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A lot of dishonest people are claiming this is about government control of the internet, and they are trying to cloud the issue with discussions of taxes, and other things. It's simple and doesn't have to be vague at all.
As an ISP, all internet traffic on your equipment must be treated equally regardless of the types of packets, services, customer, etc.
Google and others have already been working on creating applications that can detect whether someone is violating this directive.
If Virgin, Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, AOL, etc. get caught blocking any type of legal internet traffic or purposely slowing it down, they get slapped down with fines.
End of story. Email traffic, VOIP, Streaming Audio or Video, websites, or anything else should be nothing more than bits and no ISP should prioritize or provision that traffic other than to make sure their own equipment doesn't shut down.
People are paying for a direct pipe to the internet at the speed they paid for. They aren't paying for whatever the ISP thinks they should have or to have big companies bribe ISPs to keep them from visiting their competitors.
ISPs are making plenty of money. The bogus claim that they can't increase their infrastructure without doing this are ridiculous.
In addition to having this kind of network neutrality protected by government, I'd also like to see all anti-competitive arrangements between ISPs in municipalities be voided by the Federal Government. This would mean we could choose our cable, DSL, or other broadband provider like we choose our long distance company. It would increase competition, lower prices, and improve service for consumers.
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