Net neutrality (continued)

Following up on an earlier post about net neutrality, the Senate Commerce Committee, and the plan of Yahoo and AOL to charge bona fide commercial emailers a per-message fee to deliver messages to their users:

The Commerce Committee had its first meeting Tuesday, and this seems to be the gist of things so far:

Last fall, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a 70-page draft proposal (click here for PDF) and held a lengthy hearing. It outlines rules for a broad set of technology services divided into three major categories: broadband Internet service providers, voice over Internet Protocol providers and broadband video providers.

Technology companies like Google and Amazon.com criticized that version, which they accused of failing to spell out a network neutrality mandate--that is, a requirement that companies that own broadband pipes don't favor certain content over others when transmitting it.

Barton gave no indication as to how that draft would change before its formal introduction on the House floor but said he was aiming to put a bill out for public review "very quickly." With respect to network neutrality in particular, he said, "it's pretty tough to determine what is right in my mind."

If the story advances from here--if Barton determines what's right in his mind?--I'll post it.