asterism
Congress != Progress
The Internet has functioned under the rules of "Net Neutrality" since it's creation. The law would codify the current situation, nothing more.
no frankly it hasn't, unless your idea of 'net neutrality' is way off ours.
Today's meeting is the first in a series of focused discussions, with ITI serving as facilitator, aimed at developing Internet openness principles that can achieve broad cross-sector support," said Dean Garfield, president of ITI, in a statement. "Over the last few months, much work has been directed at developing such a solutionincluding by Googlewith significant positive steps forward."
Similar negotiations fell apart earlier this month at the FCC after Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. announced their own legislative proposal for giving the FCC authority to be Internet traffic cop. The companies' proposal dealt with the issue of "net neutrality," a shorthand for the principle that broadband providers shouldn't deliberately slow or block legal Internet traffic.
The companies were criticized by some for their proposal, which wouldn't apply net neutrality rules to fast-growing wireless networks.
The proposal also would have given Internet providers wide latitude to create priority lanes of Internet traffic for companies who pay for priority delivery service.
Google isn't involved in the current closed-door negotiations, a spokeswoman confirmed. "We took our best shot at a constructive proposal. This is an important issue and we support any attempt to move the ball forward," she said.
FCC officials also aren't actively involved. "While we're not involved in these new discussions, we're glad that there is ongoing dialogue," a FCC spokeswoman said in a statement.
Along with Cisco and Microsoft, the current negotiations include representatives from AT&T Inc., Verizon and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents cable companies.
Spokespeople of the companies didn't immediately return calls about their involvement in the negotiations.
The Information Technology Industry Council, which is hosting the talks, represents Dell Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp., among other companies.
Phone and cable companies have been trying to reach an industry compromise on the issue of net neutrality in hopes of preventing the FCC from moving forward with a proposal for re-regulating Internet lines so the agency can enforce net neutrality rules.
Telecommunications companies say re-regulating Internet lines under rules designed for old phone networks will discourage new investments in wireless or Internet lines. Internet companies and public interest groups want the FCC to have clear authority to enforce net neutrality rules to prevent broadband providers from deliberately favoring some traffic over others.
rest at-
Lobbyists Resume Talks Over Net Neutrality - WSJ.com
To my knowledge, no ISPs have started prioritizing bandwidth to websites that pay more, or offering "Premium packages" for customers like cable tv - which is the only thing addressed by "Net Neutrality".
The cable companies do. Email and VOIP works fine, large file transfers are slower.