"Net neutrality" has been a hot topic in Washington and the blogosphere, pitting the traditional phone and cable companies against the internet community and content providers. It is a crucial issue for the future status of the internet as it becomes a major platform for video and mass media applications. Presidential contenders have weighed in, with Democrats and west coast politicians more likely to be pro-net neutrality, and most Republicans opposed. The meaning of the term is a bit fuzzy, but the bone of contention is clear: the power of the delivery infrastructure providers – telecom or cable companies – to select, price, or differentiate among the internet information streams that pass through their pipes on the way to the end users, or back to them, or to other end users. Fearing such gatekeeping power, internet content and applications providers, as well as traditional media companies, have banded together. Why is all this happening? ... [read more]