Senators Threatening Telcos With Probe Over Net Neutrality

Remember when the telcos and cable companies squashed talk of Net neutrality legislation by saying they would never try to block content on the Web? Then Comcast decided to discriminate against BitTorrent files and Verizon Wireless decided that it wouldn’t allow certain politically-charged text messages to go over its network (before quickly reversing itself). Well, some Senators remember. And now they are talking about a probe. In a letter calling for hearings, two Senators point out:

The phone and cable companies have previously stated that they would never use their market power to operate as content gatekeepers and have called efforts to put rules in place to protect consumers ‘a solution in search of a problem.

At least someone in Washington is paying attention. If the telcos are going to start asserting their right to decide what kind of information can or cannot go over the Internet, then they are asking for Net neutrality to once again become a big political issue. They should really stick to their “quality of service” arguments.