Net Neutrality

"Net Neutrality" is probably the biggest issue facing the internet today. It is also one of the biggest issues facing free speech. But, most people don't know anything about it.
Net neutrality means that there is an even playing field for everyone in the online world. No one thing or type of thing (such as email) gets priority over anything else. For the most part, the internet has operated like this since the beginning and continues to up until the present day (though there are some slips already occurring). The greatest danger to net neutrality is two-fold, it is the large companies who own the infrastructure (companies with recognizable names like AT&T) wanting to create a tiered system of users and providers with those who pay premium prices getting their info shipped/received first; and the federal government who is doing little stop the erosion of net neutrality and in some cases is helping it along (we'll see that below).
Most people aren't quite sure what to make of net neutrality. It seems to be large companies arguing with other large companies about who should control the internet. In a recent article in the Oregonian (here), the reporter relates how a woman recently had her internet "capped" for excessive downloading. The thing is that the company (Comcast) will not tell here what the limit is, how close she is to the limit or how long she will have to go without internet as a punishment. And mind, she's a paying customer with an account in good standing.
The U.S. Congress has done little to address net neutrality. When it has come up for a vote, it can't get out of Senatorial committees. (here and here)
This is not to say that the federal government is ignorant on the topic of net neutrality. The Justice Department has weighed in on the issue. Why, you ask? They claim net neutrality will hamper development and prevent service providers from upgrading. (here) The Justice Dept rationalizes it's okay to have different classes of users because the U.S. Post Office does. (here) They have even gone so far as to tell the FCC to "not listen to consumer groups and companies like Google. (here) It's not like anybody can Alberto Gonzalez that he's doing a worse job, or that this might cost him that job.
Seeing how AT&T, Verizon et al, are Fortune 500 companies, I fail to see how they are being harmed currently by the tacit net neutrality that we currently enjoy. Heaven forbid that they can't get any larger - hmmm, shouldn't the Justice Department be more concerned about the telecom giants and whether or not they are violating anti-trust laws, than whether they will increase their profit margins by 10 or more percent? Oh, that's right, President Bush and his White House are buddies with the telecom industry. (here)