A lot of misinformation flows in the current debate raging on network neutrality. It is this says Tim Berners-Lee (and he should know):

If I pay to connect to the Net with a certain quality of service, and you pay to connect with that or greater quality of service, then we can communicate at that level.

That’s all. Its up to the ISPs to make sure they interoperate so that that happens.

Net Neutrality is NOT asking for the internet for free.

Net Neutrality is NOT saying that one shouldn’t pay more money for high quality of service. We always have, and we always will.

For more, read:

• TBL’s thread on Policy and the Web
• Lawrence Lessig’s Blog category NetNeutrality
• a good but lengthy article on WikiPedia
• the FAQ on Save the Internet.com

Unfortunately Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee considering net neutrality in the context of the US Communications Reform Bill, just can’t gets to grips with the concept. Listen to his blather via this post on Public Knowledge and see it lampooned by John Stewart on YouTube.