More info on the net neutrality issue

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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fcc-broadband-20100806,0,298861.story

FCC gives up on brokering compromise on 'net neutrality'
Federal Communications Commission says weeks of talks with phone, cable TV and Internet companies have not "generated a robust framework to preserve openness and freedom of the Internet."
By Jennifer Martinez, Los Angeles Times

August 6, 2010
Reporting from Washington —

Federal regulators are giving up efforts to negotiate a compromise between Web companies and Internet service providers over so-called net neutrality rules intended to prevent discrimination in the way online traffic is treated.

The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it would no longer try brokering a deal among various phone, cable TV and Internet companies, saying that weeks of talks had not "generated a robust framework to preserve openness and freedom of the Internet."

The FCC had been engaged in closed-door meetings with companies such as Google Inc., Skype, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. to work out a compromise.

But on Wednesday, rumors surfaced that Google and Verizon were close to hammering out their own separate deal on how to manage Web content.

Reports about the deal said Verizon agreed not to slow or block the delivery of content on the Web — such as movie files, which soak up lots of bandwidth — but it could favor certain types of Web content on wireless devices. Web companies, such as Google, could pay Verizon for faster delivery of their content, news reports said.

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