Uh, once again, Sean, you've shown your ignorance.

The anti-net neutrality movement was started by Bellsouth about a year ago. When SBC bought AT&T and then turned around and acquired Bellsouth (thereby controlling a very large percentage of the US Internet backbone and transit infrastructure), they ratcheted up the heat to get rules passed allowing "preferential treatment" to partners who pay for it.

This is in preparation to offer television services over IP, to compete with the cable companies. Not to mention, being able to effectively censor and limit access to parts of the Net they don't like.

It is very real and, while not as ill-conceived as .xxx, it most definitely has the potential to seriously damage the open and free access to the Net now enjoyed worldwide.

Not surprisingly, MCI (who owns another large portion of the US Internet backbone) is strongly in support of "selective traffic", and equally unsurprisingly, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others are strongly against the removal of Net neutrality.

One bill failed to pass Congress a few weeks ago, but another was introduced by the Democrats and is actually getting some traction.

This is a very real issue.