BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:www.tcs.tifr.res.in/event/946
DTSTAMP:20230914T125944Z
SUMMARY:Differential Pricing\, Zero Rating\, and Network Neutrality
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Vishal Misra (Columbia University\nDept. of Computer S
 cience\nNew York\n )\n\nAbstract: \nAbstract: The Network Neutrality deba
 te continues to rage around the world. While there is broad agreement that
  preserving the quality of service of content falls under the purview of N
 et Neutrality\, the role of differential pricing\, especially the practice
  of zero rating remains controversial. Even though some countries (India\,
  Canada) have banned differential pricing\, others have either taken no st
 ance or explicitly allow zero rating/differential pricing (ZA\, Kenya\, U.
 S.). In this work\, we consider zero rating options available between Inte
 rnet Service Providers (ISPs) and Content Providers (CPs)\, and identify t
 he conditions under which they agree to offer their services in a zero-rat
 ed context. Based on a novel choice model of complementary services that c
 onsiders consumer surplus\, we characterize the market shares and utilitie
 s of the providers under various differential pricing decisions. We identi
 fy the scenarios where CPs decide to adopt a service under zero rating pre
 ssure which creates a prisoner’s dilemma scenario. We find that if zero 
 rating options are permitted and offered\, low-value CPs often lose utilit
 y\, especially when they either cannot afford to adopt it\, or they establ
 ish it under zero rating pressure\; whereas high-value CPs often gain util
 ity. Our findings support the perspective that differential pricing is not
  consistent with Network Neutrality.\nBio: Vishal Misra is a Professor in
  the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University\, with a joint 
 appointment in the Electrical Engineering Department and also a visiting s
 cientist at Google. He is an ACM and IEEE Fellow and his research emphasis
  is on mathematical modeling of systems\, bridging the gap between practic
 e and analysis. He is also credited with inventing live-microblogging at C
 ricInfo\, a company he co-founded while a graduate student at UMass Amhers
 t\, predating Twitter by 10 years. He also played an active part in the Ne
 t Neutrality regulation process in India\, where his definition of Net Neu
 trality was adopted both by the citizen's movement as well as the regulato
 rs. He has been awarded a Distinguished Alumnus Award by IIT Bombay (2019)
  and a Distinguished Young Alumnus Award by UMass Amherst College of Engin
 eering (2014).\n
URL:https://www.tcs.tifr.res.in/web/events/946
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20190305T113000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20190305T123000
LOCATION:AG-66 (Lecture Theatre)
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR