So Verizon and every other mega-ISP think Google and other content providers are getting a free ride and should be paying on both ends and Comcast might be throttling Vonage to death, none of seems like a trend that's good for consumers, much less the future of the Internet. Luckily I'm not alone: U.S. senator from Oregon Ron Wyden has introduced the Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006, which the press is describing as the "net neutrality bill." From Russell Shaw's post on his ZDNet blog, the bill's key points are:

• Preventing interfering with, blocking, degrading, altering, modifying or changing traffic on the Internet;
• Prohibiting creation of a priority lane where content providers can buy quicker access to customers, while those who don’t pay the fee are left in the slow lane;
• Allowing consumers to choose which devices they use to connect to the Internet while they are on the Internet;
• Ensuring that consumers have non-discriminatory access and service;
• Having a transparent system whereby consumers, Internet content, and applications companies have access to the rates, terms, and conditions for Internet service.

Senator Wyden seems like a very clueful guy who knows what kind of slippery slope Verizon and its ilk are about to create. He says, "I am not going to allow a network operator to say a person who buys online for J.Crew can stay on hold for five minutes, and where they make the Banana Republic customer wait 30 minutes." He intends to make his net neutrality bill part of a large telecom package that'll be making its way through the senate this year. Whether net neutrality will be able to overcome telecom's deep-pocketed lobbyists, however, is another question entirely. Head over to Shaw's blog for more quotes from Wyden and the full text of the bill.