One of the more confusing parts of the debate over the future of the Internet is the effort by the telephone and cable companies, and their suppliers, to muddy the waters by pretending to defend what we know as the Internet while preparing to destroy it.

The Internet functions without anyone in charge. Anyone can put up a Web site, start a business or try out a new technology. As Vint Cerf said, you don't need permission; you just do it. That's what makes the Internet so valuable as an oasis for creativity. 'Net neutrality is part of the DNA of the Internet because there are no gatekeepers.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=neutrality - Online forum with David Isenberg and Scott Cleland.

The Internet flourished in the dial-up era because the telephone networks were regulated by the Communications Act of 1934. The telephone companies were precluded by law from treating one person's or company's content differently from another's. In other words, the law made it illegal for the telephone companies to discriminate in how they carried traffic.

By the time the cable companies started offering broadband, the pattern of neutrality had become well established, and cable companies didn't want to risk upsetting potential broadband customers by imposing their standard business model, in which system operators decide who gets on.

Last summer the FCC changed the rules. Now, broadband services, whether offered by telephone companies or cable companies, are not subject to the Communications Act's common-carrier regulation. This means a broadband supplier can determine whose traffic gets carried, and on what terms and conditions. Does it mean that different consumers can't pay for different levels of service? No. Does it mean that Internet companies want a free ride on a broadband network? No. What 'Net neutrality means is that everyone has an equal chance to reach everyone else.

The issue becomes muddled when the network companies and their suppliers say they won't harm the Internet because they have something different in mind. They call this "something" an access service, VPN or new business model. These will have one factor in common: a telephone or cable company will decide who gets on and on what terms.

By constructing a parallel access service, they will have every incentive to let the current Internet degrade and make their new service more attractive. What we call the Internet now won't disappear, but it could wither away. For example, the telephone or cable company could let the data speeds stagnate for their Internet service but keep increasing on their private, select service.