their nation --which was ruled by Britain for a century until 1947 -- is being conquered by colonial powers all over again. And they are determined to stop it. From a report: "As a country, we have to all grow up and say that, you know, enough of this," Vinit Goenka, a railways official who works on technology policy for India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party, said at a conference last week. In recent months, regulators and ministers across India's government have declared their intention to impose tough new rules on the technology industry. Collectively, the regulations would end the free rein that American tech giants have long enjoyed in this country of 1.3 billion people, which is the world's fastest-growing market for new internet users. The proposals include European-style limits on what big internet companies can do with users' personal data, a requirement that tech firms store certain sensitive data about Indians only within the country, and restrictions on the ability of foreign-owned e-commerce companies to undercut local businesses on price. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, commented on the story, saying, "India is currently the most important country in term of defining the future of Internet policy. It sits at the fulcrum between the United States and China. As it goes, so goes the world."
"For some Indian political leaders, it is as if their nation -- which was ruled by Britain for a century until 1947 -- is being conquered by colonial powers all over again. And they are determined to stop it."
How about this: we will keep our tech sites (and our technology) and you can keep your H-1Bs. Sound fair?
Globalization is a two-way street, bitches.
> it is as if their nation --which was ruled by Britain for a century until 1947 -- is being conquered by colonial powers all over again.
How can they dream to be different from almost all other countries?
If you skip the self colonized USA and Cina, everyone else is colonized by the tech giants.
Can they afford the difference?
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
The Indian government and associated corporations has been big promoters of sending their countrymen abroad to earn money in order to bring it back into the country.
This is in complete disregard the damage it does to the local population, in terms of finding jobs or wage suppression.
In short, they're basically performing a reverse British trade empire (in the 19th century, Indians often went abroad to serve as labor instead of using locals).
The practice was abusive then and it's abusive now.
"Indians use these services, but profits from these services go overseas. And I just happen to have some wealthy local friends who would like a slice of this pie. And, being a politician, I am playing a patriotism card for them, to pave the way for the popular movement to support local product-to-be."
Nothing wrong or even unusual about it though; it's about as ethical (or unethical, depending on one's PoV) as the "eat locally grown food" slogan. In theory, if they are capable of creating an alternative to (at least some subset of) Google services, some new competition is always good for the market and so good for everyone. But what usually happens is they start applying external pressure by putting services in unequal conditions by subsidizing locals or even doing darker things like throttling traffic at state level or limiting their capability to earn revenue through regulatory measures. Eh, I'm not a globalization fan either, so whatever.
> it's not like India is incapable of rolling their own alternatives
Then there is the teeny weeny problem of convincing the masses to switch to the new Indian alternative apps, that come bundled with government surveillance. Who would do that? It's safer to be spied upon by multinationals than your own govt.
That's OP's point. The fact that India isn't producing homegrown killer apps has little to do with a lack of technical talent or resources. It comes down to difficulty of doing business and political interference (and probably myriad other causes).
Begun, the trade wars has. -Yoda
It has been going a lot longer than this with India. India has had a very protectionist economy for decades; it's probably one of the main reasons why China became an economic powerhouse- and India is growing much slower, despite being on better terms with most of the developed nations of the world than China.
India doesn't like foreign companies operating on their seas- they used to keep out grocery stores, department stores from over seas- now they are pushing against IT. I understand why they're doing it, and the history there... but it's shooting themselves in the foot. Once they stop being a protectionist state, they could start to rise in power and eventually challenge the US and China.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
India, a nation of street shitters [planetcustodian.com].
Kinda like San Francisco is becoming?
Ken